Nowadays it’s difficult to meet a person who hasn’t ordered something from marketplaces at least once. All products are in one place, there is a convenient search, a large selection, and easy pick-up at the pick-up point or delivery. Delivery is especially good in the countryside for large-sized goods and costs a very reasonable price.

It would seem that this is the future and online stores are no longer needed. But don’t rush to a conclusion, everything is not as clear as it is presented by supporters of marketplaces.

Now let's talk about the cons:

1. Competition within marketplaces

As long as your product on the marketplace is unique or the competition is low, it will sell well, but it’s a matter of time, in the near future, as they will appear and most likely will be more attractive in price.

In the absence of alternative sources of sales, for example, your online store, you will have to occupy another niche of the market - more budget products, reducing the quality, and those who are accustomed to the quality of your products will be disappointed and will go to others.

2. Marketplace fees and commissions

The marketplace lives off commissions from sales, this is their bread and there are already cases when selling some goods there is not very profitable. In this case, your business becomes highly dependent, and this already contradicts the basics of business as such.

3. Decrease in your brand awareness

Everything has its deadline, and in the case of running an online business there will be several of them. At first, you will receive more orders through the marketplace - because the goals are to popularize it and form a habit, then when the marketplace becomes a kind of basis - the rules and conditions of cooperation will change and not in your favor. This is natural for any business, remember the tariffs of the 4th cellular operator at the beginning and compare them with what they are now, and 30 years ago this was the case with the third one. If you carefully calculate the time that could have been spent on developing your website, the benefits of working with the marketplace are no longer so obvious, especially in the long term.

4. Conclusion

Online stores are not going anywhere, there will simply be more choice of sales, and relying on sales only in marketplaces will most likely lead your business to a dead end from which there is little chance of getting out. Continue to develop your own website, online store, and use the marketplace as one of the sales methods.