Macy’s enters marketplace competition with Amazon, Walmart, eBay

A new major player is competing in the third-party online marketplace.

Department store retailer Macy’s Inc. is officially launching a new digital marketplace on its e-commerce site. Initially announced in November 2021, the marketplace provides customers with a curated assortment of 400 new brands and products in 20 merchandise categories from third-party merchants and brand partners. Marketplace items will be seamlessly integrated into the product assortment of the e-commerce site during fall 2022.

The marketplace runs on a Mirakl enterprise marketplace technology platform that has been customized by Macy’s digital, merchant and technology teams. The platform enables third-party sellers to integrate their products into Macy’s e-commerce architecture, with seller tools that help them monitor and attempt to drive, and grow their businesses with Macy’s.

Marketplace is designed to offer customers a cohesive and integrated Macy’s digital experience. Customers shopping online and through Macy’s mobile app should feel minimal differences in their overall experience beyond a badge that denotes that the product will be shipped by a third-party seller. Customers will also be able to purchase marketplace products while having full access to their Star Rewards loyalty benefits, in addition to standard Macy’s returns.

As the platform is scaled, Macy’s will continue to collaborate with a select, curated group of sellers and brands. According to Macy’s, sellers and brands will be chosen to ensure alignment with business needs and Macy’s product and fulfillment standards. Macy’s says that this fall, 20% percent of marketplace sellers and brands will be from underrepresented enterprises as part of its “Mission Every One” social purpose platform.

[Read more: Macy’s joins multiple sustainability efforts]

Select marketplace categories and new brands include:

• Baby & children’s apparel (Bonsie Baby, Dabble & Dollop, Wabi Baby).
• Beauty & wellness (L’Occitane, Mary Ruth’s).
• Electronics (LG, Samsung, Sony, TCL).
• Gifting (The Million Roses, Teaspressa, Wrappr).
• Home (Ettitude, Smeg, Sunday Citizen, W&P).
• Maternity (Everly Grey, Ingrid & Isabel).
• Pets (Little Beast).
• Toys & video games (Magna-Tiles).

“Our marketplace complements our existing omnichannel strategy and is another platform we will use to find the most efficient distribution strategy for our partners. Not only will we continue to maximize brands and existing assortments, but we will use the marketplace to test and customize our assortments based on customer demand,” said Josh Janos, Macy’s Inc. VP of marketplace.

“After a year of intense work creating an exceptional experience for customers and sellers, we are thrilled to launch a curated marketplace on macys.com, expanding our digital assortment to new categories, brands and products that our customers will love,” said Matt Baer, chief digital and customer officer at Macy’s Inc. “Seamlessly integrated into Macy’s digital shopping experience, marketplace gives our customers access to an array of expertly curated products — from apparel and beauty to home improvement, toys, pet products and more.”

New York-based Macy’s, the largest retail brand of Macy’s Inc. operates Macy’s stores, as well as the Macy’s Backstage off-price format and Market by Macy’s small store format.