More than 1,000 customer inquiries per day - across over 130 marketplaces worldwide. That is the reality Irene Epp from Pertemba describes in this podcast episode. Irene spent many years working in customer service herself and therefore calls support the “watchdog of the company.” It is where problems in the business become visible first: a SKU with unusually high return rates, a carrier struggling with deliveries, or customers suddenly asking the same question over and over again. Together with Gareth Cummings, CEO of eDesk, she speaks with Ingrid about why customer support in marketplace businesses is far more than an operational service function. Different platform rules, strict SLA deadlines, and customers across multiple time zones quickly make support highly complex - and responding too slowly risks not only unhappy buyers but also ranking losses on the platform. At the same time, the conversation shows why automation is becoming increasingly important: most inquiries revolve around the same topics - shipping status, returns, or tracking. Without automation, this global support reality would be almost impossible to manage.

Note from the sponsor bol:

King’s Day on April 27 is one of the most important retail moments in the Netherlands. Together with our partner bol, the country’s largest online marketplace, we analysed which products actually perform around this occasion - and why occasion commerce is about much more than simply offering “orange items.” Successful sellers plan their campaigns early, clearly separate occasion-driven assortments from evergreen products, and pay particular attention to delivery capability. In the Netherlands, next-day delivery is the standard expectation - and if that reliability is missing, customers quickly switch to another seller. The same dynamics apply to other seasonal peaks such as Back-to-School or major sports events. You can find the full deep dive here on Marketplace Universe. https://marketplace-universe.com/kings-day-in-the-netherlands/

Note from the sponsor Front Row:

Customers don’t experience brands in channels - they experience one continuous journey: from discovery on social media to research on marketplaces and finally to purchase. In its new Connected Commerce Guide, our partner Front Row explains how brands can connect Amazon, D2C, retail media and CRM instead of optimizing each channel in isolation. The guide shows why focusing only on short-term metrics like ROAS can hide the real impact marketplaces have on overall customer lifetime value. It also includes practical frameworks and a quick self-check to help brands understand how connected their own commerce setup really is. You can download the guide for free here! https://www.frontrowgroup.de/insight/connected-commerce-guide/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=omr&utm_campaign=connected-commerce-guide

How does a DTC brand build a scalable marketplace business? In this episode, Ingrid speaks with Adrien Gosteli and Sebastian Thalheim from KoRo, as well as Lucas Bassa from Channable, about the food brand’s journey from a DTC startup to a marketplace player. Today, KoRo sells on Amazon, eBay, Kaufland and Galaxus, and is preparing launches on Decathlon and TikTok Shop - but building this business turned out to be far more operational than many brands expect.

The guests offer a rare look into the “engine room” behind marketplace growth: from flatfiles, variant logic and listing rejections to the specific challenges of the food category, such as FBA requirements and expiration dates. They discuss how KoRo uses marketplaces to test new markets, why product data and content cannot simply be copied from platform to platform, and why data quality, reliable order synchronization and automation become critical as assortments grow and new marketplaces are added.

The conversation also explores what it takes to build a scalable setup: automated data rules, order synchronization, repricing logic, and how tools like Channable can help reduce operational complexity. A practical look at why marketplace expansion is often less about marketing - and more about infrastructure.

Note from the sponsor Pixelmoda:

Founded in Milan in 2021, Pixelmoda specializes in AI-assisted image and video production. The key feature is that the AI does not generate the images, but supports the team and models in taking the best possible shots quickly by optimizing camera position, lightning, model poses, and so on. This significantly shortens production time and reduces costs up to 70 % for photo production and up to 90 % for video production. Pixelmoda produces over 14 million images and videos per year. Its customers include over 100 brands from more than 20 countries, including three of the top five global online marketplaces and lots of luxury brands. If you want to know more, listen once again our episode 126 with Gianni Serazzi from Pixelmoda. https://marketplace-universe.com/captivate-podcast/image-ai-for-fashion-what-it-can-and-cant-do-ltm126/

“Peak Amazon” is back. The recurring narrative suggests that Amazon has passed its zenith – saturated markets, slowing growth, eroding dominance. Yet with USD 717 billion in revenue in 2025, surpassing Walmart for the first time, the data paints a more complex picture.

In this family & friends news episode, Ingrid is joined by Andrea Engelmann (OnMacon) to question whether we are really seeing structural limits - or simply strategic prioritisation. The Netherlands serves as a case in point: Amazon is investing €1.4 billion in logistics, infrastructure and visibility, and has already overtaken bol in search visibility. The idea of “romantic local heroes” standing firm against global giants sounds appealing - but when Amazon decides a market matters, power dynamics shift quickly.

Beyond the Peak debate, they discuss TikTok Shop’s $100 billion GMV milestone, the rise of Roblox as a Gen Z commerce environment, Reddit exploring community-driven commerce, regulatory pressure on the Buy Box, and the open question of how AI agents will reshape platform control.

A focused conversation about shifting ecosystems - and why “peak” may be the wrong lens to assess what’s happening.

Note from the sponsor Channable:

Different feeds, different platform requirements, manual workarounds - and a lack of transparency. Does this everyday chaos in marketplace operations sound familiar? Then the next podcast episode is exactly what you need.

We talk to the drugstore brand KoRo about precisely this chaos, and how to bring it to an end. KoRo is known for its natural food products and now sells across multiple channels: brick-and-mortar retail, its own online shop, and marketplaces such as Amazon and Kaufland. Adrien Gosteli from KoRo will explain how the team structured its marketplace activities and brought operational complexity back under control. The case is supported by Lucas Bassa, Product Lead Marketplaces at Channable. If you are responsible for marketplaces, want to scale your company, or are already operating at an expert level, make sure to tune in next week - this case will be well worth it.