Why U.S. Shoppers Choose Marketplaces for New Brands
Liv Matilda Karlsson
2026-08-18 16:00
Have you poured budget into paid ads and boosted website traffic, only to watch visitors leave without placing an order? It’s not always a bad product or poorly set pricing that holds you back. More often than not, shoppers simply don’t yet trust your new brand.
Citing a March 2026 Radial survey of 1,000 U.S. adults, eMarketer highlighted a key consumer trend. When U.S. shoppers want to try unfamiliar brands, 44% will turn to large marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart. By comparison, just 21% will head straight to the brand’s own website.
What this tells us is simple. When consumers come across a brand they know nothing about, they prefer testing it inside a shopping environment they already trust, rather than landing on an unknown standalone site. For brands launching into the U.S. market, this shopping behaviour gap directly decides whether your marketing spend will actually deliver that vital first sale.
People shop differently for familiar brands versus ones they have never seen before. If a brand is already well known, buyers understand its products, price points, and reputation, so they can make purchase decisions quickly.
But with an unknown brand, plenty of questions pop up. Can I trust this seller? Will the real-world product match what I see online? What if my order does not live up to expectations? These doubts heavily shape whether someone will hit the checkout button.
Major marketplaces such as Amazon and Walmart resolve many of these worries. Local shoppers are already comfortable with each platform’s payment workflows, delivery timelines, return rules, and customer support channels. Even when testing a brand they have never heard of, they do not need to learn an entirely new shopping experience. This lowers the perceived risk of buying something new.
Customer reviews carry huge weight here. Without prior experience with a brand, buyers lean heavily on star ratings, written feedback, customer-uploaded photos, and Q&A threads. Real-world input from other shoppers builds confidence far better than brand-created marketing copy alone.
Delivery and after-sales support also sway trial purchases. Any new product purchase carries natural uncertainty. If shoppers cannot easily figure out shipping timelines, return steps, or where to get help, many will walk away. Marketplaces standardise these critical processes, giving buyers enough peace of mind to place that first order.
So the 44% marketplace adoption rate is not only about platform traffic volume. At its core, it reflects a basic consumer mindset: people want to test unfamiliar brands within shopping ecosystems they already trust.
Traffic matters, of course. Yet for brands with zero local awareness, getting eyes on your product is only the starting line. Between seeing an ad and completing checkout sits a critical mental step. Shoppers need to feel confident in your brand, confirm the product fits their needs, and understand what support they will receive post-purchase.
Exposure gets your brand noticed. The first sale means shoppers are willing to give you a chance.
This is why new entrants should rethink the real value marketplaces bring. Established brands enjoy built-in recognition; customers actively search for them and visit their official sites voluntarily. For fresh-faced overseas brands, however, most local shoppers have never even heard your name.
That is where trusted marketplaces create an edge. Even if shoppers know nothing about your brand, they can reference public reviews, platform buyer protections, and other customers’ feedback to evaluate your goods before buying.
None of this means you should abandon your independent brand website. Marketplaces and brand-owned sites serve separate business goals. For newly launched brands, marketplaces excel at capturing your first batch of buyers and generating early-stage reviews and market feedback. Once shoppers grow familiar with your brand, your website, social profiles, and email lists can take on a bigger role: driving repeat orders and nurturing deeper customer loyalty.
Instead of arguing over which channel is “better,” think in terms of customer journey stages. Use each channel for what it does best: first win over hesitant first-time buyers, then turn those buyers into returning, loyal customers.
If your top priority is unlocking that first sale, start by addressing the natural wariness shoppers feel toward unknown brands. Your product pages and content should do more than showcase items. They need to answer the real-world questions holding people back from checkout.
Most first-time visitors will not dig into your brand backstory. Their priorities are practical. What problem does this product solve? Who is it for? What size and materials can I expect? How does it perform in everyday use? How is it different from competing options? What happens if the item does not work for me?
When shoppers are forced to hunt for these details on their own, friction grows and conversions drop. Lay out key information directly on product pages: dimensions, materials, real-world use case descriptions, shipping windows, and return policies. Helping shoppers answer most of their questions on one single page beats repeating generic brand slogans.
Reviews form your core trust signal as a new-to-market brand. You cannot compete against long-established players on total review count early on. Your focus should land on quality instead.
Genuine customer testimonials, user-submitted photos, and answers to specific product-related questions help prospective buyers picture exactly what they are getting.
Skip generic claims like “premium quality” or “industry-leading expertise.” Let verified customers speak for your brand. When shoppers find concrete answers to their biggest concerns within reviews and Q&A sections, they have far fewer reasons to hesitate before buying.
Short-form videos and social posts do more than generate views. They preemptively resolve doubts before users even land on your product page.
Showcase real-life product dimensions, real-world usage scenarios, hands-on functionality, and direct comparisons against alternative goods. When content already answers core user questions, visitors arrive at your listing with much less uncertainty.
Ongoing market research also plays a big part for brands building a long-term U.S. presence, alongside regular content creation. You need to observe local search behaviours, listing layouts, and shifting consumer interests from a genuine local user perspective. A stable U.S. residential IP becomes a handy tool for this kind of public market research. 1024Proxy residential IP resources work well for routine market lookups and open-source intelligence gathering.
Content and product pages each hold distinct roles. Content builds understanding. Product pages push visitors toward completing a purchase.
If your content and ads draw solid visibility, yet clicks and sales stay flat, resist the urge to immediately expand your ad budget.
Run through these foundational checks first. Is product information clear and complete? Does pricing align with local market expectations? Do you have enough trust-building reviews? Are shipping and return policies easy to locate and understand?
Shoppers may want to buy, yet still have unresolved doubts right before checkout. Identify and fix those bottlenecks before pouring in extra traffic; this delivers far better returns than chasing higher exposure alone.
That first completed order opens the door to the U.S. market, but it is hardly the finish line. A first-time purchase proves you have overcome initial consumer scepticism. From there, product quality, delivery speed, support responsiveness, and overall shopping experience decide whether that customer will come back.
Radial’s research underscores this point. 53% of U.S. shoppers will stop buying from a brand if they pay for expedited shipping and fail to receive faster delivery. 37% will walk away after a cancelled order, while 27% will churn entirely upon receiving incorrect items.
Shoppers are open to testing new brands, yet they hold firm expectations for smooth service. The trust you earn from that marketplace-powered first sale can vanish quickly due to poor logistics or weak support. After orders start rolling in, stay rigorous with inventory planning, delivery timelines, product quality standards, and customer support workflows.
When buyers leave authentic post-purchase reviews, you build valuable word-of-mouth momentum. Deliver a strong product experience, and one-off buyers can turn into repeat customers.
For overseas brands entering the United States, exposure is only the starting point. The real challenge lies in convincing shoppers who know nothing about you to place that first order.
Radial’s data confirms marketplaces serve as a vital trial ground for U.S. consumers testing new brands. You do not need to pick sides between marketplaces and owned-site sales. Assign each channel its own job along the buyer journey. Leverage marketplaces to ease first-purchase anxiety, capture your initial customer base, and gather genuine user feedback. Then lean on your brand website, social media, and other owned channels to nurture long-term customer relationships.
Your first sale is not the end of your brand’s U.S. market journey. It marks the moment consumers truly start getting to know you. For expanding international brands, prioritising the first purchase experience, steadily building reviews, and cultivating repeat business turns isolated transactions into lasting customer connections.
