Top 1000 retailers continued to participate in marketplace selling more often than not in 2021. Most of the 58.3% of retailers selling on marketplaces sell on Amazon. But there are some that choose other avenues.

One group of manufacturers that resist selling on Amazon and other marketplaces are those we call digitally native, vertically integrated brands — companies that design their own products and, at least initially, sold them primarily online. Only 50.0% of these digital-first brands sold on any marketplace in 2021, down from 53.8% in 2020.

These brands tend to be focused on building their own customer lists and are leery of losing customer loyalty to Amazon and other big marketplace operators. Take away the 81 digital natives, and 86.1% of the remaining 245 consumer brand manufacturers are selling on at least one marketplace, up modestly from 83.9% a year earlier.

Overall, the share of Top 1000 retailers selling on any marketplace ticket up to 58.#% in 2021 from 57.5% in 2020.

Retailers of consumer electronics are the most likely to sell on any marketplace, while those that sell food and beverage products are least likely. The biggest increase in marketplace participation in 2021 came from retailers of flowers and gifts. Most of the increase in retailers of flowers and gifts selling on marketplaces resulted from some of those Top 1000 retailers beginning to sell on Amazon. Walmart made meaningful gains in 2021 in attracting sellers in the toys/hobbies, specialty and consumer electronics categories.