Next-Generation Business Models A Guide to Digital Marketplaces - JUNE 2021
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Next-Generation Business Models A Guide to Digital Marketplaces JUNE 2021 World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces
This document is interactive
Executive Summary
Digital transformation, already a defining feature of our world, is being Yet only a handful of marketplace models initiated by large companies have
accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, changing customer demands, been able to generate top-line growth so far.
expectations of digital inclusion and exponentially evolving technology. Most
large companies have made incremental strides in digitizing their core offerings, Companies such as Carrefour (Brazil), Ping An (China) and DBS (Singapore)
such as creating a digital sales channel or using digital tools to improve internal have generated measurable value. Others, such as Jio Mart (India) and
operations. However, to compete in markets increasingly dominated by digital CheMondis (Germany), have made significant investments and their
native players, organizations need to step up their game as the digital native full potential is yet to be realized. Starting and successfully operating a
firms are not about to slow down the pace of their own innovation. marketplace demands significant effort. However, first movers can generate
significant economic, ecosystem and societal value given the growing trend of
Four digital business model archetypes, which vary in value impact, complexity online transactions in a naturally oligopolistic model (that is, when there are few
and time commitment, illuminate a way forward. The four models are: sellers).
• Intelligent digital solutions The Accelerating Digital Transformation Marketplaces Guidebook aggregates
• Digital capability enablers the views of business leaders – chief digital officers, chief operating officers
and chief development officers – on the forefront of digital transformation
• Marketplaces across four key dimensions:
• Digital ecosystem orchestration • Value levers of a marketplace model
• A framework to evaluate the adoption of a marketplace model
This guidebook provides directional guidance on the value and complexity of
digital business models and a deep dive on marketplaces. Some companies • Criteria to successfully operate a marketplace
have taken a leap forward in expanding their business model to own and • Future trends that may impact marketplaces
operate marketplaces. This allows multiple buyers – including competitors – to
connect to several sellers.
The objective of this guidebook is to provide a framework to help executives
These companies are leveraging their unique knowledge and capabilities to assess marketplace fit and better understand characteristics for success.
solve industry- or market-specific problems while generating broader value for
the ecosystem
World Economic andto society.
Forum | A Guide Marketplaces 2
Click on sections to interact
Insights
Pivoting to digital business models Marketplace value levers
There is an urgent need to shift from digitizing offerings and pivot to A marketplace model can generate value across the company (economic
digital business models to compete with digital natives and capture new value, future value, core business impact), society (inclusiveness, sharing
value pools. Marketplaces can drive significant potential value; however economy, corporate governance) and ecosystem (efficiency gains,
they also involve higher complexity and time to value. empowerment, economic growth).
Marketplace trends Success criteria
Practitioners need to be aware of marketplace trends in order to adapt and Marketplaces have nine unique success criteria which organizations
maximize value captured. These include: need to consider to operate:
• Increased regulation and intermediate liability where organizations • External: multi-sided economic value, hyper relevance, stakeholder
should engage early with regulators and partners to anticipate changes; engagement and success, and inclusion and sustainability
they should collaboratively mitigate and manage impact to the entire • Internal: commerce enablers, commerce ecosystem, talent and
ecosystem while maintaining consumers’ interest culture, technology and AI alignment, and operating model
• Greater need for collaboration with partners to build trust; for example, via
enabling technology solutions that boost trust and credibility among buyers
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 3
A Guide to Marketplaces
How to use this interactive PDF
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 4
CONTENTS
The guidebook roadmap Click on the milestones 1-3, and
contents chapters to interact
Depending on where you are on your marketplaces journey, use the
milestones on the roadmap to view the chapters most relevant to you.
3 Contents
Evolving a
marketplace
Evolution of digital business models
2
Starting up a Key elements of a marketplace
marketplace
Adoption assessment
Success criteria
Trends
1
Considering a
marketplace Case studies
model
Contributors
© 2021 World Economic Forum. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying and
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system.
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 5
Back to contents
Evolution of digital business models
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 6E V O L U T I O N O F D I G I TA L B U S I N E S S M O D E L S Back to contents
There is an urgent need to pivot to digital models Click or hover on the
buttons to interact
The COVID-19 pandemic, along with changing customer demands, digital inclusion expectations and
evolving technology, has accelerated the need for companies to adopt digital business models.
There are four digital business model
Most digital transformations have only
archetypes that organizations can use to
Digital transformation is accelerating across been incremental, and primarily applied to
differentiate and provide innovative products
all businesses. digitizing core offerings, technologies and
and services.
processes.
Examples
COVID-19 has driven the need to rapidly
Digital business model archetypes
provide improved digital experiences
Robotic automation to streamline
repetitive and predictable tasks A. Intelligent digital solutions
Customers are increasingly demanding B. Digital capability enablers
innovative solutions, not just products
C. Marketplaces
Analytics to generate insights from
aggregated data sets D. Digital ecosystem orchestration
Marginalized groups have suffered further
exclusion during COVID-19
Cloud migration for back-office
Archetypes value vs complexity
technologies and processes
Technology is adapting to drive greater
trust and transparency
This guidebook provides a framework to evaluate the
adoption of a marketplace model, assessment criteria
to operate a marketplace and future trends that may
impact marketplaces.
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 7E V O L U T I O N O F D I G I TA L B U S I N E S S M O D E L S Back to contents
Marketplaces can drive value across several dimensions Click or hover over buttons
and diagram to interact
Marketplaces provide the opportunity to drive value to the firm, society and broader ecosystem. However,
only a few organizations have successfully managed to generate substantial value.
Digital natives currently dominate
IC INC platform models
OM LU S
N ION
EC O
SH ONO
Who dominates the platform models?
EC
RE
AR M
TU
IN Y
FU
G
VALUE VALUE TO A handful of organizations have started
TO FIRM SOCIETY their own marketplace platforms to
Hover over diagram sections to interact
GOVER NA
compete with digital natives and are
CORPORA
IMPACT
CORE
beginning to see success
NCE
VALUE TO
TE
ECOSYSTEM
EF
FI IC
G CIE N OM TH
AI N O W
NS CY EC R O CheMondis & Maisons du
G DBS
EMPOWERMENT LANXESS Monde
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 8Back to contents
Key elements of a marketplace
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 9KEY ELEMENTS OF A MARKETPL ACE Back to contents
Digital marketplace definition and roles
Marketplaces facilitate valuable and convenient interactions between any combination of businesses and individuals
Digital marketplace roles
Most organizations are
directly or indirectly a part of a
marketplace.
Digital
The consideration to operate Enablers marketplace Enablers
a marketplace requires an Sellers
operator
Value exchange Value exchange Buyers
evaluation of multiple business
and societal factors which are
addressed in other chapters of
this guidebook.
Enablers
Sellers Digital marketplace Buyers Enablers
• Suppliers/participants operator
• People/businesses • Provide specific
Provide products and services • Own and operate a Obtain direct utility from capabilities (e.g.
to marketplace customers and/ marketplace platform the products/services fulfilment, buyer/seller
or expose part of the business provided by suppliers financing) to support
• Organize activities/
(data, assets, etc.) for other the interactions in a
interactions acting as
ecosystem players to leverage marketplace
a liaison with the wider
Marketplace ecosystem
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 10KEY ELEMENTS OF A MARKETPL ACE Back to contents
“Design box” – marketplace on a page Click on buttons to interact
There are four key elements in the design of a marketplace
Assets exchanged Marketplace routes to market
Examples of assets being bought and sold Interactions marketplaces create or facilitate
• Goods • B2B
• Services • B2C
• Data • B2B2C
See detail • C2C See detail
Marketplace
key elements
Operating models Economic structure
Choices to position a marketplace Revenue models applicable to marketplaces
• Marketplace becomes the core/entire business • Direct sales
• Part of core business • Advertising
• New venture • Transactions
See detail • Subscription See detail
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 11KEY ELEMENTS OF A MARKETPL ACE Back to marketplace on a page Back to contents
Marketplaces allow for exchange of value through multiple offerings Click on growth
buttons to interact
and tend to follow one or a combination of growth strategies
Marketplace type Offerings
Consumer Commercial Commodities
Goods goods goods and utilities
Labor Digital Talent and
Vertical growth Services solutions products skills
Commercial Corporate Expertise and
Data data data knowledge
Horizontal growth
Having a strong digtial bank
Organizations with industry expertise often grow their marketplaces vertically, while digital natives
DBS
proposition, DBS also launched
Example: multiple marketplaces in other
find it easier to pursue horizontal growth.
industries with end–to–end offerings
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 12KEY ELEMENTS OF A MARKETPL ACE Back to marketplace on a page Back to contents
Marketplace routes to market
Marketplaces allow for inclusion of several players across the value chain by digitizing interactions between buyers and sellers,
thereby reducing friction and removing inefficiencies
B2C B2B B2B2C C2C
Business-to-customer Business-to-business Business-to-business-to-customer Customer-to-customer
Examples: Examples: Examples: Examples:
Platform matching spare parts in stock Platform matching bars during
Delivery platform matching takeaway Hospitality exchange service, matching
with factories for maintenance of energy COVID-19 with other businesses and
eaters with takeaway restaurants travellers and spare rooms
production systems individuals to sell beverages
Super app (marketplace of multiple
Wholesaler launched online Peer-to-peer shopping app, matching
services and offerings), connecting small Wholesale marketplace matching SMEs
marketplace to match their partner customers with sellers of second hand
businesses (e.g. salons, hospitality staff, and independent brands
brands with HoReCa (hotel, restaurant clothes
couriers) with customers
and catering) customers
Platform connecting restaurants’ Digital road freight forwarder, linking Perks platform selling retailer offers to NGO aiming to boost reuse and cut waste
soon-to-expire meals with customers large commercial shippers with small employers, subsequently offering these to landfill connecting individuals with
to reduce food waste freight carriers to employees unwanted items
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 13KEY ELEMENTS OF A MARKETPL ACE Back to marketplace on a page Back to contents
Marketplace operating models Click on logos to interact
Organizations can position their digital marketplaces in three different ways
Original core MARKETPLACE Original core MARKETPLACE
MARKETPLACE Original core
AS A CORE AS A NEW
business PART business BUSINESS
AS A NEW CORE business
Digital marketplace becomes a
Digital marketplace sits outside of
key part of the core business, Digital marketplace is born as or
the core business, operating as a
complementing the initial industry becomes the core business
venture in a new industry
proposition
Points to consider Points to consider Points to consider
• Ability to offer an omni-channel experience to • Enables a refreshed strategy and access to new • More scope for experimentation and better asset
customers talent and expertise that can be leveraged into utilization due to single channel focus
• Potential channel cannibalization, with customers core business or other ventures • Model needs to go through a scaling process
moving from physical to digital • Sharing data across businesses might be a before reaching profitability
• Decisions on funding allocation, talent challenge due to regulatory barriers
management and incentives across businesses • An independent entity may give the business more
could impair growth and intended value agility to learn and react to changes in the market
proposition
Example: Real Example: DBS Example: Amazon
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Source: 1Shippypro 14KEY ELEMENTS OF A MARKETPL ACE Back to marketplace on a page Back to contents
Marketplace economic structure Click on logos to interact
Successful orchestrators experiment with several potential economic levers in a marketplace
Additional sales channel
• Opportunity to sell own products Value received
Digital • Transparency, safe and trusted transactions
marketplace Charge buyers • One-stop-shop with a wider range of products/services
operator • Transaction fee Buyers to fill their needs
• Premium subscriptions • Optimal prices
Charge sellers
• Sales commission
• Fees for value-added tools and services (e.g. dynamic
pricing, stock forecasting, etc.)
• Fulfilment services
Utilize data to monetize
• Advertising (e.g. content marketing, social media Value received
marketing, display advertising, etc.)
• Access to more customers
Sellers • Sales data to improve offerings for future monetization
Examples: Airbnb Google Amazon
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: 1Airbnb; 2Google 15Back to contents
Adoption assessment
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 16ADOPTION ASSESSMENT Back to contents
To evaluate adoption of a marketplace model, organizations need to Click on buttons to interact
evaluate its desirability in target industry and market, viability to drive value
and feasibility to successfully operate
Desirability: Will a marketplace provide double-sided economic
value in the economy and industry I focus on?
• Population socio-economic factors • Supply chain fragmentation
• Societal factors • Data maturity
• Digital adoption • Existing marketplace maturity
Desirability • Infrastructure/logistics • Regulation
See detail
• Supplier/buyer concentration
Viability: Is there clear value for my company or for the broader
society/industry? What are the implications to my core business?
• Marketplace monetization/profitability • Regulation (monopoly/intermediate
• Access to adjacent benefits (cross liability)
selling, data) • Brand impact
• Environmental, Social and • Channel cannibalization See detail
Feasibility Viability Governance (ESG) impact • Partner and internal stakeholder conflict
Feasibility: Do I have the capabilities to be the operator of a
marketplace?
• Ecosystem partnerships • Digital culture/talent workforce
• Data access (buyer/seller/ • Capital availability
supply chain) • Access to logistics/supply chain
• Technology (cloud-based platform, See detail
AI, security)
World Economic Forum | A Guide to MarketplacesADOPTION ASSESSMENT Back to contents
Desirability conditions supporting a marketplace adoption Click on button to interact
Q U ES TI O N S BY CATEG O RY
Population socio-economic factors Buyer concentration
What are the key socio-economic factors, such as education, employment, What is the level of buyer concentration in the target market? Are there
income, and public resources in the market in which you operate? several buyers or is buying concentrated among a few players?
Societal factors Supply chain fragmentation
Are there marginalized groups that are being excluded from the broader What is the level of supply chain complexity? Is the industry value chain
economy? Is there a digital divide? integrated with different suppliers, stakeholders and their multiple products?
Digital adoption Data maturity
Desirability
What is the level of digital penetration in the economy? What is the level of What is the level and quality of relevant data? Is there prevalent
Will a marketplace internet accessibility and smartphone usage for commerce? misinformation around product information, pricing, quality, etc.?
provide double-sided
economic value in the
economy and industry I Infrastructure/logistics Existing marketplace maturity
focus on?
How mature is the infrastructure to facilitate the exchange and movement of What is the maturity level of existing marketplaces? Do they solve the industry
goods in the broader economy? or market problem effectively? Do they have critical buyer or seller mass?
Supplier concentration Regulation
What is the level of seller concentration in the target market? Is it fragmented Is there potential for disruptive innovation in your industry? Are there
or consolidated? regulatory impediments that would prevent such disruption?
Back to framework
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 18ADOPTION ASSESSMENT Back to contents
Viability conditions supporting a marketplace adoption Click on button to interact
Q U ES TI O N S BY CATEG O RY
Monetization/profitability Brand impact
Does your marketplace have a clear path to profitability? Is there a Will your marketplace impact the core business brand?
monetization strategy?
Channel cannibalization
Access to adjacent benefits
Does your marketplace provide adjacent strategic benefits such as
Does your marketplace provide adjacent strategic benefits such as expanding internal capabilities, cross-selling, increase in industry size, and
expanding internal capabilities, cross-selling, increase in industry size, and access to more data?
access to more data?
Partner conflict
Viability ESG impact
Is there clarity on the role each partner will play in which part of the
Is there clear value for Is there an opportunity to create mutually beneficial relationships with ecosystem to avoid creating direct conflict in the value chain?
my company or for the
wider stakeholder groups (e.g. NGOs, groups from disadvantaged
broader society and/or
industry? What are the backgrounds) to embed ESG commitments and inclusiveness in your Partner and internal stakeholder conflict
implications to my core business model?
business? Do you have the internal support and commitment at the highest level in
the organization to drive the change required?
Regulation
Will the firm be subject to additional regulations if the marketplace is
not run independently? Are these material consequences to your core
business?
Back to framework
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 19ADOPTION ASSESSMENT Back to contents
Feasibility conditions supporting a marketplace adoption Click on button to interact
Q U ES TI O N S BY CATEG O RY
Ecosystem partnerships Digital culture/talent workforce
Do you have existing ecosystem relationships that would accelerate the Does your organization have a digital culture mindset that is fostering
onboarding of sellers or buyers onto the marketplace? innovation? Is your organization able to provide an environment to fail fast?
Can you beat the pace of innovation of competitors? Do you have the right
talent to drive the changes needed to your core business model?
Data access
Feasibility Does your organization have considerable data and insights into the market Capital availability
that give you an advantage in setting up a marketplace?
Do I have the Do you have the required capital to invest in the foundational capabilities
capabilities to be of a marketplace (supply chain, technology infrastructure, marketing
the operator of a Technology capabilities, etc.)?
marketplace?
Do you have access to cloud-based technology infrastructure,
applications, analytics, data security and integration capabilities to support Access to logistics/supply chain
the development and maintenance of a marketplace?
Does your organization have the right capabilities related to logistics and
delivery, data-driven stock forecasting and management, last-mile visibility,
and overall supply chain management?
Back to framework
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 20ADOPTION ASSESSMENT Back to contents
Example outputs of the assessment to help evaluate the adoption Click on the yes or no
buttons to interact
of a marketplace
Yes Yes Yes
Desirability Viability Feasibility
Will a marketplace Is there clear value for Do I have the
provide double-sided No my company or for the No capabilities to be No
economic value in the broader society and/or the operator of a
economy and industry I industry? What are the marketplace?
focus on? implications to my core
business?
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 21Back to contents
Success criteria
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 22SUCCESS CRITERIA Back to contents
Operating a marketplace successfully requires organizations to Hover over hexagons
to interact
apply success criteria across nine dimensions
Commerce
KEY enablers
Hyper Commerce
relevance ecosystem
EXTERNAL
CRITERIA
Multi-sided
economic Inclusion and Talent and
value sustainability culture
INTERNAL
CRITERIA Stakeholder
engagement and Technology and
success AI alignment
Operating
model
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 23SUCCESS CRITERIA Back to contents
Leading marketplaces excel at multiple success criteria Click on buttons to interact
CARREFOUR See detail CHEMONDIS & LANXESS See detail JIOMART See detail
Leveraged its brand positioning and capabilities to launch Traditional industry player launched an independent Indian grocery delivery joint venture enabling ‘kiranas’ and
digital marketplaces tailored to local needs marketplace to address a fragmented, non-transparent and other small retailers to sell on the platform has quickly scaled to
complex value chain 10,000 employees and 100 cities
KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA
Multi-sided economic value Commerce ecosystem Commerce ecosystem Hyper relevance Commerce ecosystem Hyper relevance
Technology & AI alignment Operating model Technology & AI alignment Inclusion & sustainability
Stakeholder engagement & success
MAYKERS & KRAMP See detail DBS See detail GRAB See detail
Traditional industry player capitalized on its know-how to solve Set up one-stop integrated travel marketplace providing On-demand ride-hailing company expanded its platform to
a siloed approach of doing business seamless integration of complementary services provide services across multiple industries
KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA KEY SUCCESS CRITERIA
Multi-sided economic value Commerce ecosystem Commerce ecosystem Hyper relevance Multi-sided economic value Commerce ecosystem
Stakeholder engagement & success Commerce enablers
Technology & AI alignment Talent & culture
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 24Back to contents
Trends
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 25TRENDS Back to contents
Several growing trends may impact the value levers and Click on buttons to interact
success criteria of marketplaces
Value-added services and niche models
Society at the core of business models
Adoption of localized and alternative payment methods
Use of technology and partners to build trust
Increased regulation and intermediate liability
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Source: 1European Commission 26Conclusion
Executives looking to pivot to digital business models to compete with digital natives and capture new value pools
need to select the right model based on their company’s current situation and the complexity required to pivot.
Pivoting to a marketplace model requires a solid understanding of the target market and industry, clear value
levers for the company and broader impact on society and the ecosystem. Further, companies are well served to
conduct an internal and external capability feasibility assessment.
A decision to launch a marketplace is a significant commitment. Operating marketplaces requires a unique set of
capabilities that organizations must maximize to increase the chances of success. Capabilities include:
• Having an inclusive mindset to promote participation of marginalized societal groups
• Staying hyper relevant and actively enhancing the user experience to create customer “stickiness”
• H
aving an independent operating model in order to foster trust among buyers and sellers, increased
participation and innovation
reating a marketplace is a disruptive opportunity with tremendous future economic value, as well as value for
C
ecosystem participants and society at large. Successful first movers will set the new standard that competitors
will be forced to meet, potentially limiting competitors’ ability to capture value in the future.
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 27Back to Contents
contents
Case studies
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 28CASE STUDY CONTENTS Back to success criteria Back to contents
Case studies Click on logos to go to case study
Below is a case study repository for this guidebook. Please click onto the relevant case study logo to
view the deep dive.
CheMondis & Hewlett
AB In Bev Carrefour LANXESS DBS Grab Packard
Enterprise
Maisons du Maykers &
JioMart Majid Al Futtaim Shopee
Monde Kramp
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces 29CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
AB In Bev • Set up HORECA2U, a free platform to support
local businesses during COVID-19 lockdowns,
• Partnered with Salesforce to build the
platform, which was offered for free to
to deliver a unique proposition to consumers in suppliers (HoReCa) and consumers
Created partnerships with Coca-Cola European the Amsterdam urban area, in the Netherlands
Partners and Salesforce to develop a marketplace • Local bars prepared the packages and
• Leveraged sales expertise from both AB In Bev handled last mile delivery
to support the HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and and Coca-Cola European Partners to create
• AB In Bev and Coca-Cola European Partners
catering) industry during COVID-19 experiential packages containing products from
helped create social media presence for this
both brands (e.g. cocktails with Coca-Cola
• World’s largest brewery, with 98%+ of its European sales in B2B, signature beverages, AB In Bev with premium initiative and for all participants, some of
including off-trade (supermarkets) and on-trade (bars, restaurants beers, and growlers to reproduce the bar which were at the neighborhood level
and convenience stores) experience at home)
• In addition, there was a strong effort to
digitally educate and onboard local bars for
the initiative
Challenge Value generated and success factors
• The COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdowns rapidly impacted the • Three-way value proposition provided: • AB In Bev orchestrated a network of partners
HoReCa (hotel, restaurant and catering) industry across the world consumers received a hospitality experience at the global and local level, from building
at home, the local on-trade industry was the platform (with Salesforce) to creating
• Consumer goods companies of all types needed to find alternative supported during the pandemic and demand the experiential packages (with Coca-Cola
channels to reach their consumers was generated for suppliers’ products (AB In European Partners)
Bev, Coca-Cola European Partners)
• Initial evaluation engaged 12 bars and 400+
consumers through the platform
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: AB In Bev, Salesforce 30CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
• Launched a marketplace in Brazil in late France:
2017 and one in France in summer 2020 with • Our goal is to become the leading
Carrefour different strategies to match local demands e-commerce site globally; to meet ever-
changing consumer expectations, the entire
Brazil:
Leveraged its brand positioning and Carrefour ecosystem has been adapted and
• Leveraged position as biggest retailer in the our Mirakl-powered marketplace is central to
capabilities to launch digital marketplaces market to create multiformat and omnichannel this strategy
tailored to local needs customer experience
• Local enablement strategy as a differentiator,
• Launched three businesses on the same filling the gap in the market, helping local
• Retail multinational company with 12,000+ stores globally and platform – first-party, third-party and grocery SMEs digitalize
sales of €80,000+ billion in 2019
• Made seller onboarding team available during
lockdown to educate local sellers in creating
a catalogue of products
Challenge Value generated and success factors
• Customers want wider choice in more online categories (baby • As of March 2018, Carrefour’s Brazilian • Provides small retailers with an accelerated
care, pet food, more organic products, personal care, beverage) marketplace hosted 85 sellers and 100,000+ solution for digitizing their businesses
products. In 2020 the platform offers 7 million+ with 52% of partner vendors being SMEs,
• Overall market pressure demanding a clear corporate social catalogued products from more than 8,000 expanding and embracing the local partner
responsibility and ESG strategies from all companies across sellers and generates about 30% of Carrefour’s ecosystem
industries and retail is no different overall eCommerce GMV
• In France, Carrefour announced that the
• Digital natives increasingly stepping into food retailers’ territory
• In France, the Carrefour’s marketplace marketplace was free to use for local and
(e.g. Amazon, Alibaba)
platform will feature up to 100,000 products small businesses
• Large number of local sellers available, but with little knowledge of from 100+ different retailers by the end of this
how to work with big traditional food retailers 2021; these items complement Carrefour’s • Agility to deploy and adapt new services
daily product range and categories by opting to buy vs. build
the marketplace
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: 1Mirakl, 2Grupo Carrefour Brasil, Mirakl 31CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
CheMondis
• LANXESS founded CheMondis which operates the paints and coatings, sealants, adhesives,
as an independent digital marketplace plastics industry) to increase efficiency in
centralizing and orchestrating all key deal-making and order processing
Traditional industry player launched an steps required to facilitate B2B chemicals
transactions across spot and contract markets • High number of products across categories
independent marketplace to address a and SKUs targeted to cover the entire market
fragmented, non-transparent and complex • Founded in mid-2018, its platform boasts and the high interdependence of chemicals
50,000+ products with more than 5,000 verified
value chain companies participating • Collects and uses real-time market data to
streamline and expedite ordering process
• Specialty chemicals company, LANXESS, with annual sales of • Operates in all EU27 European countries (+UK)
$8.2 billion set up CheMondis marketplace, an independent across a highly fragmented supply chain • Create value for both customers and
cross-manufacturer and cross-dealer B2B platform suppliers (buyers and sellers)
• It provides the industry a software platform to
deal with all kind of chemical products (e.g. for
Challenge
Value generated and success factors
• Fragmentation and complexity
The chemicals industry has several constituents in its value • CheMondis marketplace had a gross • Progressive CEO of established industry
chain, with companies participating in some or all steps of the merchandise volume of ~$1 billion as of 2020 player with courage to fund and allow
process; this adds a lot of complexity in the development of CheMondis to run as an independent
products and solutions until they reach end users • Signed up about 22% of the 22,500 chemical organization
companies in the European Union for its
• Data/information marketplace • Openness to innovation, enabling a shift in
Lack of robust data to support the experience for buyers, from the operating model to an agile and ‘fail fast’
catalogues to quote information to document exchange to order- • Shifted a traditional industry with a very approach that delivered success
status tracking complex value chain to a more seamless
ordering process and user experience for
buyers and sellers
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: CheMondis and LANXESS 32CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
DBS • DBS capitalized on its outreach, as it provides providing flexible payments, travel
DBS set up multiple marketplaces outside of banking services to most of Singapore insurance, access to flights, hotels and
events booking
its core business to increase customer reach • Leveraged customers data insights to tailor
offerings to needs – DBS property marketplace is the largest
and offer tailored solutions
bank-run platform of its kind in South-East
• Invested SG$1 billion annually in its tech Asia, offering around 100,000 listings from
• Singaporean bank covering retail, corporate, investment banking, transformation1 agents and owners. It includes Singapore’s
insurance, mortgage and other products first home financial planner; end-to-end
• Launched four marketplaces in property, travel, paperless transactions and documentation,
• Largest bank in South-East Asia in assets cars, utilities to become a “one-stop-shop,” e.g. using partner ecosystem to offer help with
setting up utilities, internet and TV services,
– Integrated travel marketplace: in partnership cleaning and moving
with Singapore Airlines and other vendors,
Challenge
• Fintechs disrupting the industry Value generated and success factors
• Pressure to expand customer base and improve share of wallet/ • Enabled robust ecosystems in partnership with
cross-sell global companies and SMEs
• 72% of its total profit in 2017 came from digital
customers1
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: 1Finch Capital 33CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
• Started off as ride-hailing company; now communication between riders and drivers.
expanded to multiple industries, including food GrabChat can even translate messages if the
Grab delivery, digital payments services, insurance
and investments, and others
set languages of the driver and passenger
are different
From a taxi company to an on-demand • In 2019, created a super app to consolidate its • Provides over 15+ app-based on-demand
multi-service platform and digital payment online services into one platform, as well as services, such as: GrabTaxi, GrabCar,
launching hotels and tickets GrabBike, GrabCar+ (more premium cars),
technology group that created economic value GrabHitch (carpooling), GrabExpress
and societal impact • It currently operates in the Asian countries of (last mile delivery), GrabWheels (scooter),
Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia, GrabPay, GrabRewards, GrabFood, Grab
Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Financial (insurance, financing services),
• Singaporean multinational ride-hailing company, present in nine Japan GrabPet, GrabKitchen (cloud kitchen for its
countries, 350+ cities and metropolitan areas
food delivery)
• Each time the company enters a new market,
• $2.3 billion in revenue as of 2019
it buys smartphones for drivers, allowing those • In collaboration with Mastercard, launched a
drivers to pay daily instalments for the phone to numberless payment card, the first of its kind
access the platform in Asia
• Grab added an in-app instant messaging
feature called “GrabChat” to allow simple
Challenge
Value generated and success factors
• Congested cities
• South-East Asia’s first “decacorn” (start-up Asia, enabling several small businesses and
• Fragmented, inefficient markets in transportation and logistics valued over $10 billion”) marginalized groups to participate in the
economy
• Grab has over 2 million driving partners, 68
million mobile app downloads, and 3.5 million • Orchestrated a massive ecosystem of partners
daily rides to offer value-added services to users
• During COVID-19, Grab onboarded over
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: Grab, Vulcan Post, EdgeMarkets, ABSCBillion, CNN 34
600,000 new merchants across South-EastCASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
• A decentralized platform and marketplace • Non-repudiation of digital data services is
enables sharing of data insights without sharing secured with mutual authentication between
Hewlett Packard Enterprise the data itself – and without the need for a
central intermediary
the parties. Data protection and privacy is
enabled by data encryption, ensuring the
Revolutionizing how value is extracted from authenticity of data sources, data access and
• The use of automated smart contracting data transfer
data by decentralizing (and democratizing) allows immutability of transactions and leads
data spaces to transparency for all participants in highly • Transactions between the participants are
efficient manner governed directly by the participants to
protect and safeguard their data privacy and
• Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) is a global edge-to-cloud • This decentralized platform also serves as a sovereignty
platform-as-a-service company that helps organizations accelerate
marketplace for aggregated machine learning
outcomes by unlocking value from all of their data, everywhere
(ML). Several participants share the learnings of
their ML models with each other to accerlerate
learning and eliminate ML bias
Challenge
Value generated and success factors
• Insights from data must be shared in order to unfold their full
value – use cases can be as mundane as information about empty
• Participants advance their ability to create quantifiable economic and social benefits
parking lots or as sophisticated as the results of a DNA sequencing
value from data while preserving data privacy with this decentralized platform
• However, it‘s often not feasible, not permitted, or not desirable to and data sovereignty, and avoiding the cost of
share data or insights on a centralized platform or marketplace – moving data back and forth • Willingness of market participants to
reasons include data privacy, security, data sovereignty, and “data collaborate in order to generate value from
gravity”, i.e. it can be costly, difficult and slow to send data to • Data value generation is democratized, power their data is key
central locations and opportunities are distributed across
participants because there is no central • Standards for data usage and specifications
• As a result, huge portions of data value goes unleveraged. intermediary – you only benefit if you share for high quality data will lower the hurdles for
According to a global study by IDC and Seagate,1 organizations wider adoption
only put 32% of the available data to work • An increased data value creation maturity level
of market participants is necessary to obtain
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: 1IDC and Seagate, Hewlett Packard Enterprise 35CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
JioMart • Prepared significant advertisement campaign
and launch rapidly: soft launch in December
a wider selection of SKUs for customers
(as opposed to selling from first-party or
Indian hyperlocal solution for groceries has 2019, pilot launch in 3 cities in April 2020 and full warehouse locations)
launch of JioMart.com in 200 cities in May 2020
quickly scaled to over 35,000 employees • Embraces liquid workforce practices
• Leveraged the wide network of Reliance (including open enlistment of retailers,
(including gig workforce) and 200+ cities
Retail’s grocery stores and well-established drivers and customers) to rapidly meet
supply chain infrastructure to quickly become demand
• An initiative of Reliance Retail (RR), which launched the JioMart India’s largest online grocery retailer
consumer platform to meet customer requirements for essentials • Offers customer-friendly promotions to
during the COVID-19 lockdown • Offers a market opportunity for ‘kiranas’ and scale: free delivery, no minimum basket
other small retailers to sell on the platform value, easy returns
• The platform offers a variety of items to satisfy customers’ daily
– scaling the network quickly and delivering
needs and upholds its customer price promise and service ethos
Value generated and success factors
Challenge • App downloaded more than 1 million times in • Growth accelerated by restrictions on
the first four days after launch of JioMart app shopping during COVID-19
• Disorganized retail market, dense and diverse urban areas and a (June 2020)
very high number of small retailers • $5.7 billion investment received from
• Over 150,000 orders processed per day by Facebook and JioMart has begun more
• High price sensitivity and price competitiveness
December 2020 with a peak order rate of over closely integrating the platform with
500,000 orders per day WhatsApp for Business and WhatsApp Pay,
enabling people to easily track their order
and invoice for a seamless online shopping
experience
Sources: JioMart 36
World Economic Forum | A Guide to MarketplacesCASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
• Maisons du Monde launched a curated Monde has carefully selected each partner
marketplace, selecting brands that are a good brand selling on the marketplace, with
Maisons Du Monde fit in terms of style, affordability, quality and
social responsibility and which complement
special attention to young designers, “Made
in France” brands, and companies using
French home decor and furniture company its own offering, across categories such as sustainably sourced materials
couches, lighting and bedding
launched a marketplace, extending product • The Maisons du Monde team has a charter to
offerings to meet increasing customer demands • Initially launched in November 2020 in France, help the brands selling on the marketplace feel
the marketplace includes 300+ brands with connected to the brand and shared mission of
33,000 additional SKUs. Drawing on their social responsibility
• For more than 20 years, Maisons du Monde, has been a European
expertise in the world of interiors, Maisons du
leader in original and accessible home decor and furniture
collections with 352 stores in Europe and 17 stores in the US, and
sales of €1.18 million in 2020
Value generated and success factors
• The marketplace is at the heart of Maisons e-commerce site, including personalized
du Monde’s strategy, accelerating group’s recommendations using AI algorithms
Challenge digitization, which already generates 50% of its
sales through digital transactions (e-commerce • The extension of the product range, offered
• Consumers were visiting Maisons du Monde’s e-commerce, and click-in-store), and has 10 million unique via the marketplace, has produced strong
searching for categories and product selection not yet offered site visitors per month initial results:
– eCommerce conversion rate has increased
• Increasingly, customers were expecting more environmentally • Maisons du Monde’s marketplace sellers are
sustainable products that still maintain the high quality, uniquely since marketplace launch
expected to generate €160-180 million gross
designed standards of Maisons du Monde – 40% increase in site traffic
merchandise value at the end of 2024
• Maisons du Monde had limited inventory and warehousing – 32% increase in product assortment
• Strategically designed customer experience
capabilities to meet these customer needs – Marketplace NPS in line with Maisons du
where Maisons du Monde and marketplace
Monde’s own e-commerce orders
products are seamlessly integrated on the
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Source: Maisons du Monde 37CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
• Enabled the exchange and use of data to create • Founding members included telecom players,
Majid Al Futtaim economic and social value through a robust data
marketplace
retailers (Majid Al Futtaim), government entities
(e.g. transport authority, economic authority,
Building a data trust in Dubai, boosting health authority), and technology players
• Smart Dubai launched the first “Data Trust”
industry resilience, economic growth, and where multiple parties could share data that • The work was organized along different use
responsible consumption would be hosted and aggregated together. In cases with different data trusts established to
this way, participants and wider ecosystem serve different objectives such as retail and
could generate more insights than from just health and wellness
• Majid Al Futtaim is the leading shopping mall, communities, retail their own data
and leisure pioneer across the Middle East, Africa and Asia • Participants agreed on a data governance
• Activities included: data creation and collection, framework, data sharing mechanisms and
• The company is present in 17 international markets, employs more
data storage and aggregation, data processing initially shared data samples, which were
than 43,000 people, and has the highest credit rating (BBB) among
privately held corporates in the region and analysis, data use, and data marketing and analyzed to allow deeper understanding of
distribution shopping and spending trends and to drive
more responsible consumption behavior
• Work was structured along four strategic themes: (actions included policy-making, changes in
Challenge transparent governance, operational excellence, retail offerings and services, etc.)
commercialization, and people and engagement
• In Dubai, policy-makers have historically had limited visibility on trends,
which has impeded the possibility of faster policy making
Value generated and success factors
• Businesses possess more data but are generally limited to their own data.
This limits their understanding of customers’ behaviors in order to create • The first example of a functioning data trust • As more participants join, it can evolve into a
better products, services or experiences applied in the retail sector. It collectively full-fledged marketplace, with different forms
achieved a deeper understanding of the of engagement. The data sharing allows
• Data is a valuable asset but is often kept restricted, preventing wider
value creation catchment area, visitor flow and spending any individual or institutional stakeholder to
trends in Mall of the Emirates, a super-regional develop use cases and solutions, with the
• How can data be shared in a safe, fair and easy way to create long- mall established by Majid Al Futtaim aim of realizing the economic and societal
term economic value for all stakeholders? This includes government, objectives set by the founding members
businesses, tech providers, educational institutions, media, civic • It has helped generate economic insights
institutions, international organizations and individuals
for both government and non-government
participants and paved the way for more
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Source: Majid Al Futtaim 38
participants to join the trustCASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Solution
Maykers • The marketplace offers a one-stop-shop solution, engage directly with a chat feature, as well
Traditional industry player capitalized on from supplies, machinery parts, services (e.g. as share expertise with Maykers education
crop advice) and to other needs, eliminating the resources
its know how to solve a siloed approach of former siloed approach
doing business • Simplified and safe payment methods to
• The Maykers marketplace is a destination for minimize risk, with sellers being paid for the
both farmers to connect with local and global order only after the delivery of goods/services
• Kramp Group with over 100 years of agriculture experience businesses and for suppliers to reach a larger
launched Maykers, an independent marketplace for farmers customer base, creating a win-win situation for all • Leveraged a pre-built marketplace solution
dedicated to agricultural supplies and services with pre-approved merchants
• Beyond the platform, Maykers created a
community where farmers and suppliers can
Challenge
• Highly fragmented industry with little transparency
Value generated and success factors
• 150+ partners, 50,000+ products in 70+ exchange expertise and through which
• Farmers have a small set of global or locally specialized companies
to source supplies, which often creates challenges when categories from 500+ agriculture brands1,2 Maykers can learn more about farmers’
negotiating prices every year, prompting them to turn to large needs to tailor solutions and stay relevant to
digital native players for their needs • A critical solution to a fast-growing sector, the ecosystem
which generates over $2.4 trillion for the global
• Lack of overall insight and data to understand customers needs economy each year1 • Enabled farmers to be more productive
through a one-stop shop solution and greater
• Manufacturers are worried they do not have insight into the • Deepen engagement between farmers and price transparency
customer after initial product sale suppliers by building a community where they
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: 1Mirakl, 2Maykers 39CASE STUDY DEEP DIVE AS OF JANUARY 2021 Back to success criteria Back to case study directory
Shopee Solution
Shopee set up a seller university to promote • Social first, mobile-centric marketplace, starting • Shopee University: equips sellers to start their
as a C2C marketplace and has since expanded online businesses, run “Seller Master Classes”
inclusiveness as a key value proposition of to B2C twice a month on how to do sales, marketing
its marketplace and operations
• Marketplace is integrated with logistical (70
courier service providers) and payment support, • Seller support package: provides tokens and a
• Singaporean multinational tech company focusing on e-commerce,
making online shopping easy and secure for both small commission on future sales for people to
serving South-East Asia, Taiwan and Brazil
sellers and buyers educate small shops on how to participate and
• Shopee was first launched in Singapore in 2015 use the platform, enabling the community in a
• Unique shopping security feature to build trust sustainable manner
(Shopee Guarantee1), withholding payment to
sellers until buyers have received their orders
Challenge
Value generated and success factors
• Industry competition from digital natives (AliExpress) and local
players: Lazada, Tokopedia • Quickly became Singapore’s most visited • Value beyond profitability, by enabling
platform; 82% increase in users using mobile marginalized communities to participate in
channel for purchase in Q1-Q2 2020 ecosystem, creating their own marketplaces
and selling through Shopee’s marketplace
• As of 2019, the platform recorded 200 million
downloads2 and a GMV of $17.6 billion3
World Economic Forum | A Guide to Marketplaces Sources: 1TechinAsia, 2TheStar, 3Cafe24 40Contributors
We would like to thank members of Accenture, the World Economic Forum, and the World Economic Forum
Digital Transformation Leaders Network for their contributions to this paper. We would also like to thank the
members of the Digital Transformation CEO Champions Group for their role in inspiring this paper.
Lead contributors
Joe Abi Akl, Chief Corporate Development Officer, Majid Al Carsten Linz, Former Group Chief Digital Officer, BASF SE
Futtaim Holding
Burke Norton, Senior Managing Director; Co-Head, Perennial
Hany Fam, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Markaaz Investing, Vista Equity Partners
Piercarlo Gera, Chief Executive Officer, Gera & Partners Dan Toma, Co-Founder, Outcome
Tom Harrington, Marketing Strategy and Operations Manager, Simon Torrance, Senior Adviser, Metaflight
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Deepak Sharma, Director of Business Solutions, IT and
John Hagel, Founder, Beyond Our Edge Digitalization, Agility
Joerg Hellwig, Chief Digital Officer, LANXESS AG Dickel Sooriah, VP Marketing EMEA, Mirakl
Carlos Javaroni, Vice President of Business Development, Nicolas Verschelden, Global Innovation Ecosystems Director and
Schneider Electric Managing Partner Dream Tech Alliance, Anheuser-Busch InBev
Kenneth Kwok, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Anna Zeiter, Chief Privacy Officer, eBay Inc.
Citizen Capital
For any enquiries, please contact:
Fanyu Lin, Chief Executive Officer, Fluxus LLC Nokuthula.Lukhele@weforum.org
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