An online marketplace is a kind of eCommerce business that can be developed to create the online presence of businesses and let them meet present-day challenges. If you are planning to start a marketplace setup like Amazon, Airbnb or Etsy, then we are here to assist you with our words.
What is the difference between an online store and a marketplace?
New entrepreneurs generally confuse marketplace platforms with online stores. However, both of these are considerably different from each other.
When we talk about an online store, it shows a retail store to customers where they can select and buy their desired products. An online store is a single vendor platform selling its kinds of stuff on the web. You can buy these products just by clicking on them also they can add them into the cart for a future buy.
Most of the online store entrepreneurs utilize different online store developers such as WooCommerce, Wix, Shopify and BigCommerce. All such tools assist online store owners in setting up and promote their products online without spending a lot more on professional web services.
On the other hand, a marketplace is a platform where sellers come together to sell their services or products to a wide range of customers. It brings the right vendors and the right customers together. As a multi-vendor platform, it drives sales to vendors and helps them increase the visibility and sell of their products.
Know why marketplaces are so popular?
Having an online marketplace is always a win-win situation for businesses. The marketplace owners can easily earn a good amount of profits in terms of commission from the customers, advertisers and vendors. They can sell their products without managing cost, website setup along with competitive pricing and better service quality.
Looking at the growth and benefits associated with online marketplaces, lots of business owners are moving towards these and building an online marketplace platform to launch their products and achieve their target market and profits.
As said earlier lots of things are required to consider while building a marketplace. Therefore, we will describe everything you need to know before you start a marketplace business.
Choose the model of the online marketplace
Once you plan to build a marketplace, you must choose the best model for it. The selection of the marketplace model depends on the array of features and functionalities as well as goods and services you want to offer to your customers.
Also, the model you choose for developing an online marketplace model must be easy to use and convenient to vendors and others. As online marketplaces are intended to facilitate both buyers and sellers, not all models enable both-side interaction. So, we advise you to choose the best and suitable model for your business before starting your own online marketplace.
You can choose from below listed marketplace models:
- B2C (Business-To-Customer)
- B2B (Business-To-Business)
- C2C (Customer-To-Customer)
Research your target customers
Whether you are building a marketplace from scratch or shifting your existing business to marketplace commerce, this is always necessary to research your target market.
As per the reports of CBInsights, "no market need" is the initial cause of many startups (42% are examined).
Starting a marketplace business without having a clear understanding of the target market and your user's needs may cause losses. This is a great way to stop future issues and get good results. That's why researching the target market is essential. To develop a successful marketplace business, analyze your customers, market analysis, and other relevant information.
Choose a suitable pricing package
Choosing a platform that relied on its functional features is one of the essential things to be considered. Look at the cost input and pricing package associated with the eCommerce platform. You need to check the required features and prices charged for these services. Check if there is any hidden cost associated with it or not. One more thing to consider is the post-launch maintenance, and technical support offered to you.
How to setup store
After settling down on the models, and other essential things now it is the time to set up your online store. To do it perfectly, you need to hire professionals to set up your store. The process of setup and launching a marketplace is not a cup of tea of every individual, and it needs experts' skills. Logo design, banner design, speed, smooth navigation and flexibility in using the store must be considered while building a marketplace.
Create a social media presence
In the present time, we can't neglect the importance of having a presence on social media channels. Millions of users are active on different social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and others. They use such platforms for different purposes from communication to promoting their business on the web.
Creating a presence on social media platforms is one of the most popular and globally used methods to increase sales and business reach. To gain popularity, a wide user-base and higher profits, it is highly recommended to use social media platforms.
Final Words
All of the above points should be considered before building an online marketplace. Although it seems easier to create a marketplace, however, you must need experts to build and launch a successful and profitable marketplace business.