4 ways to gear up for the gifting season using Kaufland Marketplace

The fall season is packed with celebrations and gatherings, making it a nonstop shopping frenzy. Whether it’s running around to physical stores or clicking across ecommerce sites, consumer spending sees huge spikes in activity this time of year. The UK and Germany rank at the top with the highest recorded sales figures during these months.

But achieving record sales comes from diligent preparation and maximizing all available channels – both online and in-store. For instance, Kaufland serves as an indispensable hybrid channel for the European market. With 1,550 physical stores across 8 countries and 32 million monthly visitors on the marketplace, the retail giant offers brands the best of both worlds.

The state of European ecommerce and the rise of marketplaces

Today, 2.71 billion people shop online globally. That's nearly one-third of the global population embracing ecommerce. Europe leads in this trend, particularly in the DACH region.

European ecommerce market on its way to $1 trillion.

In 2023, Germany alone generated online sales worth €79.7 billion, with projections reaching €91.17 billion in 2024.

Apart from the big-name marketplaces such as Amazon.de and eBay.de, numerous local marketplaces offer excellent opportunities to reach new customers. Some are rapidly expanding, while others already hold a significant share of the online retail market.

Challenges ecommerce businesses face in driving marketplace sales

Ecommerce marketplaces can be one of the most efficient means to reach a wider set of your target audience, but they often pose a few challenges. Failure to integrate successfully often leads to a delayed time-to-market and unsatisfied customer experiences.

Here are some of the most common challenges we see:

• Lack of channel specification knowledge

Different ecommerce marketplaces follow a different set of standard guidelines and have varying requirements for product listings, images, and product content formats. It can be overwhelming and time-consuming to navigate these different specifications, especially for businesses that are listed on multiple platforms. Without a thorough understanding of each channel’s unique requirements and guidelines, your ecommerce business may fail to get products approved or optimize product listings accordingly.

• Data siloes

Employees spend around 2.5 hours of their workday searching for data. Most product data is spread out across multiple departments and offices and stored in multiple systems, making transparency and collaboration difficult. Not only does this slow down workflows, but it also leads to misinformation. Without a clear overview of all product data, brands struggle to make strategic decisions, such as which products to push to marketplaces, what content to include, and how to allocate ad spend.

• Managing marketplace data in real-time

Maintaining accurate and up-to-date product information is a constant challenge, especially for businesses with large product catalogs. While physical stores have return rates of 8% to 10%, ecommerce returns average around 20% to 30%, largely due to insufficient or outdated product information. Many ecommerce businesses find it difficult to regularly update listings with the correct pricing, descriptions, or stock levels across multiple marketplaces. This struggle to keep data up-to-date often results in poor customer experiences and lost sales opportunities.

Boost your ecommerce success with Productsup's Marketplaces PX. This solution simplifies managing and optimizing your product listings across multiple marketplaces, helping you reach more customers and increase sales.

How to maximize success on the Kaufland Marketplace

Taking the above challenges into account, let’s look at how you can find success in one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in Europe – Kaufland Marketplace.

Source: Kaufland Marketplace

Formerly known as Real.de, the platform has solidified its presence in Germany and has expanded to other European markets, including Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Austria. As of 2022, their Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) has grown by 92%, outpacing the overall growth of German ecommerce and highlighting Kaufland.de's rapid ascent in the industry.

The marketplace serves as a one-stop shop for consumers looking for convenience and variety in their online shopping experience. Kaufland offers 45 million products in more than 6,400 categories, ranging from groceries and electronics to home and garden items, clothing, and toys.

Key benefits of selling on Kaufland Marketplace:

1. Simple listing process

Kaufland assists you with effective Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs) and European Article Numbers (EANs), streamlining your listing process to ensure your products are cataloged just as you would categorize and display them in aisles in your physical stores. This makes it easier for your buyers to find exactly what they are looking for among the millions of listed products.

2. Multichannel marketing across all relevant channels

Kaufland allows you to sell on multiple marketplaces across Europe with one registration. This way, you can actively promote your products across various regions to attract new customers while retaining existing ones. With Kaufland’s multichannel marketing strategy, you can be confident that your products gain the exposure needed to grow.

Source: Balkan Ecommerce Summit

3. Personalized support for dealers in the local language

Retailers are often reluctant to take their business online because they find the backend processes too complex and tedious. Kaufland makes the process of setting up your ecommerce store easy by offering personalized dealer support and assisting you every step of the way. Whether you have queries about setting up your store, optimizing your listings, or managing inventory, Kaufland readily provides localized support ensuring that your problem is solved immediately.

4. Flexible payment methods

Almost 59% of buyers tend to abandon their purchase when the payment method they prefer is not available. Whether customers prefer debit cards, credit cards, PayPal, or other payment options, Kaufland ensures that they have a smooth and secure payment experience.

Kaufland also emphasizes the importance of high-quality service, requiring sellers and dealers to respond to customer inquiries within 48 hours to ensure timely resolutions and maintain customer satisfaction.

4 ways Kaufland can elevate your sales this gifting season

1. Competitive prices

Today, 60% of Millennials compare prices between various brands online before they make the final purchasing decision. Offering competitive prices is crucial during the gifting season when shoppers are on the lookout for the best deals. Kaufland Global Marketplace uses a dynamic "minimum price" feature to help you stay competitive while protecting your profit margins. By adjusting prices in real-time, Kaufland ensures your products remain in the "buy box," boosting visibility and sales.

Additionally, Kaufland's ability to make unlimited, real-time price changes enables you to respond quickly to competitors' offers. It also allows for strategic pricing, such as gradual markdowns as the sell-by dates approach, helping you drive sales, protect your margins, and reduce excess inventory. This efficient pricing flexibility positions you to attract more customers, especially during the busy gifting season.

2. Short delivery times

More than half (54%) of shoppers like to buy online because they get direct delivery to their homes. Especially during the holiday season when customers are picking up gifts last minute, providing faster fulfillment by Kaufland attracts impulse buys. To minimize order processing time and ensure goods reach customers as quickly as possible, Kaufland offers delivery within 2 days, and larger freight shipments within 5 days. Kaufland Marketplace also allows sellers to set same-day shipping for shorter delivery windows. You can also set the processing time of your shipping partner and adapt your gifting offers accordingly.

With access to a well-established logistics network and flexible shipping options, you can enhance customer satisfaction, reduce cart abandonment, and boost your sales by ensuring timely deliveries throughout the gifting season.

3. Early and attractive promotions

Seasonal discounts create a sense of urgency. For instance, creative promotions like Coca-Cola’s “#ShareACoke” campaign, Apple’s “Move someone this holiday”, and Amazon’s Christmas sale inspire shoppers this time of year.

Similarly, Kaufland store’s "Ours Taste the Best" campaign boosted local food sales and supported family farming by showcasing regional products, while the "Food for Thought" campaign engaged consumers by matching their food choices to their current state of mind for a personalized sampling experience. These initiatives highlight Kaufland's commitment to sustainability and customer connection.

Announcing early bird discounts and flash sales can also increase your customer traffic during these times. Kaufland provides various advertising options to enhance your brand's visibility, including sponsored ads, display campaigns, and newsletter promotions. You can also create targeted, time-limited discounts and sales deals and leverage diverse marketing options on the Kaufland marketplace to scale your sales in the gifting season.

4. Seasonal SEO techniques for better visibility

During the holiday season, your customers could be searching for products similar to yours with keywords like holiday sales, Christmas sale, best gifts for Christmas, New Year gifts, etc. Optimizing your product titles, product descriptions, and meta tags with relatable holiday season keywords can improve your chances of ranking higher in your customers’ search results. The same goes for more evergreen search terms. Kaufland Marketplace has a designated section for ‘Popular search terms’ where it lists some of the keywords shoppers most frequently use on the site. If your listing for a standup paddleboard doesn’t include ‘sup’ or ‘inflatable’, you could miss a significant volume of traffic searching for ‘sup board inflatable’.

Source: Kaufland Marketplace

How can Productsup simplify your start on Kaufland Marketplace?

As Productsup is an official Kaufland partner, we offer a direct marketplace integration to make selling on the platform simple for your business. Our Marketplaces PX and Retail PX platform offerings help you streamline your product listings, optimize your content, and ensure seamless management across multiple channels. By integrating with Kaufland through the Productsup Marketplace PX solution, you can maintain accurate product data and stock updates across various ecommerce platforms, allowing you to focus on delivering gifts to your customers' doorsteps seamlessly.

So, what next? Watch back our webinar, “Winning Ecommerce Strategies for Kaufland Marketplace”, to gain valuable insights that can drive your success on one of Europe’s fastest-growing channels!