04.10.21

What does it take to build a marketplace platform?

It's not an easy task to create your Internet service that would aggregate the offers of suppliers. There are no instructions or working guides to solve it. The success of the enterprise depends on the founder's actions: thorough analysis of the whole market and the knowledge of the work principles. An important skill is a vigilance and readiness to follow trends, transforming and adapting to current formats and models.

How to start creating your retail space, attract retailers and consumers, and maximize profits without losing your clients?
How to start your marketplace?
You can start with a global analysis of the market, niches, and competition in them. In addition, it is advisable to decide on the type of product to be sold and study the consumer audience. The model of the online trading platform also depends on it: B2B, if we are going to work with companies, and B2C, if we are working with consumers.

The second issue is uniqueness. Even in a narrow niche, it is difficult to stand out from the competition. Offer your audience an interesting feature of the site to get feedback and maximize customer flow. Here you can organize targeted delivery by concluding an agreement with local logistics companies. Create competition in the assortment: retailers will be able to vary prices, and consumers will search and select profitable offers without leaving home.

The third sticking point is the online customer acquisition marketing campaign. You can rely on native ads when satisfied users share their experiences by posting excellent reviews on social media. But they still need to be attracted to the online trading platform. The best way to solve the problem is to involve bloggers, media, and influencers to advertise. Yes, it is costly on the budget. Yes, the speed of information dissemination is at a high level, but the conversion is scanty at first. What are the benefits? Trust level. For example, if a new phone from Sigma is publicly praised by Elon Musk, sales of this device will skyrocket like SpaceX aircraft.

The fourth nuance to be considered is the work model. Typically, placement on specialized trading platforms costs 20% of the price of a sold product unit. Payment is provided according to the CPA model, i.e., payment for an action. In this case, action is a purchase. The commission is fixed and relatively low. But this is how everyone does. Be flexible with retailers and consumers to maximize loyalty and advertising. Offer favorable terms of payment to merchants, and arrange discounts for logistics services for buyers. Everyone will be happy, and you will make a profit.


Advertising as the progress engine
To promptly attract customers to work with the new online trading platform, it is necessary to conduct an advertising campaign. You can use native tools such as Google ADS or ask a marketing professional for help. The second option is more expensive, but it will speed up attracting retailers and consumers to the resource.

Advertising services from bloggers and the media are inexpensive, and the return on them is maximum. In the long term, it is one of the best ways to attract a target audience to the online market.

To get the most out of your e-commerce site, propose great deals and loyalty to retailers and consumers. Provide them with direct, no-mediated contact to speed up the closing process and avoid wasting budgets on intermediaries. It will positively affect prices, the number of goods sold, and therefore the commission you receive.

Would you like to find out more about transformation into marketplace? Please fill in the form and our team will respond to you shortly.