Even the best-looking listings can underperform if they’re not truly optimized. In this candid conversation, Jessica Bagby, Jordi Vermeer, and Matt Tomaszewski dig into what brands can do right now to improve marketplace performance without a full overhaul.

They cover everything from how to focus on the right SKUs and refresh content with purpose, to scaling without chaos and building a repeatable, data-driven optimization loop. Along the way, they share practical advice, real examples, and a few good laughs.

Watch the full discussion below, then explore deeper strategies in the companion guide, Fix It Fast: 16 Smart Marketplace Optimizations. This practical guide shows you how to unlock better results from your existing listings without a full overhaul, featuring contributions from Sitation’s marketplace and content experts.

Transcript

Host: Matt Tomaszewski (Head of Partnerships, North America, ChannelEngine)
Speakers: Jessica Bagby (Senior Director, Managed Services, Sitation) and Jordi Vermeer (VP of Revenue, North America, ChannelEngine)

Intros

Matt Tomaszewski:
We’re here to talk about Fix It Fast—marketplace optimization that actually works. I’m your guest host today, Matt Tomaszewski over with ChannelEngine. With me, I’ve got the wonderful Jess Bagby, Senior Director of Managed Services, and Jordi Vermeer, who heads up… is the VP of Revenue. Maybe a quick intro from both of you—not just your title, which everyone knows now—but what you’re working on day to day. Jess, kick us off.

Jessica Bagby:
Absolutely. Hello, hello—hi. Like you said, I’m Jessica Bagby. My day to day involves lots of things, but my key focus is leading our managed services practice at Sitation. That mainly centers around full-service digital shelf programs—anything from content creation to syndication out the door, to PIM management, to marketplace platform management—and making sure that content gets out the door and is live on the digital shelf across every endpoint you need it to be.

Jordi Vermeer:
Cool, yeah. On our side at ChannelEngine, we provide technology to make sure marketplaces are integrated and listings are live—those operational flows. I work a lot with clients to get on the platform, make sure they successfully set it up, use it, and that their expansion strategy aligns with it. I’d love to talk more about that today as well.

Matt:
Awesome. We’re here talking marketplace optimization. Before you even get to the optimization, you have to get on the marketplace. A lot of brands tell us, “We’re live,” but they’re not seeing the results they’d love. Jessica, tell us a little bit about steps to take before you get on a marketplace—and some optimization strategies once you’re up and running and technically live.

Live Is Not Optimized (01:43)

Jessica:
Like any problem, you need a framework for the solution. The way Sitation approaches it is who, what, when, where, and why. Who are we focused on? What marketplace is it? What’s the listing, what’s the product? When do we want to optimize it—when did it go live, how long has it been stale? Where is it listed? And why do we need to optimize—high-priority SKU or low-priority SKU?

Once you define those, you can build process and artifacts to support it. One of the very first things you need is a cadence for content creation and refresh after you’ve identified priority SKUs. For a really mature program, you might refresh every ~60 days. At the beginning of the journey, maybe twice a year. Identify that cadence first, then work backward into the process—how do we get the content created, what does that look like? That’s where we start.

Matt:
Interesting. Jordi, you see brands trying to plug hundreds—if not thousands—of SKUs into marketplaces. What stands out?

Jordi:
It’s one thing to get on a marketplace—some are protected and hard to get into. You connect, listings go live, inventory syncs, and you might think, “Okay, now we sit back.” That’s not the case. It depends on brand presence and how those categories perform. Some marketplaces have categories with high search volume and low SKU counts—we try to match clients to channels where they’ll do really well. Sometimes it just doesn’t pan out, and that’s okay to learn.

And pushing all your products live isn’t always best. Be strategic. Start with top-performing products, build your seller score, get ratings, learn what performs, and then expand. Then look at promotions and advertising and build from there. So it’s start → build → learn → iterate.

Matt:
We all love throwing spaghetti against the wall, but there’s more to it than trying everything at once. Going from one marketplace to two can be a challenge. What happens when brands try to sell across multiple marketplaces and regions—maybe too quickly? Jessica?

Jessica:
Everybody wants to scale—more endpoints, more marketplaces, more regions—but you have to be smart. If you throw spaghetti at the wall… noodles don’t stay on the wall forever. They’re going to fall.

So it’s back to cadence and prioritization of items and regions. I know people want to move fast, but it pays to start focused so you can prove value. Pick a marketplace where you’re more established and run tests and learns. Is it optimizing images, titles, descriptions? Start there on priority SKUs. Do specific keyword research and current-state findings—where do these items sit in search results? Look at ratings and reviews. If we’re seeing an increase in search volume on a phrase that isn’t in our content—add it. If infographics that call out technical details are performing—add them. Use those learnings to scale to additional items. It’s basically the scientific method—what we learned in fourth grade—applied here.

Matt:
Jordi, besides introducing Sitation to do all this, what else do you talk about when clients want to expand to more marketplaces and more regions?

Jordi:
First, set the foundations. Scaling to new marketplaces is time-consuming without an infrastructure or platform like ChannelEngine—you’ll end up doing a lot of manual work every time. Even testing a marketplace becomes a higher barrier. Many clients use us to test new regions—launch a bunch of channels, see what performs, then focus.

Second, learn how each channel works. A practical example: Target Plus is extremely tough to get accepted on. It takes months, you need a channel integrator, you can’t go alone. But once you’re on, there’s no buy box—you’re the only seller on that product, so no direct competition. Compare that to Amazon—huge competition, ads are essential, content is crucial. Then TikTok Shop—you can list, but you need to work with affiliate programs; margins can be higher, but you have to send samples and get creators promoting. Three platforms, three very different strategies. Learn the platform, then optimize.

Start, build, learn: Scale Without Chaos (03:34)

Matt:
Let’s shift to “Fix It Fast.” You’re just getting started on a new marketplace. You can only do one or two things in the next two or three months. What are they? Jessica?

Jessica:
There’s so much you can do, but focus matters because resources are limited. If you’re live, your PDP better be solid. You need top-of-the-line content and assets—first things first. Are you meeting PDP guidelines for that marketplace? Are you maxing out the real estate?

Matt:
How do you even know that?

Jessica:
You look at the marketplace’s PDP guidelines and your brand and style guidelines. Are you maximizing the real estate? Is your title optimized with the keywords that marketplace uses? Search algorithms vary widely. For example, Kroger—large grocer—only uses product title in its on-site search query. They don’t use bullets or descriptions. That varies by marketplace, so you need to know how it’s searched and what the high-volume terms are—and apply that to your content.

Also, filtering. Are you filling out specs/attributes so you show up in filters? People are using those: size, color, type—whatever that marketplace has built into their framework. Your merchandising needs to reflect that or you won’t show up. It’s really the basics. If you’re new to a marketplace, make sure your basics are covered.

Matt:
Basics can take a client a long way, right?

Jessica:
Right. Absolutely.

Matt:
Jordi—top of mind for you?

Jordi:
First, just launch. There’s still a barrier for people to launch at all. I’ve seen companies over-engineer—spend more time analyzing if it could work and building a business case instead of just launching, seeing what happens, and iterating. The first quick win is to actually do it. Be ready to iterate, but many aren’t even launching.

Second, consider a quick scan from a company like Sitation. They’ll tell you if it’s good, or if you’ve got a lot to fix, or how you compare to competition. Don’t be afraid to get external expertise for an open mind. Use their services or do it yourself—but at least you’ll have a clear read.

Quick Wins That Move the Needle (07:42)

Matt:
Real-world examples. You talk to customers every day. Share an example where a brand changed one or two things and felt the difference.

Jessica:
We work across a lot of verticals, product types, 1P and 3P. Regardless of how you sell, content is king—well, queen. In our services approach of constant optimization and iteration, we had a client on Amazon run a large A/B test across eight PDP types. With our Draft generative-AI content and optimized images—not to toot our own horn—that variant won. The deep SEO research, Amazon search query research, and image analysis on best-in-class assets—across those eight variants, the top PDP delivered +111% conversion and +105% sales lift. On one item. That projected about $50,000 in lift on a single item on a single channel. Run that playbook across endpoints and marketplaces and the potential is exponential.

Matt:
Where were they in their journey? Do you need to be established for these tools, or can you start earlier?

Jessica:
You don’t have to wait. Launch with basics on one SKU, and on another do the deeper approach. After 60 days, compare performance. Then either get more resources or bring in an agency to run the playbook across your catalog. And to Jordi’s point—you don’t have to wait. Get it out there, enroll in that “it’s never done” mindset.

Jordi:
And keep track. Have reporting in place. One big thing we show is return rates over time. High returns kill margins. We feed that back to Sitation: what are the return reasons—should we turn it off, or can we optimize content to make it clearer? One refurbished seller, for example—the content wasn’t clear enough that it was refurbished. We clarified it, and the return rates dropped. Use insights to optimize, then track if it worked.

Jessica:
Exactly. If you don’t know it worked, what was the point?

Proven Lift from Better Content (12:07)

Matt:
Let’s talk the feedback loop and repeatable optimization. It’s not a one-time project. How do you refresh and update strategy without burning out the team?

Jessica:
It’s cadence and focus. Not, “Hey, every month we’ll figure out what to do.” You establish it—maybe quarterly. You say, “We’re focused on these three priority marketplaces because there’s room for improvement. We’re focusing on the top 20% of items.” From a content perspective, we focus on titles, bullets, descriptions, and we have a flow.

You identify in Month 1, action in Month 2, and at the beginning of the next quarter you start the next set. It’s a framework. Systems work. It’s a little uncomfy at first because people aren’t used to it, but once it’s in place and you follow it every quarter—whatever cadence you choose—it becomes a natural part of marketplace management and PDPs. You start to see lift within the first six months.

Matt:
Jordi—continuous improvement tools?

Jordi:
A real-life example: one client had lots of changing SKUs. Instead of constant spreadsheet uploads, they automated with our platform and saved about 65 hours a month. That let them focus on improvements and optimization, not manual work.

Also, unify reporting. Pulling reports from ten different platforms and reconciling formats takes time away from improving. And try things like a repricer—some clients were hesitant, but one turned it on for a month and improved margin by 4%+. Set parameters you like, and use technology—including generative AI—so you don’t have to do everything yourself.

Make It Repeatable with Automation (16:12)

Matt:
Anything else you want to make sure we touched on—optimizations that actually work?

Jessica:
If you’re “set it and forget it” after launch, that’s your trigger to bring on a solution—whether that’s services, a partner, a tool, or all of it. If you’re not refreshing content, you’re behind. Shopper behavior, search, and content requirements change constantly. Start somewhere. Start with a small set of SKUs, then figure out the tools that help you scale once you show success.

Jordi:
I’d add AI. More searches and buying decisions are starting to happen there. No one really knows how AI platforms are identifying and recommending products yet. But staying on top of it—and making sure your products are in a lot of different places, with a lot of people talking positively about them—that’s going to help with AI-driven product search rankings. Don’t stand still. Don’t just say, “Amazon is doing well, so I’m only staying there.” If Amazon flips part of search to AI—where will AI find your content? Think about the grand scheme.

Jessica:
We have a great blog. We’ve started to dive into AEO and GEO and make sure that’s a factor in keyword research and content optimization. There was a stat—thirty-something percent of people are already starting their search in ChatGPT. It’s here.

Jordi:
I missed that one. I’m looking forward to reading it!

Matt:
Great point. And back to Jess’s line—content is queen. It’s driving AI and how people search. That’s the wrap: Fix It Fast—marketplace optimization that actually works, featuring ChannelEngine and Sitation. Super excited for everyone to listen in.