Selling on Marketplaces While Your Own Webshop Sales Are Declining?

3 actions you can take today!

Marketplaces like Amazon, eBay and Decathlon can be fantastic sales channels. They bring visibility, customers and revenue. But what happens when your marketplace sales keep growing while sales through your own webshop stagnate or decline?

Why not simply close your webshop?

Why not sell exclusively through marketplaces? For some businesses, that might actually be a sensible decision. Marketplaces offer enormous reach, established infrastructure and customers who are ready to buy.

But there's a catch. When you depend entirely on marketplaces, you're building your business on someone else's platform. They control the commissions, the rules, your visibility and much of the customer relationship.

Your own webshop gives you something different: independence. You control your brand, your customer experience, your marketing and your direct customer relationships. And you reduce the risk of a single marketplace decision affecting your entire business.

The smartest approach isn't necessarily choosing between marketplaces and your own webshop.

Here are three practical do's and don'ts, each with a concrete action you can take today to strengthen your business. (We looked at the bigger picture in Marketplaces Are Buying Your Customers, Use That.)

1. Do: keep investing in your own webshop

Don't: let marketplaces become your only priority.

Become the leading specialist in your niche in your country

Your own webshop is your most important independent sales channel. It's where customers buy directly from you, where you build your brand and where you have the greatest control over the shopping experience.

Your ambition should be to become the leading online specialist in your niche in your country. Not another Amazon, but the retailer customers trust most for your particular products.

Marketplaces invest heavily in convenience, trust and technology. Your webshop needs to keep up, and ideally outperform them within your niche.

Start with the buying conditions

If a marketplace offers 30-day returns, free shipping above CHF 50 and a two-year warranty, your own webshop should aim to offer at least comparable conditions. Otherwise, why would customers buy directly from you?

The same applies to payment methods, customer support and the overall shopping experience. Your webshop should never feel like the less convenient option.

Why buying guides matter so much: Why You Must Create a Buyer's Guide for Every Main Category in Your Online Shop.

Invest in state-of-the-art paid advertising

Google Shopping, Performance Max, Meta and other paid channels should be managed by specialists who understand your products, margins and competitive landscape. Your advertising budgets should be allocated intelligently and scaled when additional sales remain profitable.

Your agency should also actively evaluate emerging opportunities, including ChatGPT advertising and other AI-driven discovery channels.

A great performance marketing agency should earn its fees by delivering better results than you could achieve without it. Its advantage is specialist knowledge of your niche, your customers and your business economics, not simply managing advertising accounts.

2. Do: boost your online sales, but know your CM2 margin

Don't: chase revenue without understanding profitability.

Selling through marketplaces and selling through your own webshop have different cost structures. Marketplace commissions are relatively predictable. Depending on the platform and product category, they can represent 15 to 20% or more of your selling price.

Your own webshop doesn't have those marketplace commissions, but acquiring customers through Google, Meta or other paid channels also costs money. And unlike marketplace commissions, advertising costs fluctuate.

That's why you need to understand your CM2 contribution margin i CM2 stands for contribution margin 2: the money left from a sale after all variable costs. What stays covers your fixed costs and your profit. : what remains after product costs, fulfillment, advertising, marketplace fees where applicable, and other relevant variable costs.

At Surfdeal.ch, we calculate product-level minimum selling prices assuming every order could be generated through paid advertising. We also separate Own-Brand and Third-Party Brand products in Google Ads, because their margins, target ROAS requirements and growth opportunities differ.

With accurate conversion tracking, automated bidding and CM2-based profitability targets, we can scale advertising when additional spending remains profitable.

Knowing your margins also helps you decide when you can offer a better price on your own webshop than on a marketplace, without sacrificing profitability. How to get from your margin to the right target: What Is ROAS and How Do You Calculate the Right Target ROAS?

3. Do: treat marketplaces as serious business

Don't: treat them as a side project.

Marketplaces can generate substantial revenue, but successful marketplace selling requires more than uploading products and waiting for orders.

Marketplace selling is serious business. Treat it that way.

Assign an experienced person to manage marketplace performance, pricing, product selection, availability, promotions and customer service. Don't automatically delegate an important sales channel to an intern or junior employee without experienced oversight.

Many marketplaces offer promotional campaigns, seasonal sales events, advertising opportunities and other programs designed to increase visibility. Evaluate these opportunities actively and participate whenever the economics make sense.

Use marketplace orders for brand exposure

But there's another benefit to marketplace sales: brand exposure. Every marketplace order introduces another customer to your products and potentially your brand. Use consistent branding, recognizable packaging and excellent customer service to make a lasting impression.

Not every product is equally suitable

And remember: not every product is equally suitable for marketplace selling.

Product origin	Marketplace opportunity
Own brand / manufacturer	Excellent: strong control over your brand and distribution.
Exclusive distributor / importer	Strong, provided marketplace sales are permitted.
Non-exclusive reseller	Challenging: suppliers, competitors or marketplaces may already sell identical products.

If you're simply reselling the same products as dozens of competitors, marketplace selling can quickly become a price war. Focus on products where you have a genuine competitive advantage.

Need an independent opinion?

Not sure whether your webshop and marketplace strategy is on the right track? Book a free, no-obligation discovery call with one of our e-commerce experts. We'll discuss your current challenges, explore opportunities and help you identify your next steps.