Market Research
Ecossistema de sellers no Mercado Livre: como múltiplos vendedores impactam sua marca
BranddiIP Team ·
Mercado Livre is today one of the largest marketplaces in the world, and, according to recent data, Brazil alone has more than 1 million active sellers sold on the platform.
Hundreds, sometimes thousands, of these sellers are competing for the same product in the catalog. And more than 90% of sales within Mercado Livre are not made directly by brands, but by resellers competing for the Buy Box.
In the guide below, you will understand the biggest challenges of the ecosystem of sellers who operate their brand on Mercado Livre and how to protect your brand!
What has changed in Mercado Livre?
Mercado Livre changed the way products are displayed and purchased in its online store. Like other major e-commerce platforms, marketplace adopted a catalog model andBuy Box, which concentrates all offers of the same product on a single standardized page.
In the catalog, product information (title, photos, descriptions and attributes) is unified, and several sellers can offer the same item in the same window. The platform's algorithm then decides which seller is highlighted in the Buy Box, which is the main purchase button shown to the customer.
Thus, instead of seeing multiple separate links, the consumer sees a main offer that represents the best option at that moment, while the dispute between sellers takes place “behind” this privileged position.
Who are the sellers that “operate” your brand?
The catalog and the Buy Box bring together all sellers who “operate” that product, regardless of the level of relationship they have with the brand:
Official sellers
Include the brand'sofficial store and authorized partners. These are sellers who follow commercial guidelines, respect pricing policies and maintain communication aligned with the brand's positioning. When they win the Buy Box, they bring more confidence to the shopping experience on the marketplace.
“Gray” Sellers
These are resellers who sell original products, but without strategic alignment with the brand. This group tends to pressure prices, create noise in communication and disrupt the perception of value, even without committing obvious infractions.
Opportunistic or dubious sellers
Sellers of low relevance, little history and greater reputational risk. They can generate distrust regarding origin, delivery and after-sales. Despite this, they compete for the same Buy Box and appear in the same purchasing environment.
How does this ecosystem undermine margin and commercial control?
The race to be the seller chosen by the algorithms creates a dynamic in which price and position in the Buy Box end up prevailing over good strategies.
See what the consequences of this are for the brand's financial results:
1. Price war within the Buy Box
Within the catalogue, several sellers compete for the main purchasing position (Buy Box). Often, the dominant criteria for winning this position is the lowest total price, including shipping and delivery conditions. by price is linked to visibility and sales.
2. PMA eroded by those who appear above the official store
The brand's Acceptable Market Price (PMA) is the price that should serve as a reference for disputes in the Buy Box. If other sellers appear above the official store with lower prices, this PMA ends up being “lowered” in practice, even if it was not a strategy of the brand itself.
The brand also ends up having to reduce its prices to avoid losing sales, eroding margins and weakening the commercial strategy.
3. Brand is “hostage” to the catalog: the consumer wants the brand, but buys from another seller
The consumer who enters a marketplace looking specifically for your brand may end up buying from another seller if that seller is winning the Buy Box or offering a lower price in the catalogue.
Your brand, when this happens, does not decide which seller delivers the product, what price is offered or what experience the consumer will have when buy.
What does Branddi do in practice in this scenario?
Branddi is an intelligent brand protection solution that helps companies monitor, identify and act against misuse of their brand in online environments such as search engines, social networks and marketplaces, including Mercado Livre.
For protect the brand's official store within the marketplace, Branddi offersBuy Box Protection, an on-shelf service focused on monitoring, mapping and generating intelligence on those competing for the Buy Box of the brand's products, without inflated scope or artisanal action.
See Branddi's main features to face the ecosystem that destroys margin and commercial control in the Market Free.
Maps the SKUs of the official store
The starting point is to organize the brand's portfolio within the marketplace. Branddi identifies all active SKUs in the official store and consolidates this information into a single base. This continuous monitoring allows us to understand how the product appears to the consumer and which offers are being displayed, capturing price variations, position in the auction and behaviors that impact the brand's visibility.
Maps all ranked sellers
Based on catalog monitoring, Branddi identifies all sellers that appear ranked, regardless of whether they are official, legitimate resellers, gray sellers or less relevant sellers.
This step offers a complete view of who is competing for space with the brand within the purchase pages.
Classifies by relevance and aggressiveness
With the set of sellers identified, Branddi classifies them according to two main criteria:
- Relevance: history and volume of sales on the marketplace, indicating the weight of that seller in the disputes;
- Aggressiveness: intensity and volume of price infractions in relation to the brand's PMA. This classification is crucial to prioritize the sellers that have the greatest impact on margin, positioning and competitiveness.
Discovers who the seller is (reaching CPF/CNPJ)
Branddi also allows you to execute the discovery process, which seeks to identify who is behind each ranked seller (reaching CPF and/or CNPJ associates) with a focus on prioritizing the most aggressive and relevant sellers. It may seem complex at first glance, but the lack of commercial control tends to intensify as more sellers enter the competition for the Buy Box.
If you want to move from understanding to action, it's worth knowing more about Branddi's solutions. Request a free diagnosis and speak to our team of experts!