Best Buy Co. Inc. is developing a marketplace for other merchants to sell through BestBuy.ca, its e-commerce site serving Canadian consumers. The marketplace will launch in October, in time for the peak holiday sales season, a BestBuy.ca spokeswoman says.  

Best Buy Canada Ltd., a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Best Buy, is recruiting merchants to sell through the platform. Best Buy launched a marketplace on BestBuy.com, its U.S. site, in 2011.

The company says BestBuy.ca attracts more than 250 million visitors annually and that it has more than 200 people managing the Canadian e-commerce site. It is offering sellers six months of exclusivity on the products they offer for sale on the marketplace. Marketplace sellers can also market to Best Buy customers in its email database, which the retailer says has more than 5 million subscribers.

The company does not say what cut Best Buy takes on marketplace sales, but says they are in line with what other marketplaces in Canada charge. Marketplace sellers ship goods directly to the consumer, but consumers will eventually have the option to return goods bought from a marketplace seller to a Best Buy store. That option is scheduled to go live next spring, the retailer says.

“We want to continue to bring the greatest assortment of products to our customers, and help retailers succeed, which is why we are inviting other Canadian retailers to join us on our online marketplace and enjoy our world-class e-commerce capabilities,” says Thierry Hay-Sabourin, vice president of e-commerce, Best Buy Canada. The BestBuy.ca marketplace will run on technology from marketplace software provider Mirakl.

Best Buy operates 136 full-line Best Buy stores and 56 Best Buy Mobile stores in Canada. Last year it closed or rebranded all its Future Shop-branded stores in Canada under the Best Buy banner. Best Buy is No. 14 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide.