How Adorama grew marketplace revenue 170% by building a diversified marketplace strategy
- 170% year-over-year marketplace revenue growth
- 900%+ revenue growth across newly launched marketplaces
- 31.5% year-over-year Walmart sales growth
- 20,000+ products launched on Best Buy in under two months
- 80,000+ SKUs managed from one centralized platform
- Expanded from a handful of channels to a diversified marketplace portfolio
About Adorama
Founded in New York more than 50 years ago, Adorama is an established retailer of photography, consumer electronics, computers, drones, professional video equipment, and audio products.
Today, the company manages more than 80,000 SKUs from a broad range of brands like Apple, Canon, DJI, Sony, Fujifilm, and Bose, and sells through marketplaces including Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s, Amazon, TikTok Shop, eBay, Newegg, Reverb, and more.
Adorama saw an opportunity for long-term growth by reaching customers across more channels, rather than relying too heavily on a single marketplace. To support that growth, the company needed a way to expand without rebuilding its operation for every new channel.
We spoke with Hani Batla, CTO of Adorama, about how the team made that possible.
The challenge: Expanding without increasing complexity
Each new marketplace introduced additional requirements across listings, inventory, pricing, orders, and ongoing maintenance. Adorama knew where it wanted to grow. The challenge was doing so without adding a separate operational layer for every new channel.
As Hani explains:
“Depending on one marketplace is a risk, whether it’s fees, policy, or the algorithm. Spreading across channels lets us meet customers where they already are and grow on our own terms. Doing that well across many channels at once is exactly why we lean on ChannelEngine.”
One centralized model for marketplace growth
Adorama centralized its marketplace operations with ChannelEngine, giving the team one place to manage listings, inventory, pricing, orders, settlements, and marketplace performance.
Instead of rebuilding its setup for every launch, the team could reuse its existing catalog and processes to expand into new marketplaces more efficiently.
The impact was significant. Marketplace revenue increased over 170% year over year, while revenue across newly launched marketplaces grew by more than 900%. At the same time, Walmart sales also increased 31.5% year over year, showing that Adorama could accelerate growth on new channels without slowing momentum on established ones.
Launching 20,000+ products on Best Buy in under two months
Best Buy became one of the clearest examples of what this model made possible.
Adorama launched more than 20,000 products in under two months. Within three months, Best Buy had become the company’s fastest-growing new marketplace and a major contributor to growth across its newly launched channels.
For Hani, the biggest difference was speed:
“Standing up a new channel isn’t a six-month project anymore. We take our catalog, map it to the new marketplace, and go live in a fraction of the time it used to take.”
Adorama then used the same model to expand into additional marketplaces, including Macy’s and TikTok Shop.
“We’re not rebuilding from scratch each time. ChannelEngine lets us reuse what we’ve already built and launch fast, which is how three new channels went from idea to real revenue this quickly.”
Supporting established marketplaces at scale
The same operating model also helped Adorama manage the marketplaces already central to its business.
Amazon remained a key channel. Maintaining catalog content across thousands of products manually would have limited the team’s capacity to focus on merchandising and marketplace performance.
“ChannelEngine let us build listings at a scale we couldn’t touch manually. The team spends far less time on the mechanics of listing and far more on strategy and merchandising.”
Central control across 80,000+ SKUs
Today, Adorama manages more than 80,000 SKUs across multiple marketplaces from one platform.
The team can oversee listings, pricing, inventory, and orders in one place. When an issue appears on a channel, it can be identified and addressed without switching between multiple seller portals.
“If something’s off on one channel, we catch it and fix it centrally instead of logging into six different portals. That central control is what makes managing this many SKUs across this many channels actually possible.”
This gives the team more capacity to improve listings, refine merchandising, and grow the business.
“A lean team can run a large, complex marketplace operation without being buried in maintenance.”
A partnership that keeps evolving
As Adorama’s marketplace operation grew, their requirements evolved with it, making the relationship with ChannelEngine even more important.
The Adorama and ChannelEngine teams have worked together to shape new capabilities, including multi-location inventory to better manage fulfillment across multiple warehouses, Walmart Funded Incentives that enable quick participation in Walmart promotions to keep products price competitive, and advanced shipping templates that support accurate delivery commitments across different regions.
That collaboration has helped Adorama address new operational requirements as its marketplace business has grown.
“The biggest surprise is how much of a partner they’ve been, not just a piece of software. I expected a solid platform. What I didn’t expect was a team that genuinely understands marketplace strategy and pushes us to do more with it.”
From channel expansion to repeatable growth
Adorama has turned marketplace expansion from a lengthy, channel-by-channel implementation into a repeatable growth strategy.
Since partnering with ChannelEngine, Adorama has:
- Increased marketplace revenue 170% year over year
- Achieved 900%+ revenue growth across newly launched marketplaces
- Increased Walmart sales 31.5% year over year
- Published 20,000+ products on Best Buy in under two months
- Built a diversified marketplace portfolio across Walmart, Best Buy, Macy’s, Amazon, TikTok Shop, eBay, Newegg, Reverb, and more
- Centralized the management of 80,000+ SKUs
- Turned marketplace expansion from a lengthy, channel-by-channel implementation into a repeatable growth strategy
The company now uses one centralized operating model across new and established channels. Product data and marketplace processes do not need to be rebuilt for every launch, and the team can manage its growing marketplace portfolio from the same setup.
“It’s been great to see how Adorama has turned its marketplace ambitions into real, sustainable growth. Hani and the team are always looking for new opportunities, and we’re proud to support them as they expand while keeping such a large and complex operation manageable.”
- Jordi Vermeer, VP of Revenue (North America), ChannelEngine
Adorama can continue expanding its marketplace portfolio without rebuilding its operation for every new opportunity.
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