New Marketplaces announced at Retail Without Borders

There’s a never ending thirst from retailers for new marketplaces to expand and diversify their businesses and this was once again proved at Retail Without Borders today. Close to 1,000 retailers attended and the main conference theatre was full to capacity as Laurence Guy, CEO of the host Pentagon, opened the conference.

If you weren’t there then you missed the opportunity to discover a host of new marketplaces, some overseas and some closer to home, some which you may have heard of before and others which are yet to launch but show extraordinary promise. Pentagon are indisputably experts when it comes to assisting their retailer customers sell on marketplaces the the sheer breadth of marketplaces on offer coupled with the engaging conference content is a winner making this the biggest Retail Without Borders conference to date.

The mix of marketplace included everyone from eBay for Business in the UK to marketplaces literally the other side of the world including Yahoo! Japan, Rakuten, Trademe, Catch and Newegg. Closer to home La Redoute and Fruugo were also at the event.

New marketplaces coming soon

One of the best parts of Retail Without Borders is the new marketplaces that they introduce and this year was no exception with three new marketplaces slated to launch in 2019.

TheMarket

TheMarket is a curated marketplace launching mid 2019, backed by New Zealand’s largest retail group. It will focus on brand discovery, value and convenience and, in good news for UK retailers, there is a huge demand for brands from the UK in New Zealand.

Cencosud

South America is the home of another huge retailer, Cencosud, who have operations from department stores and supermarkets to shopping centres and financial businesses in the region. Covering Brazil, Argentina, Chile Peru and Columbia, Cencosud are looking to scale their ecommerce business and launch a marketplace pilot later this year. Their goal is to transform their US$1.5 billion department store business Paris.cl into the Latin American channel where international brands and retailers can connect with their existing customer base.

Three UK

Closer to home, Three are one of the largest mobile operators in the UK and the next chapter in their expansion is to build on their existing loyalty program with a marketplace geared towards their customer base. As a mobile operator, they already know a fair amount about their customers and want to create a marketplace with offers that they know are tailored towards each individual customer. With a heavy contingent of millennials who have a healthy dose of disposable income, this is a really interesting development for the UK and one that’s sure to spark interest from marketplace sellers.

Book for the next Retail Without Borders

We’ve hardly touched the surface of today’s Retail Without Borders show, and will be bringing you more reports and video interviews in the near future. If you missed today’s event, keep a look out for the next Pentagon conference as, if you’re serious about growing your marketplace business and opening your eyes to opportunities around the world, there’s no better place to meet new marketplaces, discover marketplaces about to launch and catch up with the marketplaces you already trade on.