Ideas turn into reality when you put your time and effort into their nurturing. Many of you have come across the idea of creating an Online Marketplace in 2021 just like Amazon, eBay, ETSY, or Walmart.
The Marketplace is a platform for eCommerce, linking many buyers and sellers unified. The distance between consumers and retailers is bridged by multi-vendor shops. Multiple retailers are introduced into the marketplace to sell their goods. Retailers need to get enrolled to be part of the large shopping organization at the Marketplace.
The marketplace will assist an administrator to increase customer conversion and retention and generate revenue from listing seller goods, seller services, membership fees, and seller commission.
Marketplaces’ demand and scope are expanding every day. It’s never too late to launch your marketplace. The step by step guide will help you develop a successful marketplace which you can launch in the year 2021.
Step 1: Decide your industry
When you have come across the idea of creating a marketplace, you definitely have thought about the type of products you will be selling on that platform. If not then do it now because this is the first step toward your journey.
If you are new in the game and want some expert advice then don’t hesitate to take that. You can choose a type of online marketplace and sell products of a particular niche, establish a grocery marketplace; start a food delivery business in the local area or you can start a merchandising business. The choice is yours!
Read this to decide your business industry: Top 10 Hyperlocal Business Ideas for 2020
Step 2: Choose your business model
After deciding your industry and the niche you want to sell products for, you will have to look for the possible revenue models. The commission revenue model and membership plans are the most profitable ones.
Commission: a flat fee or a portion of each transaction is paid.
Membership: charging a fee for entering the network for a subscription.
Listing fee: paying a fee when a listing is released by a provider.
Lead fee: charging providers for customers’ access.
Freemium: charging for extra features, but there are free core features.
Featured listings/ads: billing for visibility from providers and/or other companies.
These are the most common business models which work well for a marketplace. Available pre-crafted modules for the marketplace may or may not support all of these. The marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon work on the commission model.
Step 3: Decide platform and create your marketplace website
For deciding a platform for a successful marketplace, explore all possible options. You can either develop a web-store from the scratch with the help of professional coders or you can purchase a Marketplace module or extension that can work on any of the eCommerce platforms like PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento, Shopify, or WooCommerce.
You don’t have to spend money in 5 digits if you are using a module to establish a marketplace on any of these platforms. Visit our marketplace page if you are looking for a fully functional, feature-rich marketplace plugin.
Read: Best eCommerce platforms for starting a multi-vendor marketplace
Step 4: Build your initial supply
The next step in the row is finding your first provider. The most pressing question comes here is how to get sellers on a marketplace?
For initial leads,
- You can contact sellers who are active on other platforms.
- You can use Google directories, business directories, and offline vendors who might be interested in selling on a marketplace.
- Try to find sellers from online forums and groups like on Facebook, or other social media.
Convince sellers by showing the benefits of your platform. There can be several ways to attract sellers to a marketplace that is discussed in this article.
Step 5: Launch your Marketplace
Ask sellers to enlist their products and run promotional campaigns on social media before launching your marketplace. Since you have invested enough time, and money in creating a marketplace, marketing and advertisements are the two major steps you need to take before launching it.
The much-needed initial boost will give you a well-prepared start. But note, even if your major marketing launch isn’t the stellar success you were hoping for, that doesn’t mean it won’t be your business.
It’s a smart idea to consider the launch in two stages to make the most of your big day:
- Launch your product first to test your platform and technology
- Marketing launch where you try to get as many important eyes on your website as possible.
Step 6: Grow your business and platform
Simply launching won’t help. Instead, you will need some smart tactics to make it a success. Target your audience with email marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing, do some offline campaigns, and publish commercials in local newspapers and magazines. You can even consider influencer marketing because people follow people.
Do metrics analysis for your marketplace and timely observe the growth rate.
Create, Learn, and Improve!
Why Choose PrestaShop Marketplace Extension?
The PrestaShop is one of the most versatile eCommerce platforms and it is home to 300,000 stores worldwide. You can create an Online Marketplace in 2021 on the PrestaShop platform with our functional marketplace module that offers a lot of features for admin and sellers.
It supports two revenue models: the commission model and membership business model. It is easy to manage, transparent transactions, simple and quick seller registration and is incorporated with a feature-rich seller dashboard. The seller can manage the inventory by himself and request category allotments to the manager of the module.
I hope this article about creating an Online Marketplace in 2021 was helpful and do write a comment or reach out to us at support@knowband.com. If you require any assistance for marketplace or eCommerce solution, Knowband creates readymade plugins for the eCommerce store and customize them as per your requirements.
