Are we too reliant on marketplaces and taking the easy option? Are we in the business of ‘selling on marketplaces’ or are they simply channels which should be considered in the round as part of our D2C strategy? James Rigg, CEO of Trojan Electronics shares his thoughts in this guest post today:
Marketplaces are a channel, not the model
When marketplaces first exploded, many brands treated them as the business itself rather than one powerful but limited channel. The attraction was obvious: instant traffic, trusted checkouts, and outsourced fulfilment wrapped in a model that seemed to scale without friction. But fee tweaks, shifting policies, copycat competition, and rising customer expectations for subscriptions, product flexibility, and convenience have revealed the fragility of relying on someone else’s rails.
The lesson is simple and a little uncomfortable: marketplaces provide powerful distribution, not a business model. Durable growth belongs to brands that own their demand, their data, and their delivery experience – especially when combined with direct-to-consumer models that capture repeat purchases, subscriptions, and customer feedback.
The risks behind the reach
None of this means marketplaces no longer matter. They’re still unmatched for discovery and high-intent traffic, and for many customers, they’re the first stop when a need arises. What’s changed is the risk. A category-specific fee adjustment can erase margin overnight.
A policy update can bury a listing you’ve spent years nurturing. Regulatory pressure – from product safety to seller identity – can cascade down in ways you can’t predict or influence. For FMCG brands, that volatility can take products away from their loyal customers. When a trusted item suddenly disappears from a marketplace, customers are forced to look harder or shop elsewhere – the very opposite of what multichannel commerce is meant to achieve. This erodes brand trust and weakens long-term loyalty.
The number of marketplaces has also exploded. Where UK brands once had to think about just Amazon and eBay, today there are more than ten significant platforms – including TikTok Shop, Temu, B&Q, Boots and Tesco Marketplace. Each brings new reach, but also new costs: most now demand spend on retail media to win visibility, alongside funding for near-constant price discounts to stay competitive. For many FMCG brands, the net effect is that selling on marketplaces has become far more expensive and resource-intensive than it appeared just a few years ago.
The resilient approach is to treat marketplaces as trial and acquisition engines, but shift the long-term value into owned channels and subscriptions, where brands can control the rules, test reorder cycles, and build direct relationships with customers.
What customers demand now
Customers now expect flexibility in how they buy. Subscription options need to match real-life usage – for example, baby food might last 9 months, so if a customer cancels after month two it signals a product fit or formulation issue rather than simply a loyalty problem. In categories like aircare or fragrance, customers increasingly want to mix scents or change products with just a few clicks. Complicated rules for pausing, skipping, or switching subscriptions drive abandonment.
Alongside subscription flexibility, seamless delivery promises still convert or kill a sale. Customers want to see delivery options and ETAs early in the journey, on mobile as much as desktop, and they expect subscription adjustments to be just as easy on their phones as making a one-off purchase.
The privacy reset and the first-party imperative
First-party data gathered through DTC is now more valuable than broad third-party targeting. Purchase and repurchase patterns show not only who buys, but how long they stay, what flavours or product variants they switch between, and what reorder cadence fits best. Zero-party data – what customers explicitly tell you about taste preferences, usage patterns, or household needs – gives relevance that doesn’t depend on cookies at all. In practice, that means better product innovation, smarter merchandising, and more efficient media.
Beyond the pure-play DTC myth
It’s worth puncturing the idea that “pure-play DTC” automatically outperforms. Many of the last decade’s DTC favourites discovered that rising acquisition and fulfilment costs can outrun even strong top lines. The winning pattern now is omnichannel with D2C at the core. Own the relationship. Own the data.
But D2C is not just about subscriptions and repeat purchase efficiency. Its real advantage is the brand experience it unlocks. A direct channel lets brands reward their most loyal customers first – with early access to new products, exclusive NPD flavours, or unique formats that never reach the mass marketplace. It gives the flexibility to create dynamic bundles on the fly – letting customers choose combinations that fit their needs — while still receiving them as a single, beautifully co-packed branded delivery that enhances the brand experience. That “WOW” moment at unboxing is something marketplaces can never replicate. Where marketplaces trade in price and availability, D2C trades in identity, loyalty, and emotional connection.
Make your site the flagship
The flagship site is also the control centre for subscription management. Customers should be able to adjust product variants, delivery frequency, and tastes or scents with no friction. Alongside that, clear specifications, setup guides, transparent warranties and easy checkout still matter – but the ability to manage ongoing relationships matters more.
Turn delivery into a conversion advantage
For new customers & subscription models, delivery reliability is even more important – customers want confidence their baby food, wellness supplements, or consumables will arrive exactly when expected. Real-time tracking, proactive updates, and no-surprises returns reinforce trust. Treat subscription fulfilment as marketing in disguise, because each on-time, well-handled delivery is a reason for customers to stay subscribed.
Build the first-party data engine
Opt-ins should feel valuable from the first click. Subscriptions and offer pages are one of the best ways to capture first-party data, because they reveal usage pace, flavour preferences, or product lifecycle. For example, if customers consistently shorten or cancel a subscription early, that’s feedback on the product’s fit, not just the brand. Over time, this permissioned data makes recommendations more relevant, reduces wasted impressions, and builds stronger lifetime value.
Unlike marketplaces, a D2C site also gives brands instant visibility on traffic and conversion. You can see immediately how customers respond to new products, content, and offers – and that speed of feedback lets teams adjust not only their digital campaigns but also their spend in traditional media. In practice, this means advertising budgets work harder because creative and channel choices are informed by real-time customer behaviour rather than guesswork.
Diversify demand without renting it all
Expand and enrich product content and usage suggestions should be central in this journey to attract your customers to your site on their first Google search. If customers can find relevant and helpful answers about product use and subscription adjustments before they’ve even chosen a marketplace, they are more likely to buy direct. Social commerce – especially through TikTok – should only be used where it genuinely drives incremental sales. Marketplaces remain useful for discovery and long-tail SKUs, but the centre of gravity should shift back to owned sites and subscription models that build community, repeat purchases, and brand trust.
Maintain margin discipline in a shifting landscape
Unit economics need to be rebuilt weekly, not quarterly. Advertising, fulfilment, platform fees, returns, refurb yield, and customer support all belong in one live model. Subscriptions also reshape unit economics. Average order value, retention period, and churn must be tracked alongside traditional fees and fulfilment costs. Brands that model subscription profitability weekly, and act fast on drift, will sustain healthier margins.
Compliance as a competitive advantage
Subscriptions create further compliance needs, from data permissions to flexible cancellation rights. Brands that manage these well – with clear policies, simple tools, and transparent communication – will win both trust and regulatory advantage.
Scale with platforms, keep the relationship
Use platforms to scale, but keep the DTC relationship as the anchor. Faster pages, smarter caching, and rich localisation help – but the true asset is the customer relationship, sustained through repeat orders and subscription ease and relevance.
The bottom line
Marketplaces will remain vital for reach and discovery, but the retailers who will look back on the next five years with pride are building owned growth engines today: Site experiences that help customers buy, fulfilment that earns trust, and subscription models that feel flexible, fair, and genuinely useful are the foundations of resilience. Add a consent-rich data layer that compounds with every interaction, and you turn platform volatility into steady, customer-led growth. Brands should audit their D2C readiness now – across site, operations, subscriptions, marketplaces, and data – or risk missing the next wave of opportunity.
