Marketplace development - maximise the reach of your commerce

It is clear that sales platforms are the way forward for e-Commerce. Among all the available options, marketplaces take the lead as the preferred sales channel for consumers, making them a popular choice for suppliers and distributors.

Marketplaces offer entrepreneurs limitless opportunities to reach customers by showcasing their offerings in one place, regardless of the number of sales channels they already use.

For small businesses, it is also a possibility to establish brand recognition by distributing their offerings across a diverse range of platforms. The most crucial question is:

How should a business expand its e-commerce? Should they create their own marketplace (like Mirakl platforms), integrate with other systems, or merely display products on well-known selling platforms?

The answer depends on the business's specifics and its online store's structure. We are here to assist you in choosing the perfect solution and customising it to cater to your needs.

The e-commerce sector can be divided into several sales models:

B2C marketplace
It is a business model in which companies sell their products straight to customers, effectively creating their own marketplace. Popular examples include Amazon, eBay and Facebook.

B2B Marketplace
B2B marketplace functions as a place where multiple suppliers can present their offers. It can cater to a particular industry or encompass various sectors. A well-known example is Alibaba.

Direct e-Commerce
Direct e-Commerce approach empowers sellers to manage their own e-commerce platform, allowing them to offer their products directly to B2B Clients.
 

Converting your ecommerce website into a marketplace can be a challenging endeavor, but it can also provide numerous advantages like expanding your product assortment, increasing your reach, and boosting your revenue. To achieve success, it is crucial to take into account various factors such as:

1. Market Research: Before you start transforming your e-commerce into a marketplace, you need to do some market research. Find out if there is a need for this type of platform in the industry, and assess the competition's success with offering marketplace services. At Ideo Software, we start every project with a thorough analysis of the business needs.
    
2. Business Plan: Develop a detailed business plan that adresses strategy, goals, revenue models, finance, operations, marketing, and management. Determine your core marketplace revenue, such as sales commissions, advertising fees, and merchant subscriptions.
    
3. Technology: Choose the right technology platform that will allow you to grow your e-commerce business. There are many out-of-the-box solutions you can customize like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce or Salesforce Commerce Cloud. At Ideo Software, we help you fully align the platform with all your business goals.
    
4. Offer Expansion: Transform your existing e-commerce into an open marketplace where other sellers can promote and sell their products. Provide tools to help them manage orders, payments, and shipping.
    
5. Engage sellers: Identify potential sellers who might be interested in your marketplace. You can start with your existing e-commerce suppliers to expand their presence on your platform. Prepare attractive offers and show the benefits of joining your marketplace.
    
6. Creating community: Build a community around your marketplace. Create a forum, blog, or other communication tool that allows sellers and customers to interact. Organize marketing campaigns, contests, and other user engagement initiatives. If you do not know how to do it, please feel free to contact us.
    
7. Security and trust: Set rules and standards for security, privacy, and trust on your platform. Build a positive image and credibility for your marketplace by implementing seller verification and customer review systems.
    
8. Customer service: Provide quality customer service with tools for communication between customers and sellers, customer service, and resolution of any issues that may arise on the platform.
    
9. Analysis and optimization: Regularly analyze data, reports and indicators related to your marketplace. Track results, identify areas to improve, and adjust your strategies based on what you learn. Making the move from e-commerce to a marketplace can be a complex process, but with a solid plan and the appropriate resources, success is achievable. By doing so, you can develop a platform convenient for both sellers and customers.

Discover the secret to successful integration
 Marketplace - integration with Mirakl

Wondering how to integrate different systems into one marketplace?

Find out how we carried out integrations with Mirakl for Black Red White Group.

It is essential to consider several factors to determine the ideal model for your organisation's business requirements. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each option?

When deciding on a business solution, it is crucial to consider your company's strategic goals. Direct models typically require more resources for marketing, while marketplace platforms have lower entry costs and higher brand recognition, making reaching a much larger group of customers easier.

Marketplaces offer better customer acquisition opportunities and enhance the brand image but have greater competition and price aggressive market. On the other hand, dedicated sales platforms demand more financial and time resources to set up and market, but they provide greater flexibility and control over the customer journey. Ultimately, the choice depends on your short- and long-term business goals.

Learn more about the possibilities of marketplace platforms by clicking here.

Do you want to significantly increase sales and attract new customers quickly? Do you aim to improve or establish your brand's image from scratch? Are you interested in optimising costs in certain areas?

If any of these apply to you, advertising your products on marketplace platforms could be a secure and effective solution. The risk of entering such platforms is comparatively low, provided no complicated system configurations are necessary. By collaborating with a marketplace, you can minimise risk and maximise visibility.

Alternatively, if your aim is to establish a strong market position and offer a one-of-a-kind, customised customer experience, building your own platform may be the optimal choice.

Direct e-commerce provides excellent opportunities for customer service and reduces competition risk. However, it does require a greater financial investment. Ultimately, the choice of distribution channel depends on the specific needs of your business.

When it comes to own sales platforms, there are two options - creating a custom system or integrating with existing ones. The latter option is more convenient as it makes migrating and configuring data much easier.

Mirakl - SaaS-based software to create and manage your own marketplace. Integrating with these platforms enables sellers to easily update their sales offers while enhancing the platform with advanced data management features.

This includes expanding their product catalogue, managing customer service more comprehensively, and ensuring product information security. As a result, business processes are accelerated, and introducing new products is made more intuitive, providing companies with a wider range of growth opportunities.

There are many tools available for integration with popular marketplace platforms. You can use various integration tools, such as BaseLinker or Lengow. These tools allow you to easily configure and migrate your data to large marketplaces, like Amazon.

Once you integrate with one of these tools, your orders will be downloaded to their system and processed accordingly, including shipping packages, preparing invoices, and sending order status updates to your customers. Integrations can work in different directions, such as issuing ready-made offers or forwarding orders to your store.

With two-way integration, you can import orders and manage your marketplace presence effectively. Division of integrated marketplaces according to Baselinker:

Integration can be achieved through different methods depending on the marketplace in question. To ensure a seamless purchase process and minimise the risk of errors, automation through the use of APIs or forwarding orders from the relevant file is typically used. This approach guarantees a high level of accuracy throughout the entire process.

Other Marketplace platforms

We work with popular tools among our Clients such as Mirakl, Lengow and Baselinker. As a result, we are able to offer you proven and professional solutions that are sure to meet your expectations. However, we also pride ourselves on our flexibility.

Our team of experienced experts can implement and integrate any platform you prefer, regardless of whether it is an innovative platform, an integration, or specialized software. We will conduct a thorough analysis, assist you with the implementation, and provide the technical support and guidance you need to ensure your platform functions efficiently.

Conclusions

Expanding your consumer reach and enhancing their shopping experience is crucial for any company. The key challenge lies in selecting the best communication method.

However, there is no need to worry about limitations as you can offer your products both through your own e-Commerce site and marketplaces. In fact, larger companies can even establish themselves as an independent marketplace. Our team is ready to assist you in designing and implementing the best approach to fit your needs