Online Marketplaces Industry Survey Reveals Challenging Times Ahead

A recent industry-wide survey, conducted by the Online Marketplaces Group, of 190 C-Level leaders reveals a very challenging 18 months for the online marketplace industry.

There is a very serious concern amongst C-Level leaders of online classifieds and marketplaces around the world that the impact of the Coronavirus is putting the viability of their businesses at risk.

The detailed, 60 question survey of 190 leaders showed that 55 percent of them believed the viability of their businesses is truly at risk, with 43 percent believing they may not even survive the short term. There is anecdotal evidence of businesses already "shutting up shop" as they realize, they don't have the cash reserves to survive the rapid downturn in business.

Leaders are also pessimistic about how long the Coronavirus will have a direct impact on their business – either on their revenues (and thus their customers' businesses), the ability to work closely with their customers and the impact on their workforce.

When asked the question "how long do you expect the Coronavirus to have a direct impact on your business", the C-Level leaders indicated they expect an average of just under nine months of direct impact on their businesses.

On a region by region basis, the C-Level leaders in North America (the USA and Canada) and LATAM believe the impact will last longer, while in Africa there is relative optimism that the impact will be shorter.

However, companies will not be "out of the woods" once the immediate impact of the Coronavirus has passed. C-Level leaders believe that it will be at least another 9 months until they will return to business as usual and over 20% will need to raise capital if the impacts last more than 6 months

It is clear to see that online classifieds and marketplaces will face at least 18 months of pain as they operate in a Coronavirus impacted business environment and then try to rebuild their businesses.

About the Impact of the Coronavirus Survey 

The Impact of the Coronavirus Survey was conducted by the Online Marketplaces Group between the 18th and 25th of March. 190 C-Level leaders from around the world completed the survey. There was a fair equal representation across all business sizes and all markets.

For more information on the survey contact simon@onlinemarketplaces.com