New vertical marketplaces in Spain

Although the offer of marketplaces is quite wide, the same ones always come to mind: Amazon, Aliexpress and -not to everyone- Ebay. All of them are horizontal (with a multitude of different categories) and where competition is intense.

Today, we are going to review 5 alternatives of vertical marketplaces that work very well at a national level. Thanks to them, you have the option to diversify channels and sell on more than one of these platforms, thus complementing your eCommerce and/or retail sales.

We are not going to delve too much into the advantages and disadvantages of marketplaces in general, but we do believe that it is worth making a reflection before going into our list.

When these platforms are verticalized or focused on a specific sector, they have some advantages for the user and for the seller. We tend to see these portals as specialists, we trust more in their criteria and we trust more in the products we can find in them.

Because of this search for trust and relevance, we have witnessed a real boom in certain niches such as fashion, but also in household products, sportswear or pets.

There are as many possibilities as there are areas of interest that concentrate a large enough audience. The proof is in the pudding.

The name is not entirely explanatory and can be a bit misleading. It is a vertical marketplace of French origin but it is a leader in Spain in the field of DIY and garden.

Although it has been opening up to other categories such as furniture and decoration, it has not moved so far from its founding idea and its niche.

ManoMano's growth is worth studying. In July 2021, they raised a €300 million round of funding, hired 100 new employees and reached an estimated enterprise value of €2.2 billion.

Their example shows us that it is possible to compete with Amazon using a very powerful weapon: specialization.

One niche that is really interesting is that of pets. Those of us who have animals spare no expense when it comes to giving them the best. In addition, there are certain products that are purchased on a recurring basis, such as cat food or cat litter, which is very interesting when it comes to customer loyalty.

They have relied heavily on dissemination, since Mascoteros, in addition to having a multidisciplinary team that includes veterinarians, has had a nationally broadcast radio program called “Like cats and dogs” for years.

You probably know this chain of sports stores and, as you can imagine, they also have an eCommerce where they sell all kinds of products for sporting activities: shoes for different disciplines, clothing, accessories, nutrition...

What you may not know is that Sprinter is open to third parties for sale in a classic marketplace format. You benefit from their visibility, authority, marketing actions... and they assume certain risks, such as fraud.

It is something with certain similarities to the cases of Sprinter or ManoMano, in a way it is a hybrid between both of them. It enjoys the online and offline popularity of the former (actually more so), but moves in exactly the same vertical as the latter.

Leroy Merlin is a company that could be described as natively offline, but has been able to adapt and transform itself digitally. Moreover, they have found a way to make their eCommerce even more profitable by introducing external vendors into their ecosystem.

By now, everyone knows Decathlon and even has some of its clothes, a bicycle or any other of its sports products. Their retail development is very important and sustained over time.

In order to increase their offer with the minimum risk, they have decided to turn their eCommerce into a vertical marketplace. They manage shipping (as Amazon does with its FBA system), manage the payment and then pay off those sellers.