Online Marketplaces and Ecommerce SaaS Providers Are Not the Same Thing

c. Online marketplace services are not reasonably interchangeable with services sold by SaaS providers

198. Software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) providers, including Shopify and BigCommerce, sell software that enables sellers to create and maintain their own direct-to-consumer online stores. Sellers use this software to build and customize their own eCommerce websites. These SaaS providers’ services are not reasonably interchangeable with online marketplace services.

199. SaaS providers, unlike online marketplace service providers, do not provide access to an established U.S. customer base. Rather, merchants that use SaaS providers to establish direct-to-consumer online stores must invest in marketing and promotion to attract U.S. shoppers to their online stores. As Mr. Jassy explained in a 2022 interview, “small and medium sized” sellers use Amazon not because of the “eCommerce software” Amazon provides but “because they get access to a few hundred million customers.”

200. Another difference is that SaaS providers allow their customers to exercise control over branding and marketing in ways marketplaces do not. For instance, SaaS providers typically enable merchants to customize the look of their website and grant them access to all consumer analytics, while allowing merchants to reach out to shoppers directly with sales promotions and new releases.