The Shelf Threat You Can’t See: How Emerging Marketplaces Are Rewriting Retail Growth

by Simpactful Senior Consultant, Kyle Gustafson

For years, Amazon and Walmart have been the gravitational centers of digital commerce. I spent years using my Amazon experience to help Simpactful clients build the strategies, systems, and capability to win in these foundational retailers. However, while building out the first eCommerce marketplace at McLane, I was surprised to find that Amazon.com and Walmart are no longer the only – or even the best – path to sustainable growth.

Why? The landscape has shifted. Rising ad costs, saturation, and an environment where differentiation is increasingly elusive make these channels harder to crack, especially for mid-market and emerging brands. Winning there today is a high-cost game of scale.

The real momentum? It’s moving toward emerging, digital-first wholesale marketplaces like Faire, Airgoods, Carro, and Mable which connect independent retail buyers with brands. Far from being “just another distribution option,” these platforms are becoming trend incubators – the places where innovation is tested, buyers discover the next wave of products, and consumer demand signals emerge before mainstream retail even notices.

Marketplace Trends: What’s Breaking Through
Unlike Amazon.com – where search rank and reviews drive discoverability – these marketplaces encourage a deeper brand narrative. These aren’t transactional-only platforms. They double as browsing destinations where buyers explore, compare, and connect with brands on story and values – not just price. Across these wholesale ecosystems, several themes are rising to the top:

  • Values-based Curation – Sustainability, clean ingredients, female, and minority-owned brands are prioritized, creating alignment with retailer and shopper values.
  • Category-focused Growth – Functional foods, low-alcoholic beverages, adaptogens, pet wellness, and sustainable household goods have gained traction.

This levels the playing field for emerging CPG brands that want to be seen for what makes them different.

Why Brands Are Leaning In
For CPG leaders, the appeal of leveraging these emerging marketplaces for white space distribution and innovation incubation comes down to three transformative advantages:

  1. Discovery-Driven Access to Retail Buyers – Thousands of independent retailers source from these platforms every day, actively searching for innovation—not commodity price matches.
  2. Speed to Market Without Gatekeepers – Forget lengthy category review calendars or broker bottlenecks. Brands can be live and selling in days, gaining real-world traction.
  3. Trend Validation and Buyer Feedback Loops – Reorder rates, buyer notes, and sell-through metrics provide tangible data to refine pricing, packaging, and assortment – data that is strengthening future retail sell-in pitches.

The reality?  The next wave of CPG growth and the threat to incumbent brands won’t necessarily come from brands fighting the algorithm on Amazon. It’s likely to come from savvy brands who are playing in new curated wholesale marketplaces where buyers discover, order, and reorder the brands shaping tomorrow’s shelves.

Challenges to Navigate
Success in this context does not involve replicating content directly from Amazon or a direct-to-consumer site.  Success requires a nuanced playbook that includes a wholesale pricing strategy, digital merchandising, platform sequencing, and operational readiness for fulfillment, payment terms, and service levels unique to B2B buyers. At Simpactful, our practitioner-led team of multi-functional CPG and retail experts help brands move from curiosity to confidence in this next growth frontier. We guide brands across four phases of marketplace expansion:

  1. Marketplace Readiness Assessment – Auditing brand presence, demand drivers, and pricing levers to identify best-fit platforms.
  2. Strategic Launch Planning – Defining platform sequence, building wholesale line sheets, and tailoring PDP content to each marketplace.
  3. Execution & Optimization – Supporting storefront setup, analytics integration, and measurement dashboards.
  4. Integration with Retail Strategy – Linking marketplace performance to retail buyer conversations, distributor onboarding, and field sales strategy.

These aren’t just transactional channels – they’re trend and omni commerce accelerators where modern retailers discover innovation and brands learn to optimize. Winning here takes agility, data-driven decision-making, and compelling storytelling – skills that will separate early movers from followers. Our team of Simpactful practitioners are able to help brands accelerate faster, avoid common missteps, and create a clear bridge between digital and physical retail growth.

Is your brand ready to grow where trends are being set – not just followed? It’s time to diversify your marketplace presence. Simpactful can help! Contact us at contact@simpactful.com or 925-234-6394, and visit www.simpactful.com to learn more.

The real momentum? It’s moving toward emerging, digital-first wholesale marketplaces like Faire, Airgoods, Carro, and Mable which connect independent retail buyers with brands. Far from being “just another distribution option,” these platforms are becoming trend incubators – the places where innovation is tested, buyers discover the next wave of products, and consumer demand signals emerge before mainstream retail even notices.

Marketplace Trends: What’s Breaking Through
Unlike Amazon.com – where search rank and reviews drive discoverability – these marketplaces encourage a deeper brand narrative. These aren’t transactional-only platforms. They double as browsing destinations where buyers explore, compare, and connect with brands on story and values – not just price. Across these wholesale ecosystems, several themes are rising to the top:

  • Values-based Curation – Sustainability, clean ingredients, female, and minority-owned brands are prioritized, creating alignment with retailer and shopper values.
  • Category-focused Growth – Functional foods, low-alcoholic beverages, adaptogens, pet wellness, and sustainable household goods have gained traction.

This levels the playing field for emerging CPG brands that want to be seen for what makes them different.

Why Brands Are Leaning In
For CPG leaders, the appeal of leveraging these emerging marketplaces for white space distribution and innovation incubation comes down to three transformative advantages:

  1. Discovery-Driven Access to Retail Buyers – Thousands of independent retailers source from these platforms every day, actively searching for innovation—not commodity price matches.
  2. Speed to Market Without Gatekeepers – Forget lengthy category review calendars or broker bottlenecks. Brands can be live and selling in days, gaining real-world traction.
  3. Trend Validation and Buyer Feedback Loops – Reorder rates, buyer notes, and sell-through metrics provide tangible data to refine pricing, packaging, and assortment – data that is strengthening future retail sell-in pitches.

The reality?  The next wave of CPG growth and the threat to incumbent brands won’t necessarily come from brands fighting the algorithm on Amazon. It’s likely to come from savvy brands who are playing in new curated wholesale marketplaces where buyers discover, order, and reorder the brands shaping tomorrow’s shelves.

Challenges to Navigate
Success in this context does not involve replicating content directly from Amazon or a direct-to-consumer site.  Success requires a nuanced playbook that includes a wholesale pricing strategy, digital merchandising, platform sequencing, and operational readiness for fulfillment, payment terms, and service levels unique to B2B buyers. At Simpactful, our practitioner-led team of multi-functional CPG and retail experts help brands move from curiosity to confidence in this next growth frontier. We guide brands across four phases of marketplace expansion:

  1. Marketplace Readiness Assessment – Auditing brand presence, demand drivers, and pricing levers to identify best-fit platforms.
  2. Strategic Launch Planning – Defining platform sequence, building wholesale line sheets, and tailoring PDP content to each marketplace.
  3. Execution & Optimization – Supporting storefront setup, analytics integration, and measurement dashboards.
  4. Integration with Retail Strategy – Linking marketplace performance to retail buyer conversations, distributor onboarding, and field sales strategy.

These aren’t just transactional channels – they’re trend and omni commerce accelerators where modern retailers discover innovation and brands learn to optimize. Winning here takes agility, data-driven decision-making, and compelling storytelling – skills that will separate early movers from followers. Our team of Simpactful practitioners are able to help brands accelerate faster, avoid common missteps, and create a clear bridge between digital and physical retail growth.

Is your brand ready to grow where trends are being set – not just followed? It’s time to diversify your marketplace presence. Simpactful can help! Contact us at contact@simpactful.com or 925-234-6394, and visit www.simpactful.com to learn more.