10 Groundbreaking, Biggest E-commerce Companies Advancing the Future of Online Retail Industry
Ever since the introduction of e-commerce, the world has transformed remarkably. Not only has it uplifted the online retail businesses, but has made it much easier for customers to buy anything and everything online. The industry is still advancing and allowing even small businesses to compete with the larger ones and attract a broader audience to their page.
In this blog, we will explore the biggest e-commerce companies that are shaping the online retail world exceptionally.
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List of 10 biggest E-commerce companies to look out for in 2023
- Best for Wholesale Products: Alibaba Group
- Best for Everything: Amazon
- Best for Home Appliances: Shopee
- Best for Electronics: Geekbuying
- Best for Collectors: Ebay
- Best for Health and Beauty Products: Lazada
- Best for Arts and Crafts: Etsy
- Best for Deals and offers: vidaXL
- Trustworthy Buying and Selling Platform: Preloved
Best for Clothing: Shein
Here is a brief about each one of the biggest e-commerce companies that one must be well aware of in order to get top quality products, best offers & discounts and much more.
1. Best for Wholesale Products: Alibaba Group
One of the largest e-commerce conglomerates, Alibaba Group, started by Jack Ma is an amazing platform for buyers and sellers to start their online business. The Chinese platform offers both online wholesale and retail marketplace to interact and expand their startups all in one single portal. With the rise of the technological era, Alibaba has enlarged to be the modest corporation in the ecommerce world with a market cap of over $330 Million.
The company supports various business models, including B2C(business-to-consumers), B2B(business-to-business) and even C2C(consumers-to-consumers). Alibaba sells a vast variety of categories like fashion, furnishings, electronics and more. If you are starting an online retail business, or simply want to buy affordable products, Alibaba is the ideal choice place to go.
Delivery Details
Alibaba is an organization that provides every means for you to sell, operate and enhance your online business. The company offers automotive parts, apparels collection, home decor, hardwares, agricultural items and so much more. Basically, Alibaba is like Amazon but originated from China, who has it all.
Alibaba delivery express provides various cost-effective shipping services including air or freight modes. You can take help from agents on the website and get good convenient rates according to your business’s affordability. Air shipping might be the fastest shipping service but is definitely more costly than freight shipping. With the return policy of 15 days, the buyer needs to fill an Easy Return form to make a return.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Check out some of the Advantages and Disadvantages of Alibaba below:
Advantages
- Overseas sourcing is cheaper than domestic.
- Alibaba offers millions of products.
- Supports businesses and offers competitive prices.
Disadvantages
- There could be quality issues.
- Shipping could take longer than expected.
2. Best for Everything: Amazon
Amazon is a multinational internet company that works as an online retailer, manufacturer of books and even owns a separate platform for streaming movies and web series. It is one of the biggest e-commerce companies that sells electronics, books, toys, clothes, housewares and all the goods that one may require. Originally the company started as a book seller platform and was later turned into a full-fledged e-commerce site including all the consumer products.
Apart from Amazon being an online retailer and web service provider, the company also started selling Kindle in 2007 to get the e-book readers more invested. Currently, the company stands at a market capitalization of $1.29 Trillion, which definitely states that it is one of the biggest e-commerce companies to exist out there in this highly competitive market.
Delivery Details
The internet platform lets you sell products via your website or ecommerce channels, provides a warehouse to store and even deliver your products to customers. If you want to start your own business or a startup, Amazon has various flagship programs to support you. And, with tons of categories like daily essentials, jewelery, beauty products, automobile accessories, electronic devices and so much more, the company offers everything at affordable prices.
Amazon offers same day/ 1-2 days delivery for certain products. Guaranteed deliveries and free shippings are available for its prime members only. If you are a non-prime member, standard deliveries for orders above £25 are free of cost. You get 30 days to return any item bought from Amazon provided that the product is returnable and in fine condition.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Below are some advantages and disadvantages you can consider while shopping from Amazon.
Advantages
- Easy Deliveries with millions of products available.
- Less investment for digital marketing.
- Setting up businesses and selling products is pretty simple.
Disadvantages
- The platform has higher competition.
- Complex order management.
3. Best for Home Appliances: Shopee
Shopee is the most trending e-commerce platform in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. The platform launched in 2015 and is specifically made for these particular regions for providing a faster online shopping experience. The organization serves consumers and buyers alike who’d like to buy or sell their products on the website. They also offer secure payment modes and fulfilment support to newer businesses.
You can buy or sell products like fashion accessories, home decor, baby products, electronic devices and much more. The conglomerate started as a C2C marketplace but now caters to both C2C(consumer-to-consumer) and B2C(business-to-consumer) businesses. Well, we must say that Shopee is one of the biggest e-commerce companies to shop anything and everything with its largest section dedicated to home appliances.
Delivery Details
The company believes that online shopping should be made easier and fun instead of hectic and a burden to the sellers or customers. Keeping that in mind, Shopee is an online retailer offering various categories like clothing, electronics, kidswear, daily essentials and so much more.
Shopee has integrated with a third-party logistics provider, Shopee Supported Logistics (SSL) for faster and secure shipping services. If you are a Shopee-subscriber, you can enjoy free shippings at as lower as 3% of service charges. Within the 15 day period window, buyers can return or exchange their products with the item being in fine condition.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- No registration fee for sellers.
- Offers amazing discounts and deals to both customers and sellers.
- Impressive seller support from Shopee’s team and services.
Disadvantages
- Limited control over product quality.
- Even with low fees and commissions, they could add up to a bigger total amount.
4. Best for Electronics: Geekbuying
The ecommerce company started in 2012, came out with only one purpose in mind: to establish as such a brand channel that could cater to millions of customers all across the globe. The brand started very small and now sells over 300,000 products with 5 million subscribers to the website. Their aim was to serve the world and they have currently reached 200 countries and are still working with more to get them on board.
Geekbuying is an e-retail store that works with a variety of consumer electronic gadgets like e-scooters, 3d printers, tv boxes and much more. It is primarily a B2C(business-to-consumer) company, but if explored more, you can find options for B2B(business-to-business) transactions as well.
Delivery Details
As the name suggests, Geekbuying sells geeky technological products along with garden supplies. The company markets consumer tech products, portable power stations, sports and outdoor equipment and security systems. Sellers are given an option to use the platform as a dropshipper, where the company will ship products to the customers on behalf of the sellers.
The e-commerce company offers free shipping on almost all the products, both local and international. It might take 2-7 days for the product to get delivered to the customers. They have a return window of 7-14 days and a one-year warranty on electronic devices and free-repair service over a period of that one year.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- Quick services and deliveries.
- User privacy and multiple payment methods.
- Guaranteed Quality products.
Disadvantages
- Limited product range.
- Order can get lost in the mail.
5. Best for Collectors: eBay
eBay founded in 1995 is yet another biggest online marketplace that is spread all across the globe. The company, situated in the US, was the first ever online auction website expediting person-to-person transactions and soon became quite popular with over 182 Million active users now-a-date. With a great progression, the organization now holds various subsidiaries like eBay Motors, eBay Express, iBazar, eBay Stores and more.
The company provides an online platform for B2C(business-to-consumer) and C2C(consumer-to-consumer) businesses, originating tons of sales. eBay’s market capitalization in today’s time is over $23 Billion, making it worth spending your time and money.
Delivery Details
eBay belongs to one of the first companies for building and marketing an internet-based website catering to sellers and buyers. For small businesses, or individual sellers, using this platform works perfectly as it is very easy-to-use and offers customer services for all your enquiries. The platform sells various categories including, parts of automobiles, clothing, health and beauty products, home and kitchen appliances and much more.
The sellers are given a shipping calculator to estimate the delivery charges depending which countries the products are shipping off to. Accordingly, the fee can range from around 2-12% of the product’s price. There are various seller discounts and offers that they can avail to reduce these prices for better customer services.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- Sell anything you’d want and reach a wider audience.
- Gain new customers through eBay sales.
- The platform is very easy-to-use.
Disadvantages
- Strict rules and policies for sellers that need to be followed.
- Higher seller fees.
- Tough competition for particular niches.
6. Best for Health and Beauty Products: Lazada
Lazada, owned by the largest conglomerate Alibaba Group, is one of the crucial players of the online retail industry. It is the fastest and most leading e-commerce company in Southeast Asia. And, the platform covers countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. Lazada is a generic marketplace that sells a range of categories involving fashion, home, and electronics.
The organization supports both B2B(business-to-business) and B2C(business-to-consumer) business, giving merchants an online platform to buy or sell products on Lazada’s website or app. As of Sept 2022, the conglomerate stands at a market cap of $1,250 Million.
Delivery Details
One of the best features that the organization has is its ease of payment. Customers can pay by cash/card or using various wallets like helloPay or Lazada wallet. There are more than 300 million products available on Lazada that one can sell. The categorization includes household and kitchen items, groceries, sports gear, kid’s entertainment articles and fashion accessories.
Sellers have to pay a flat shipping fee of £1.17 and the rest depends upon the volume of the parcel. Delivery times may vary depending on the items being shipped, but the products get delivered mostly in between 1-15 days. The return and exchange validity for Lazada’s parcel is a maximum of 7 days.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- Sellers can create their business accounts without paying a dime.
- The platform offers high traffic and a broader audience.
- Flexible shipping policies.
Disadvantages
- Lazada has global websites in countries like Malaysia or Philippines, but you cannot sell your products outside Singapore.
- The Lazada app still needs revamping as it’s a bit buggy and slow.
7. Best for Arts and Crafts: Etsy
Etsy is an online portal where individual artists, crafters and merchants can sell antique, handmade or even customized goods. The brand is giving a tough competition to websites like Shopify, Amazon and Big Cartel because of its unique collection and more women sellers. The enterprise was founded in 2005 to give small businesses a chance to go online and widen their target audience.
The e-commerce company is a B2C (business-to-consumer) and B2B (business-to-business) marketplace, selling to consumers on a global level. Currently, Etsy stands at a market cap of $11.67 Billion dollars with over 80 Million active users.
Delivery Details
Unlike other e-commerce portals, everything on Etsy from manufacturing to selling, to managing orders and handling inventories is handled by the seller only. The company offers categories like jewelery, clothing, art and crafts supplies, home decor, gifting items, collectibles, digital art and more.
Etsy takes a 5% fee on every delivery a seller makes, apart from all the other charges. For international shipment, the company takes about 10-15 days, whereas for local orders, it takes only 3-7 days to deliver the parcel. Customers are given a window of 30 days to return or exchange their products.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- The platform comes with an easy setup, so anyone can sell their products.
- Comes with a built-in customer base.
- Offers seller education and an amazing support system.
Disadvantages
- The platform is a paid service with listing fees, shipping fees, marketing fees and so on.
- Because of so many sellers, the competition is very high.
8. Best for Deals and offers: vidaXL
vidaXL is a global retailer selling everything you may need for your home and garden. The ecommerce platform is continuously expanding its product range and offering the best prices. vidaXL looks after its customers by taking feedback positively and implementing them.
The online portal offers both B2B(business-to-business) and B2C(business-to-consumer) marketplace, targeting local and international customers. vidaXL serves around 2.5 million people every year holding a market cap of over $60 Million.
Delivery Details
Some of the categories that the cheap ecommerce platform offers are furnishings, homes, gardens, toys, animal and pet supplies, and electronics. You can even find a varied range of products that are not available on other platforms or are much more expensive.
While the company offers free deliveries and returns, there might be shipping surcharges that sellers have to bear depending on the product quantity and location they are shipping the parcels. Their target is to deliver the orders within a window of 3-5 days, but there could be delays in certain cases.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- It’s a one-stop shopping platform that entails each and every category.
- Free deliveries and returns across the nation.
- Offers smart delivery options for safer and faster deliveries.
Disadvantages
- You might have to pay shipping charges for international orders.
- Because of tons of sellers, the competition is very high.
9. Trustworthy Buying and Selling Platform: Preloved
Preloved started in 1998 with a mission of becoming one of the most trustworthy and loved communities of all sellers, customers, and even content creators. They have worked quite hard and built a great buying and selling platform with a community of over 10 million members.
It’s a B2B(business-to-business) platform where merchants can put up an ad for the products or services they want to sell, submit the application and get it posted. The customers can check the ad and place their orders on the given information.
Delivery Details
With categories like pets, health, leisure, garden, home, furniture, clothing, and jewelry. There’s even a section on the online portal called Freeloved that allows everyone to offer any products they want to sell at absolutely no cost. There are many products listed as free or £0 items.
They even provide pet care advice to customers to keep their animals happy and healthy. Depending upon the seller and which country they are situated in, there could be certain delivery and shipping charges that even customers have to bear.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- Affordable finds for customers.
- Wide variety of items available.
- No selling and listing fees for sellers.
Disadvantages
- There could be delivery and shipping issues.
- Sellers may have to bear shipping surcharges for international products.
10. Best for Clothing: Shein
Shein is a global fashion and lifestyle online retailer founded in 2008 in China. Over a very short period of time, the e-commerce brand became one of the biggest shopping companies all over the world. The company is known for selling stylish clothes at very affordable prices. Everyday around 1000-2000 new products are being added to the website and the brand has taken the clothing game to another level, leaving bigger brands like H&M and Zara behind.
The company is an international B2C clothing brand that delivers fast fashion to the world. The market capitalization of the brand has crossed $47 Billion, making it an amazing platform to sell, resell or buy clothes.
Delivery Details
The company gained popularity mostly through the help of social media influencers. From women’s to men’s clothing, shein offers everything. Their target being GenZ population, the e-retailer presents a variety of collections like footwear, clothing, fashion accessories, sports equipment, home appliances and electronics.
Shein delivers products to over 200 countries including Europe, America, Australia and Middle East. It takes about 7-10 days for the product to reach customers and their standard delivery for the UK is free of cost on orders above £29. Consumers get a period of 15 days for any return or exchanges provided the product stays in the original condition.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages
- The clothing is very cheap and affordable.
- Offers fast and up-to-date fashion styles in both men and women category.
- Has a vast variety of collections along with plus size clothing.
Disadvantages
- Quality of the products sold on the website could be an issue.
- Fabrics used are not environment-friendly, making a huge negative impact on the surroundings.
Final Comparison
Now that we have determined all the top e-commerce players to either establish your own business or to purchase products from, let’s take a look at what collection you can sell on them and their fee distribution.
Website | Collection | Fee Distribution | |
Alibaba Group | Beauty products, Fashion accessories, Apparels, Athlesiure and Sports Equipments, Electronics | Offers free membership for business owners. But, enforces shipping charges depending on the volume and mode of transport. | |
Amazon | Books, Stationery, Electronics, Apparel, Home Appliances, Automobile accessories, and Kitchenware. | No registration fee for sellers. However, there’s a products category based-fee starting at 2%, and a shipping fee £0.75 per unit sold. | |
Shopee | Animal and wildlife products, arts and crafts, beauty cosmetics, and Home Decor and Appliances. | No registration fees, but sellers need to pay 5.6% of COGS tax for all successful orders. | |
Geekbuying | Sports and Outdoor Gear, Electronics, Smart Home and Garden Appliances, Phone and Accessories | No registration fee and worldwide free standard deliveries. However, shipping charges may vary depending on the weight and mode of transport. | |
Ebay | Health and Fitness, Electronics, Sports Equipment, Fashion Accessories, Home and Kitchenware. | Sellers need to pay a 10%- 12.55% of registration fee depending upon the category. Also, there’s a shipping tax of 2%-12% depending upon the weight and mode of transport. | |
Lazada | Fashion Accessories, Home Decor, Electronics, Kidswear, Groceries, and Sports Equipment. | No registration or hidden fees. Sellers only have to pay 3%-7% of commission when a sale is made. | |
Etsy | Arts and Crafts Supplies, Jewelery, Home and Lifestyle products, Gifts and Personalized Items. | No registration fees. But, has a £0.16 listing fee, 6.5% transaction fee and payment processing fee, based on the mode of payment. | |
vidaXL | Home, Furnishings, Garden Products, Electronics, Toys, and Pet Supplies. |
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Preloved | Home-made or Customized Collection- Clothing, Home Decor, Electronics, Jewelry and Fashion Accessories | There’s no registration fee at Preloved. You only have to pay a minimum amount of £5 a year for added benefits. | |
Shein | Clothing, Fashion Accessories, Sports and Health equipment, Home and Garden products. | There’s a free 10-day trial program on Shein for sellers to register. Shein enforces a 10%-20% commision charge on every sale made. |
Conclusion
With so many e-commerce platforms available for sellers and buyers to choose from, getting a full understanding of each portal is very important. There are other crucial factors to take into account when planning of opening an online business or simply exploring the websites for shopping. Like which regions they cover, fee structure, product categories, and which businesses the platforms cater to. So, with all the information curated together, accordingly make a sound decision and start your business or happy shopping. For more such updates, visit Pearoot.
FAQs
Currently, Amazon is the biggest online retail player out in the market. There are tons of other amazing companies like Alibaba, TaoBao, Shein, and Shopee.
The most popular example of an online retail company is Amazon. It is one of the giant conglomerates in the ecommerce world along with companies like Aliexpress and Jingdong.
It is a type of e-commerce where a business sells goods and services directly to the customers using any particular ecommerce platform.
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