One of the problems with commenting on and observing ecommerce, especially with regards to marketplaces, is the lack of information companies like Amazon and eBay provide to chew on. There’s a load of high level data but it’s geared toward investors and seldom broken down by location.
That’s why ChannelAdvisor’s monthly Same Store Sales (SSS) report is not only vital but unusual.
It’s also a brilliant barometer for the health of the various marketplaces. The index compares CA customer sales month on month. Consider it required reading and I’m very grateful for CA and Scot Wingo for not just putting it together but also publishing it.
The latest report, looking at June 2015, provides me with two key insights that are really worth sharing.
Firstly, eBay is growing at a considerably slower rate according to CA’s numbers than the ecommerce average. Secondly, Amazon is exceeding that average and growing much more robustly.
The report shows:
May 2015 y/y SSS Results
Amazon – Amazon’s June SSS came in at 26%, a slight increase compared to May’s 23.8%.
eBay – eBay’s June SSS came in at 7.2%, a slight increase from May’s 6.6% and about half the e-commerce growth rate of 15% as predicted by comScore.
Here’s a graph that looks closely at the eBay numbers. A few things leap out. Auctions are declining. Motors is doing better than the rest of the business but in general eBay is not flourishing according to the SSS.
ChannelAdvisor clearly lay out the methodology of the SSS index here.
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This is using US data. Not particularly helpful for the UK.