Trust, Relevance, and Revenue: A First-Party Data Advantage for Marketplaces
In a competitive digital ecosystem dominated by players like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy, marketplaces face a unique dual imperative: drive incremental revenue and deepen user engagement while respecting customer demands for privacy and transparency. In this environment, the ability to unlock first-party data securely is not just an advantage. It is a necessity in the Transaction Moment™ when customers are most engaged.
At Rokt, we partner with leading marketplaces to turn their first-party data into smarter, more relevant experiences that drive conversion and incremental revenue. Privacy and compliance are embedded from cart to confirmation.
Navigating complexity: The case for scalable relevance
Marketplaces are fundamentally different from single-brand retailers. They serve multiple audiences, including buyers, sellers, and affiliates across a wide range of digital touchpoints. This complexity creates valuable signals but also operational friction. To activate first-party data effectively, marketplaces must solve for three core needs:
- Drive a relevant experience while protecting data integrity
- Monetize key moments like checkout without losing user trust
- Deliver relevance at scale in a privacy-conscious environment
The right infrastructure makes this possible. It must be secure, built for flexibility, and designed with marketplace control in mind.
Trust is the foundation
Privacy has become a core part of the user experience. Today’s consumers see trust not as a bonus, but as a prerequisite for engagement. In fact, 81% of consumers say they need to trust a brand before making a purchase¹, and increased trust can lead to up to 50% more spending².
But trust alone is not enough. Consumers also expect relevance. According to Rokt and The Harris Poll³, 74% of consumers say they would rather receive no offer than one that is not relevant to them.
These findings emphasize a clear imperative for marketplaces: data security and transparency are the foundation for delivering relevance at scale. Only when customers trust a platform to handle their data responsibly can marketplaces unlock its true value and create meaningful, revenue-driving experiences.
At Rokt, we help marketplaces meet this challenge by embedding privacy-first infrastructure across every touchpoint. Our approach includes:
- Enterprise-grade data encryption
- No PII exposure between customers and advertisers
- Consent-forward integrations aligned with GDPR, CCPA, ISO 27001, and beyond
- 99.99% platform availability and sub-200ms latency across global zones
- Annual third-party audits and independent penetration testing
- Zero-trust architecture with client data isolation by default
While relevance is the strategy for making the sale, trust is the infrastructure that powers it. It is often quietly in the background, but always essential.
Real-world impact: Case study snapshots
1. Global marketplace increases profit per transaction by 7.5%
A leading online marketplace integrated Rokt’s secure offer engine into its post-purchase flow. By leveraging first-party data, such as category interest, transaction details, and device context, the platform surfaced personalized offers without sharing any PII to external parties. This resulted in:
- 7.5% uplift in net-new revenue per completed transaction
- Zero degradation in page performance or buyer experience
- Full compliance with internal privacy and security policies
2. Peer-to-peer marketplace boosts first-party offer take rate by 50%
A major peer-to-peer resale platform used Rokt to surface relevant first-party promotions (e.g. App Install) during the buyer journey. Using only proactively integrated first-party data, they achieved:
- +50% increase in first-party offer take rates
- Improved visibility for app install and gift card initiatives, yielding $100K+ in incremental value over a three-month period
- Seamless integration without engineering strain
Why first-party data is a strategic advantage for marketplaces
Marketplaces are in a rare position: they own the full transaction and have deep contextual insights, but often leave value on the table by not activating it securely.
With Rokt, marketplaces can:
- Monetize key moments like checkout and post-purchase
- Serve buyer-relevant offers without compromising trust, all while maintaining full control over advertiser controls
- Create new seller opportunities via promotion and visibility tools
- Do it all without exposing customer data or risking compliance
The future is relevant, secure, and customer-first
As third-party cookies disappear and consumer scrutiny rises, only those marketplaces that lead with trust and relevance will grow sustainably.
Rokt supports that growth by providing secure, privacy-first infrastructure alongside AI-powered real-time relevance. Trusted by over 30,000 brands and powering more than 6 billion transactions annually, we help marketplaces turn complexity into opportunity.
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Sources
¹ Edelman Trust Barometer 2023
² Deloitte on Consumer Spending and Trust
³ Rokt x Harris Poll 2025 Report