Seller trends among top e-commerce brands and retailers show that while they are expanding rapidly across marketplaces, outdated manual processes are eroding profitability and slowing growth.
That’s according to ChannelEngine’s Marketplace Seller Trends Report 2025, a large-scale study of e-commerce leaders across the US and Europe.
The inefficiencies pinpointed in the study are a year-round problem but become especially costly during the holiday season, when high volumes and intense competition mean every lost hour translates into missed sales.
Sellers are now active on an average of six marketplaces, with more than a third (34%) selling on seven or more. Despite this expansion, sellers are struggling to keep pace. Teams spend an average of 36% of their week, nearly two full working days, on manual updates such as fixing product listings, updating inventory, and handling returns.
More than half (52%) still rely on spreadsheets or internal tools, which hinders their ability to react quickly to competitor pricing or seasonal demand. 45% are still managing product content and pricing updates manually on marketplace portals, whereas this could be easily automated.
Nearly a third (29%) cite pricing and visibility as their toughest challenges, underscoring how costly inefficiency has become.
Bart Verschoor, COO at ChannelEngine, said: “Sellers can’t afford to waste two days a week on manual fixes while marketplaces move faster than ever. Every hour lost to spreadsheets is an hour competitors are using to win the buy box, launch new products, and expand to new marketplaces. Automation isn’t optional anymore, it’s the only way to compete.”These challenges are compounded by shifting consumer habits. ChannelEngine’s earlier Marketplace Shopping Behavior Report 2025 found 47% of consumers now begin product searches on marketplaces, nearly double the number who start on Google. In addition, 63% say they prefer to buy on marketplaces rather than brand sites.
Looking ahead, the Marketplace Seller Trends Report 2025 highlights that 91% of sellers view automation as business-critical, and over a third expect AI shopping assistants (tools that can search, compare, and even purchase on behalf of consumers) to drive the next major shift in marketplace commerce within the next two years. It claims that many in the industry are calling this the rise of Agentic Commerce.
