“Two stories today about the now broad marketplace sector within the UK, and both demonstrate how competitive the space is becoming. The Tesco brand name and audience is one of the largest within the UK, and the ability to trade through the site is highly compelling for all sellers and the initial interest has allowed Tesco to expand categories since launch.

For a younger audience, TikTok has a similar brand draw, and has built the most compelling true-social commerce platform available within the UK. The upping of seller commission, at a time when others within the sector have lowered or removed fees, shows that it has been able to attract a large base of sellers, but higher base fees are unlikely to attract the larger marketplace sellers it desires to give the brand more legitimacy with a broader audience that the brand desires.

While attracting sellers is obviously key to marketplace success, it is only one aspect of the equation, and as the marketplace sector continues to expand it will be the shopper trust in the marketplace brand name and its stringency in policing quality and customer service which will dictate success.”