Selling on marketplaces: where to start

Not all marketplaces are equal for your product. Generalists (Amazon, Cdiscount, Rakuten) offer a massive audience; specialist retailers (Fnac, Darty, Boulanger for electronics and home, ManoMano for DIY) bring a more targeted clientele. The right choice depends on your category, your margins and your ability to deliver.

Compare above all three things: the commission charged, the logistics requirements (lead times, returns) and the competition on your references. It's better to succeed on one or two marketplaces than to spread thin across ten.

A well-crafted product page (clear title, photos, specs, consistent price) is the foundation. Then the real challenge is multichannel management: a single stock sold across several marketplaces must stay synchronised to avoid stockouts and cancellations, which hurt your ranking.

Marketplaces rate sellers on meeting deadlines and service quality. A high cancellation rate or late shipments quickly reduce visibility.

Selling is one thing, delivering is another. Behind every marketplace order you need available stock, met deadlines and managed returns. That stock often comes from suppliers, sometimes abroad: this is where your ability to fulfil orders is decided.

Cargio is not a marketplace connector: it works upstream, on the supply chain. By centralising supplier orders, shipment preparation and transport costs, it helps you secure the replenishment that feeds your online sales — and keep your costs under control.

The number of marketplaces keeps growing, and new players are launching beyond the historic retailers — including telecom operators: Orange, for instance, opened its own marketplace (Orange Market) in 2026. For a seller, this means more possible channels, but also a greater logistics requirement to keep up.

Before opening one more channel, make sure your sourcing and logistics can keep up: that's what separates a profitable presence from a pile of unmanageable orders.