The Maze: Central Europe has crossed deeper into marketplace territory. Platforms captured 60% of regional ecommerce revenue in 2025, up from 55% in 2023, while retailer- and brand-operated stores fell to 40%. This is not simply an expanding online market. It is a redistribution of where demand is discovered, converted and monetized. The marketplace layer is becoming the default route to the customer, even as brands still need an owned channel to build loyalty, collect customer data and make repeat business more profitable.
The majority became more decisive. The channel split moved in one direction across every period: marketplaces rose from 55% in 2023 to 58% in 2024 and 60% in 2025; stores fell from 45% to 42% and then 40%. Five percentage points in two years is a structural move, not a rounding error. The wider ecommerce market also grew from €169.4 billion to €191.3 billion over that window, so platforms gained share inside a larger revenue pool.
Marketplaces win by making scale easier for everyone except the margin owner. Sellers get reach. Consumers get breadth and comparison. Platform operators can expand assortment without owning every item and collect fees for access to demand. Amazon, eBay, Temu, AliExpress and Allegro are all part of that mix. ECDB links the shift to stronger cross-border access, rising trust and international sellers exporting a marketplace-first shopping habit into markets where direct retail once mattered more.
The regional average hides eleven different markets. ECDB defines Central Europe here as Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. Germany alone is forecast to represent roughly 57% of regional ecommerce revenue in 2026, with Poland and Switzerland far behind. A brand should therefore treat 60/40 as a direction of travel, not a universal media plan. The right channel mix still depends on the country, category and strength of local platforms.
Owned stores are becoming the profit-and-relationship layer. A marketplace can deliver the first sale, but it often keeps the browsing history, limits direct customer access and places a competing product one click away. An owned store can support retargeting, membership, points and repeat purchasing without paying the same referral toll each time. The manufacturer perspective adds a harder edge: more platforms can mean higher system costs, omnichannel marketing, complicated logistics and CRM, constant price pressure and more compliance work.
Why it matters: Marketplace presence is becoming table stakes in Central Europe, but surrendering the full customer journey would be expensive. The practical model is not marketplace or store. It is marketplace for reach, owned commerce for memory. Brands need platform-native assortment, pricing and operations to capture demand, then a deliberate reason for customers to come back directly. The companies that manage both channels as one system will gain scale without renting the relationship forever.
Sources: ECDB article | ECDB × Mastercard report | Source LinkedIn post
