The management of marketplaces is undergoing an evolution and practices by companies and manufacturers that are putting the proximity commercial model at risk, according to a study by the COACB, in which 57% of members state that the opening of some marketplace channel in your sector is affecting your sales. Thus the sectors that have been most affected have been Textiles and Articles for the home and leisure.

In recent years, the Catalan business model has experienced a change in trend caused by the emergence of this type of online sales platform, to the detriment of traditional businesses. This situation accelerated with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, when home confinement forced many people to change their shopping habits.

Of the people surveyed who have seen their sales affected, 24% confirm that the opening of a marketplace in their sector has affected, or reduced, their sales by less than 10%, 55% point out that between 10 and 30% and 20% say they have done it more than 30%. Of these, the most affected sectors have been Textiles and Food and Beverages.

As a result, 75% are already noticing a significant direct impact on their sales.

The current management of the marketplaces is causing the commercial model to be distorted in such a way that there are factories that open an online store where they sell their products to the final consumer at a lower price than the trade itself. This model is not viable since, in addition to doing away with intermediary agents (marketing/distribution), commerce and factory become direct competitors, being unsustainable for small businesses that cannot compete with factory prices.