Once you decide to create your own multi-vendor marketplace, you should remember that you’ve chosen quite a competitive business model.
On the one hand, multichannel approach is highly popular among online merchants nowadays, so there is a great demand in online marketplaces. On the other hand, demand generates supply, so, no wonder, there is a diversity of available marketplaces. It means before you start you should consider every detail in depth.
Meanwhile, here are 7 essential steps to follow to build a powerful online marketplace:
Choose your niche and analyze your rivals. If you look at some leading online marketplaces, every multi-vendor marketplace belongs to a particular business segment. Choosing the right business niche that might be relevant in a few years has a direct impact on your profit. Analyzing your competitors is also a useful activity. Like the saying goes, “know your enemy to win!” Probably, this example is too radical, but there is always a bit of truth.
Select your website and domain name. Your online marketplace name is like a banner above the entrance to your store. It should reflect your business specifics and arouse the interest.
Decide on functionality and monetization methods of your marketplace. Here are some basic features every marketplace must have: integration with social media, customer reviews, wish lists etc. Nevertheless, it’s a classical set. If you want to attract more customers and provide a seamless shopping experience, you should think about some extra features.
Consider promotion campaigns. It’s necessary to think of how you will engage your target audience long before you launch your marketplace.
Find your development approach. There are 3 major website development approaches: development from scratch, ready-to-use open-Image Source, CMS-based development. Each type has its own nuances, but CMS-based development can be considered a golden mean between two other approaches.
Calculate your budget. Certainly, your business idea and its realization plan should correspond to your budget.
Test your multi-vendor marketplace. On this stage MVP (minimum viable product) should be created. It allows you to display your newly-minted marketplace for the entire world to see, so you could collect user references and, relying on this data, detect vulnerabilities and resolve them.
This article provides more extensive information on each of these steps. Welcome!
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