The significant rise of e-commerce and the shift of consumers towards online shopping gave birth to marketplaces—online platforms that connect sellers/ merchants with buyers. They function as virtual marketplaces where sellers can create online stores and offer their products or services to a broad audience of buyers.

While initially, marketplaces were presented as the "deus ex machina," especially for merchants without their own online stores, there has recently been a worrying trend of sellers seeking alternative solutions that offer more control and better chances for sustainable growth. Under this context, marketplaces need to reassess their practices to create additional incentives for sellers.

To achieve this, it is essential to understand sellers' needs, recognize their daily challenges and the obstacles they face, and identify their unique goals. According to a Seller Fulfilled Prime survey, 72% of sellers cite high fees and commissions as their biggest challenge, while another Web Retailer survey shows that 42% of sellers feel they have limited control over their brand presentation on marketplaces.

Frequent and open communication is key to creating a trust-based relationship that will endure over time. Through regular communications, marketplaces can offer valuable information to sellers, helping them recognize the benefits of marketplaces while also cultivating the feeling that someone is there to look after their interests. In such a mutually trusting environment, sellers will view marketplaces as the place to be if they want to remain competitive.

Often, sellers do not understand marketplace algorithms, how they work, or what is required from their side to be more competitive. These are significant issues that should be addressed within this open communication channel between marketplaces and sellers.

At the same time, marketplaces must continuously optimize and evolve their model and platform to meet sellers' needs through these corrective actions. Such moves might include improving security, providing user-friendly inventory management tools, offering data analysis tools, and implementing automation solutions that facilitate sellers' daily operations.

Like buyers, sellers often seek personalized solutions that cater to their specific needs. Whether it involves packaging recommendations for shipping orders or special pricing agreements and storage services, marketplaces need to move away from the one-size-fits-all model and offer more tailored solutions. Sellers will find what they need in marketplaces, supporting their sustainable growth, while marketplaces will retain sellers on their platform.

One of the main reasons sellers turn to marketplaces is to expand into new markets and discover new promotional opportunities for their products. However, many times their products get lost in the vast competition within marketplaces, feeling

Packaging serves as a communication tool to attract consumer attention and simultaneously acts as a valuable vehicle for contributing to business growth. The access to global markets, generously provided by the internet, e-commerce, and marketplaces, has intensified competition, which is no longer limited to local or national levels.

In this dynamically evolving global market, the major challenge for businesses is to stand out from the competition and be registered in the consumers' consciousness.

Research by the Paper and Packaging Board and IPSOS reveals that for 72% of consumers, packaging design is a factor in their decision to make a purchase. Additionally, research by WestRock shows that 81% of consumers have tried a new product because of its attractive packaging, and 52% have changed brands due to new packaging designs.

Through carefully designed packaging, the goal is for the consumer to recognize your brand and prefer it over the competition. In this way, a strong brand name is created, etched into the consumer's mind, who will seek it out in any future purchase.

Successful packaging is created by taking into account the colors, graphic depictions, and materials that constitute it.

In recent years, there has been a significant shift in the packaging industry towards sustainable and environmentally friendly materials. Nielsen research reveals that 73% of global consumers would change their purchasing habits to reduce their environmental impact. Considering the global shift towards a more sustainable future, businesses that embrace sustainable packaging will notice an increase in sales from consumers willing to pay a little extra if their purchase contributes to environmental protection. According to PwC research, the increase rate can reach up to 20%.

Moreover, whether it’s a purchase in a physical store or online, poor packaging can lead to a loss of customers by up to 5% (source: Accenture). Poor packaging is defined as one that either fails to capture the brand's identity, hasn't considered the elements that influence consumer psychology (such as colors, shape, typography, etc.), or, in the case of e-commerce, arrives to the recipient in bad condition.

Packaging does not merely serve as a product's wrapping. Instead, it is a valuable canvas that has the power to convey messages, attract attention, and create an emotional connection with consumers. This emotional connection is often reflected through the unboxing experience.

Unboxing, which essentially entered our lives with the advent of the internet, is the process where consumers choose to share their product receiving experience on social media. Thus, your brand is communicated to potential customers through user generated content, which creates interaction (91%), helps product recognition (82%), and enhances trust with your business (81%). (source: Vidjet).

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