Before, it was content websites in the Russian-speaking web; now it’s marketplaces. You choose a product, buy inventory, and off you go. The trend is new, but in reality, nothing has changed.
Niche and product selection.
Previously, people picked a niche, and revenue from websites depended on that niche—now they pick a product. Success on a marketplace is 80% about selecting the right product (c) quote from a guy making tens of thousands of dollars on wildberries — https://www.instagram.com/max.wildberries/
Analytics.
Keyword frequency analysis was replaced by product sales analysis. Dima, who created the SEO analytics service https://www.keys.so similar to ahrefs.com, simply created the same sales analytics service for marketplaces https://mpstats.io (170,000 registered users on the MPSTATS platform
MPSTATS)
Training and conferences.
In the past, people hosted seminars by Puzat and F-SEO—now they run marketplace seller clubs:
I am sure training programs are thriving just as well.
Investments.
People used to buy links and content—now they buy goods in China. And the winner is whoever buys cheap and sells high. Good old traffic arbitrage.
Intermediary role.
In essence, even I sell products through websites acting as an affiliate intermediary, while they sell products via wildberries and are also intermediaries. The only difference is I use Google, while they use Wildberries.
What’s new?
Business principles haven’t changed—only the wrapper has. It seems like a new trend where you need to jump in, but it’s the exact same thing from another angle. Cyclicality in business.
I read a smart post, highly recommend—»Anti-case study: How I lost 1,000,000 on wildberries marketplaces https://sorokin.club/post/274«
P.S. Puzat now teaches courses on marketplaces. Well, the cycle has definitely come full circle.