As we close out 2025, it’s clear this wasn’t just another year of incremental growth – it was a year of structural re-architecture. The marketplace model has moved from being a “digital shelf” to an integrated, AI-driven, and internationally fluid ecosystem. For sellers, the “Bigger Picture” of 2025 is the transition from managing listings to managing complex, cross-border value chains.
Our first Second Hand Quadrant is here – and it clearly shows how rapidly the European second-hand market is professionalizing. Generalist marketplaces are expanding their offerings, C2C platforms are opening up to sellers, and specialized players are strengthening their positions in niche segments. The result is a hybrid ecosystem that offers significant opportunities for merchants.
OpenAI and Perplexity on the Road to an AI Marketplace
Both OpenAI and Perplexity are pushing strongly toward becoming a marketplace with their agentic commerce projects: OpenAI introduced Shopping Research, a product search for ChatGPT that generates personalized buyer’s guides. Merchants can apply for greater visibility through an allow-list process. Perplexity also enables lightweight product data placement via a Merchant Program. What’s still missing for the marketplace transition is checkout.
OnBuy is expanding into 12 European countries, including Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. The platform is currently the fastest-growing in the UK, driven by its unique cashback system that generates a repeat purchase rate of over 50%.
Explore the 24 most important B2C marketplaces in the UK and discover key platforms, trends, and category leaders for 2025.
2024 – an exciting year for the entire marketplace industry draws to a close. Time to look at the greatest news – from ABOUT YOU to Zalando, from Amazon to Temu and many more
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