EL SEGUNDO, Calif -- Extensiv (formerly 3PL Central) — delivering omnichannel software solutions for warehouse, inventory, and order management — today announced a summary of key findings from its 4Q 2023 Market Insights research. The data reveals significant 65% year-over-year growth in order volume for third-party sellers on Amazon, while Shopify volume increased 19% and all other third-party marketplaces remain flat.
Launched in 2022, the Extensiv Market Insights website offers order volume trends for leading vendors such as Amazon, Shopify, and a consolidation of dozens of other smaller marketplaces. To access Extensiv trend data, visit www.extensiv.com/market-insights.
Extensiv Market Insights monitors changes in order volume per merchant processed through leading vendors such as Amazon and Shopify to show:
- Year-over-year volume trends. Extensiv Market Insights shows a macro view of year-over-year order volume trends beginning in 2020.
- Week-over-week volume trends. Extensiv Market Insights also shows changes to order volumes on a week-over-week basis. This enables brands to benchmark their own results to the seasonality changes across the broader e-commerce landscape.
Key Highlights from January 2024 Extensiv Market Insights:
- Amazon dominates Black Friday: Extensiv data shows Amazon experienced a 111% year-over-year increase in order volume for Thanksgiving/Black Friday, compared to increases of 16% for Shopify and 3% for all other marketplaces. Week-over-week increases for Thanksgiving/Black Friday showed increases of 34% for Amazon, 65% for Shopify, and a 31% increase for all other marketplaces. Amazon reported that the November 17-27 shopping period was its largest yet and customers purchased more than 1 billion items, with more than 500 million from independent sellers.[1]
- Amazon surging, others struggling during Cyber Week: For the week after Thanksgiving (also known as Cyber Week, November 26 through December 2, 2023), year-over-year order volume increased 63% for Amazon and 11% for Shopify, but decreased 3% for other marketplaces. Week-over-week data showed an 18% increase in order volume for Amazon, but decreases of 26% for Shopify and 2% for other marketplaces.
- Third-party sellers rally towards Amazon: Extensiv data shows a 34% volume increase per merchant selling on Amazon in 4Q compared to 3Q and a 65% surge year-over-year in 4Q 2023. Additional industry data indicates that third-party sellers continued to account for 60% of all marketplace sales in the 3Q of 2023[2]. Amazon reports $34.34 billion in third-party seller services in 3Q, a 20% year-over-year from 2022’s $28.67 billion[3].
- Shopify average order volume spiked: Shopify Average Order Volume rose by 19% year-over-year in 2023 and saw a 20% increase from 3Q to 4Q. In November 2023, Shopify reported a 25% increase in year-over-year revenue to reach $1.7 billion.[4] Consensus stock analyst estimates predict a steady 16.8% revenue increase per annum for Shopify[5].
- Other marketplaces remain flat for the year with short-term increases: All other marketplaces analyzed by Extensiv Market Insights remained flat for the year but up for the quarter. Average Order Volume for all other marketplaces rose by 1% year-over-year in 2023, but showed a 31% increase from 3Q to 4Q.
"The 2023 holiday season revealed the strength and appeal of Amazon for third-party sellers looking to reach the broadest consumer base and capitalize on Amazon’s record order volume," said David Miller, VP of Strategy at Extensiv. "With the recent announcement of FedEx’s Fdx[6] and Amazon’s continuous expansion to support seller fulfillment, we anticipate these marketplaces will try to control both the commerce and the fulfillment side of the business. This may result in reduced optionality and flexibility for brands who historically would have planned to support their own fulfillment. With some uncertainty around the economy and how robust customer spending will be in 2024, brands and 3PLs should be evaluating how to most efficiently and cost-effectively manage their fulfillment strategies to ensure a stellar customer experience[7]."
Sources:
[1] Digital Commerce360: Amazon announces strong holiday shopping results
[2] Marketplace Pulse: Amazon Percent of Units by Third-Party Sellers
[3] Marketplace Pulse: Amazon Third-Party Seller Services Sales
[4] Shopify November 2, 2023 Earnings Announcement: Shopify Announces Third-Quarter 2023 Financial Results
[5] Simply Wall St: Consensus analyst estimates of Shopify future growth
[6] Digital Commerce360: FedEx announces commerce platform for online retailers: Fdx
[7] Chain Store Age: Amazon revamps seller fulfillment fees for 2024