The fastest growing platform in 2020 is not Amazon, but...

In 2020, affected by the epidemic, some platforms were hit, while others rose to the challenge.

In 2020, two dark horses emerged among major platforms: Walmart and Etsy.

How is the GMV of these two platforms in 2020? Let’s take a look.

Let's start with Walmart. In the past two quarters, Walmart's marketplace GMV has more than doubled compared to the same period last year.

“Growth in pickup and delivery and home delivery was strong, with the marketplace growing the fastest,” Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Tuesday while discussing third-quarter results. During the quarter, marketplace sales grew “triple digits” (over 100%), while overall e-commerce sales grew 79%. Asked by UBS Securities analyst Michael Lasser, Walmart U.S. CEO John R. Furner described the marketplace as “the overall winner in the e-commerce business.”

Marketplace sales grew at least 100% in the second quarter, according to the company. In the first quarter, while overall e-commerce business grew 74%, the marketplace outperformed, the company said.

Walmart Marketplace has more than 64,000 sellers, double the number from a year ago . More than 90% of Walmart’s 45 million products are sold on the platform. The company has made little progress in expanding its product assortment outside of the marketplace. Still, more than half of the products shipped in two days are offered by Walmart itself; the marketplace offers a long tail and a growing number of fast shipping items.

There are no specific estimates of Walmart's GMV dollar value, but Walmart's market competition is much smaller than other top e-commerce platforms. Therefore, it is growing faster for some sellers. Walmart attracts more shoppers on its website, but most of its efforts are spent on online grocery delivery and related programs such as Walmart Plus, which bring general merchandise to the market.

In the fourth quarter, the market is expected to perform as strongly as in the previous quarters. As a result, full-year growth will more than double and clearly accelerate: the average annual growth rate in 2017-2019 was about 35%.

Etsy has used the surging demand for masks to accelerate growth for all handmade and vintage goods. After growing 20% ​​over the past five years, Etsy's GMV nearly doubled in 2020. Etsy's full-year GMV will reach $8.5-9 billion, an increase of 80-90% from 2019. Since 2015, its GMV has increased by an average of 19.6% per year.

Etsy’s success this year has become synonymous with masks. However, masks only account for 20-25% of GMV growth. Instead, they are the most influential, attracting more buyers to the market, which in turn attracts more sellers to join.

In terms of seller onboarding, Etsy aims to add 1.9 million new sellers this year, up from 1 million last year. In April, Etsy saw a clear acceleration and has continued to add 200,000 new sellers in the past few months, more than double the number before the pandemic began.

The influx of new sellers has increased the total size of Etsy's product catalog, which now has more than 80 million products, up from 60 million at the beginning of the year, with Home & Living, Art & Collectibles, and Jewelry accounting for the majority of the categories.

Half of new sellers on Etsy come from the United States, a much higher share than in past years.

(Source: Seller Growth Academy)