Are you planning to create a marketplace but don’t know from where to start?
Or maybe planning to own a business and have no clue what to do in it?
Let me tell you, creating a multivendor marketplace is not that difficult as you would expect it to be. Moreover, with the advancement of technology, it has become one of the best options to start a venture and satisfy user needs by creating a one-stop shop, ‘Multivendor Marketplace.’
In this article, we’ll take a closer look over the importance and steps to create a multivendor marketplace along with some additional information.
Let’s have a quick look on what is a multivendor marketplace.
Multivendor Marketplace
A multi-vendor marketplace is an online platform where multiple vendors sell their products. Here, more than one merchant can display the same product as presented by other merchants thereby creating healthy competition among each other.
Would you agree if I say, ease in accessibility to an online marketplace has become the most popular way among the people to buy and sell their products?
Well, with the emerging marketplaces such as eBay, Amazon, and Quikr it can be undoubtedly stated that it has become prevalent. The ease in shopping for the customers and selling products for the merchants is only possible with the emergence of one-stop online shops.
These marketplaces can be of different types. So, here’s a brief on the types of marketplace models you’d find online.
Different types of Online Marketplaces
B2B- Business to Business marketplace where the transactions of products and services only happen between businesses.
Examples: TradeIndia, Alibaba
B2C- Business to Consumer marketplace where transactions of services and products take place between business and the customers. They mainly focus on marketing their products for individual utilization.
Example: Starbucks
C2C- Consumer to Consumer marketplace where product transactions happen between the consumers. It mainly targets to build a healthy relationship among the seller and the buyer to find each other.
Examples: Quikr, OLX
P2P- Peer to Peer marketplace establishes a connection between the users who offer products and services offline. Here, the buyers and the sellers can directly communicate with each other.
Examples: Etsy
What is the need to create a multivendor marketplace?
We have a large number of shopping websites, and yet, a separate marketplace has become a mandatory place to shop. Why?
Unlike visiting different shopping sites, a majority of the people prefer shopping from a one-stop shop, where they would get everything to shop. So, online marketplace has become a necessity. Here are some of our thoughts on – Why is multi-vendor marketplace solution the best idea for eCommerce business?
You can also share your views on the same in the comment section below.
- It creates a convenient way for the users to shop online
- It significantly increases the popularity of eCommerce industry
- There has been a remarkable growth in e-retail sales since 2016 and is further expected to grow approximately by 15% in the next five years
- It has also increased the exposure for the merchants to sell their products and services across the globe
With the need to create an effective multivendor marketplace comes the significant steps to be followed while making it a reality.
So, let us explore the essential steps:
5 Key Steps to Follow While Creating A Multivendor Marketplace
Trust me, creating a one-stop shop solution, i.e., a marketplace, is not that easy as it seems. One needs to focus brilliantly on diverse aspects of his/her business to compete with the top tiered marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. After all, these marketplaces weren’t built overnight; it took years for them to establish globally as the most influential leaders in the eCommerce market.
Every profound beginning starts from the scratch for successful results, and that’s what happened with the top tiered shopping places. Today, with the advancement of technologies, you can do a better job while creating a qualitative marketplace website.
Therefore, we have 5 of the critical areas you need to focus on to start off strong while creating a multivendor marketplace.
1. Research, R esearch and a Lot of Extensive Market Research!
The first and foremost step involves researching the entire market that would help you analyze your target audience. Presenting the customers with your online shopping platforms, you have to first understand their needs and whatever urges them to buy your products and services. You need to answer these questions to yourself: what type of consumers will your marketplace cater to? What does your marketplace provide that others don’t?
Hence, market research plays a vital role in creating a productive and a thriving marketplace.
2. Selecting an Effective eCommerce Platform
You can build your online business through a variety of CMS available in the market. However, Magento is preferred for many reasons.
- It is the most popular eCommerce platform
- It demonstrates a more substantial growth through regular upgrades
- Reflects easy usability and customization
- Extensions can be added for the further effectiveness of the marketplace
3. Maintaining an Effective Selling Environment
Nothing would dissuade your customers other than a lynching website. The studies have also proven that most of the users deter from the site if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. It thus, reveals that slow and snagging sites would create a dead end for your online business. So, you need to be alert and maintain an active selling environment that would satisfy your customers and fulfill their shopping demands.
4. Making Use of Ready-Made Solutions
You must have an exhaustive knowledge of technical aspects to build a multivendor marketplace from zero. Expediently, there are many alternatives to ready-made scripts available to create a marketplace like Amazon, or Etsy.
How easy is that! Just make use of the ready-made solution, and you are good to go with your online marketplace.
5. Increasing Your Website Traffic Inrush via Online Marketing
At last, when your marketplace is finally finished loading with all the products and vendors, a grueling task would involve bringing visitors to your website. You can use online marketing techniques that can be performed without many investments. Various online marketing channels such as search engine optimization, social media, E-mail marketing can be used to drive traffic to your website.
Summing Up
Creating a multivendor marketplace as your business is a great idea to cater to the demands of the consumers on a daily basis. Technological enhancement has definitely, made our work more accessible and has also provided significant growth in home-based employment.
However, before jumping into the water, you must prepare yourselves with the skills you need to have to survive deeper. You may help yourselves by going through the article before establishing your multivendor marketplace and do share your views upon the same in the comment section.
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