E-Commerce's 10% Quarter Was Weaker Than It Looked
U.S. e‑commerce sales rose 9.8% year‑over‑year in Q1 2026, the strongest quarter in over two years, but almost half of the gain stemmed from higher prices rather than additional units sold. After stripping out the 1.9% rise in physical‑goods prices, real volume growth sits near 8%, up from the 5% range that characterized 2025. Marketplace data show eBay’s gross merchandise volume jumped 18% while its active buyer count was flat, and Etsy’s sales grew 5.5% as its buyer base fell below last‑year levels, indicating growth driven by existing customers. Installment‑payment providers such as Affirm and Klarna saw purchase volume surge 33‑35% and user bases expand roughly 20%, underscoring a credit‑fueled demand surge.
Amazon's Least Competitive Marketplace Is Now Everywhere
Amazon’s average traffic per active seller jumped 25% in the past year to 3,544 monthly visits, extending a trend that began in 2021. While total web traffic across 23 marketplaces rose 5% to 5.5 billion visits, the number of active sellers...
Rufus, ChatGPT, and the Agentic Ad Convergence
Amazon disclosed that roughly 20% of shoppers who engage with a sponsored brand prompt in its AI assistant Rufus keep the conversation going, marking the first concrete performance metric for ads inside an AI shopping interface. Rufus’s monthly active users...
How Marketplace Sellers Are Using AI
A recent Marketplace Pulse 2026 Seller Index shows 83.4% of sellers—representing over $2 billion in annual revenue—have incorporated AI into their operations, averaging 3.2 use cases each. The majority of AI effort focuses on content tasks such as listing optimization (63.5%)...
The Paradoxical Dependence of Amazon & Its Sellers
Amazon dominates 36% of U.S. e‑commerce and 70% of marketplace sales, making it the default channel for most third‑party merchants. Marketplace Pulse’s 2026 Seller Index shows 49% of sellers flag marketplace fees and 46% cite advertising spend as the biggest...
The Marketplace Pulse Seller Index Results (2026)
Marketplace Pulse surveyed 181 sellers generating over $2 billion annually, uncovering four performance cohorts: thriving, grinding, consolidating, and distressed. Only 23% are thriving, growing both revenue and margins, while 31% are grinding with revenue gains but flat or declining margins, and...
Top 10 E-Commerce Marketplaces in 2026
Amazon remains the clear U.S. marketplace leader with roughly $300 billion in third‑party sales, dwarfing eBay’s $39 billion and the next tier of platforms. Temu, TikTok Shop and Walmart have converged in a tight $15‑22 billion GMV band, each leveraging distinct supply‑chain, content...
Amazon Haul Has Over 3,000 Sellers
Amazon Haul, the low‑price, direct‑from‑China storefront, now hosts 3,287 sellers after launching in November 2024. The platform’s seller base is heavily China‑registered and generates roughly $2 billion in annual GMV, with most sellers offering items under $20. Amazon has backed the...
Walmart's Advertising Revenue Is Outpacing Amazon's
Walmart’s advertising business surged 46% to $6.4 billion in FY26, outpacing Amazon’s 22% rise to $68.6 billion. The dollar gap narrowed from roughly 15:1 to 11:1, though it remains sizable. Growth figures include the VIZIO acquisition, while Walmart Connect – the core...
Amazon and Shopify Are Now Half of U.S. E-Commerce
Amazon generated roughly $440 billion in U.S. sales in 2025, capturing a 35.7% share of the $1.2 trillion market, while Shopify reported a 14% U.S. share, up from 12% a year earlier. Together they account for 49.7% of U.S. e‑commerce, up from...