When is a good time to build a marketplace platform?

Trends are changing at a breathtaking speed, new players are entering the market, and leaders are constantly keeping each other on their toes. Delaying the creation of a resource for trading is fraught with the loss of many opportunities for attracting profits. To survive in fierce competition and lure competitive resellers, you need to set up a working platform for trading.

Buyers are people who expect favorable prices and a wide range of products. As long as you weigh the prospects and risks, they conveniently settle on the trading floors of competitors, increasing their profits. The longer you delay the launch of online retail space, the harder it will be to attract consumers.

Based on this, you should not postpone the launch of your Internet service that would aggregate the offers of suppliers. By biding your time, you lose clients that you may not attract.

The main problem is attracting retailers and consumers to the new site. Active marketing helps partially, but if it doesn't pay off, it's just a budget waste. To minimize losses, it is worth enlisting the support of product suppliers even at the planning stage. To do this, you need to understand the platform's direction of activity and the coverage of trade categories. It can be a B2B platform, B2C, C2C, P2P, there is no difference. The main thing is to interest promising distributors.

The site has been created, distributors publish goods and services, but the conversion is minimal. This is the second problem: the mistrust of potential consumers. While the website gains popularity and increases audience loyalty, it will take some time, and the profit will be relatively small during this period. To increase the profitability of a new online marketplace, you can start a marketing campaign, recruiting media, bloggers, and influencers to advertise.

This is the minimum that is worth investing in the further growth of the platform. The prominence will bring new distributors and allow it to scale, attracting suppliers and consumers.

The larger the project is planned, the lower the payback will be, or rather, the longer you will wait for the return on investment. It will take time for promotion, creating healthy competition between suppliers, and expanding the range for consumers. You should not count on instant profits, it is better to focus on the long term.

If you aim to take a leading position in the market, work for results! Follow the trends and excitements in e-commerce, keep your finger on the pulse, and do not delay the project's launch!