AI agents are changing how products are discovered and selected - but what does that actually mean for day-to-day marketplace operations? In this episode, Ingrid speaks with AI specialist Barbara Branca about why the logic is shifting from rankings to recommendation systems - and why “good enough” product data is no longer sufficient. Barbara argues that listings are turning into decision documents: AI systems no longer operate on keywords alone, but aim to understand intent and prepare purchase decisions based on that. This requires complete, structured, and consistent data - not just within a single marketplace, but across all channels. At the same time, the conversation gets very practical: which tasks in marketplace operations can already be meaningfully automated with AI, where real time savings can be achieved, and how to get started without overhauling everything. Barbara’s recommendation: don’t start with your entire catalogue, begin with your top products and assess whether your data is truly decision-ready.

Note from the sponsor eDesk:

As soon as sellers operate across multiple marketplaces, customer support quickly becomes highly complex. Irene Epp from Pertemba described this vividly: her team handles more than 1,000 customer inquiries per day - across over 130 marketplaces worldwide. Having spent many years in customer support herself, Irene calls it the “watchdog of the company.” Together with Gareth Cummings from eDesk, she explained in podcast episode 145 how this volume can actually be managed: all messages, orders, and customer data are brought into one central inbox, marketplace SLAs are tracked, and response times stay within required limits. Routine inquiries such as shipping status or returns can be automated - allowing the team to focus on more complex cases that require real judgment. If you missed the episode, it’s definitely worth a listen:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1cKbdDr2ipbnGCwo0KmxKF

Note from the sponsor Kaufland Global Marketplace:

If you’re looking to expand your marketplace business internationally - for example to Poland or Italy - it’s worth taking a closer look at the Kaufland Global Marketplace. Through Kaufland, you can currently sell in seven European countries: Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Italy, and France. The key advantage: you can manage all marketplaces through a single account, without having to set up your products separately for each country.

We also have an interesting offer for you: With the promo code MP-UNI2026, new sellers can sell on all Kaufland marketplaces without a base fee for three months. The offer is valid until May 31, 2026.

And if you’d like to learn more about how brands can build visibility and branding on Kaufland marketplaces, make sure to tune in to our upcoming podcast episode 147. Our guests will be Markus Anstots (Kaufland), Jan Weiß and Marvin Thöne (both Sleepling).

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/