marketplace

Hi there!

In the previous article, we have learnt the basic definition of a marketplace and how it works. Now we will take a closer look into understanding what role online marketplaces play and how effective they can be in the future.

ONPASSIVE marketing tools are cutting edge tools that use advanced technology and digital marketing strategies in making your marketplace more effective! Let us delve back into the basics and define what an online marketplace is.

How do you define an online marketplace?

An online marketplace can simply be defined as a website or an app, which encourages shopping from many different sources. The people who run the marketplace do not own any inventory of their own and their main purpose is to present other people’s inventory to other users and facilitate transactions.

As the number of marketplaces has rapidly increased due to the greater convenience offered to its customers! Since there is not a need to keep the inventory physically, there is always real-time information being communicated about the products to the customers.

What is some research done about customer behaviour on marketplaces?

Customers are not fans and do not prefer to buy all their products or services from a single retailer! They are more inclined to download a single app, which offers a variety of different products from multiple retailers on a single marketplace.

As there are many different products being offered by many different resellers, customers are free to make informed decisions about their purchases on their own accord.

What are the different types of marketplaces?

Primarily there are three different types of marketplaces which are:

  • Vertical marketplaces:

These marketplaces help to sell products from many different sources online, and these sites help to guarantee the authenticity to a product or a service.

  • Horizontal marketplaces:

Horizontal marketplaces help to sell products of different types but share a singular, common characteristic. When you provide the community, infrastructure and data this will help to drive overall traffic by buying and selling on the platform.

  • Global marketplaces:

These type of marketplaces specialize in selling all types of products and services. They rely on the belief that if enough products or services are being sold on the platform, the users will understand if they are getting a fair price for the products that they are purchasing!

What is making marketplaces more popular?

Marketplaces have gained more popularity than ever, as they have become faster and efficient than ever! Your competitors in the market may be super conglomerates with the help of virtually unlimited resources, incredible technology and vast potential.

Some of the major online marketplaces which have gained a surge of popularity and have now become household names are Flipkart, Walmart, Amazon and many others.

As a new marketplace which strives to succeed, they must be capable of doing three things well which are:

  • Reduced friction in selling as well as buying products to have improved liquidity on both sides of the marketplace.
  • Increasing the overall level of trust and transparency in improving the participation of customers!
  • Creating mechanisms which are proactive as well as reactive in nature for addressing issues that may come up while dealing on the marketplace.

In conclusion, marketplaces are the future of the retail industry and it is not going to go anywhere. We hope you found this brief on online marketplaces interesting, in case you are planning to launch your very own marketplace!