Digital marketplaces are the top shopping destinations nowadays. This modern trend drives people to purchase and repeat shopping with ease and more choices. Starting a new online marketplace in your business requires investment and lots of effort. What comes next is a promising platform for buyers who become prospective software vendors and many such interested users.
They are just like Airbnb, Uber, Amazon, and similar platforms. Well, you need several tricks before you begin to develop one. The article today highlights the main stages of marketplace product development, leading to a full-fledged, high-performing application. As an e-commerce app development company, we have launched various projects in this field, and we are here to share our expertise with you.
What is an Online Marketplace?
An online marketplace is a platform where suppliers of goods and services can sell them directly to consumers or other businesses. This eliminates the need for merchants to engage in specialized online store development. They can begin selling following a brief registration. On the other hand, buyers benefit from a diverse range of products available in one location and convenient shipment. Online platforms are different from ordinary online stores as they do not remain offline any time, products are offered from around the world with other sellers—just like a hypermarket, and there are larger audiences with high traffic as compared to regular online stores.
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By Type
There are different types of markets. Before we create a marketplace website, let’s look at the table below to obtain a general idea of their sorts. If you want to create a marketplace website, you need to understand all of your options by specialization, application, and target audience.
B2B (business-to-business)
This business model enables organizations to trade goods and services. For example, Alibaba’s marketplace allows firms to sell things in quantity. Such sites’ monetization techniques typically include transaction or membership fees.
B2C (business-to-consumer)
A strategy in which businesses sell items and goods to individual clients while the marketplace takes a modest commission on each sale. Walmart is an example of such a marketplace that allows enterprises to gain widespread awareness while offering a diverse product line.
C2C (consumer-to-consumer)
A marketplace where people can purchase and sell products or services. Such platforms monetize through transactions or listing fees. Craigslist is a well-known example of a C2C marketplace, with listings for anything from furniture and appliances to clothing, housing, and jobs.
Hybrid
This type combines all of the markets mentioned earlier methods. How does this work? Let us look at Amazon. Although it is essentially a B2C marketplace, the platform has evolved to provide B2B prospects (Amazon Business) and C2C options (Amazon for Used Items).
By Specialization
Vertical Marketplaces
Vertical marketplaces specialize in a specific range of goods and services, such as real estate, vintage items, digital products, and musical instruments.
Horizontal Marketplaces
Horizontal marketplaces lack specialized specialties and provide goods and services across different industries. Such platforms, including eBay, typically levy a transaction fee.
By Application
Mobile Marketplace
Mobile marketplace apps provide on-the-go browsing and are highly convenient and accessible. Furthermore, smartphones enable markets to provide location-based bargains or services. However, while developing a marketplace mobile app, remember that it will have a more straightforward UI and a smaller screen size, which may appeal to only some users.
Web Marketplace
The web marketplace is easy to use from a desktop, but it must also be responsive to deliver the optimal user experience for mobile users. The advantages include a larger screen than mobile apps, which allows for more detailed views, research-intensive purchases, and the smooth operation of complex transactions.
Others
Decentralized
Decentralized markets are a recent trend in marketplace website creation that deviates from the usual way of doing business. Based on blockchain technology, decentralized markets establish a peer-to-peer connection, allowing users to engage directly without a central authority. They are suitable for selling digital goods, data sharing, and financial services. This type’s monetization options include protocol, service fees, and token-based schemes.
Service-Focused
They connect service providers with clients, including freelancing websites, meal delivery, home services, and pet care. For example, Upwork is a prominent freelance platform that links organizations and individuals with freelance workers for various digital and creative projects.
P2P Rental
Such marketplaces facilitate the connection between those offering temporary rental services and those needing them. One well-known example of such a platform is Airbnb. It provides various low-cost rooms and a platform and tools for hosts to promote their properties, set pricing and availability, and contact prospective guests.
What are The Key Features of an Online Marketplace Website
The top features that are most needed in any online marketplace website are:
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Easy log-in and sign-in process
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Seamless onboarding
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Convenient personal accounts
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Mobile Friendliness
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Payment Gateways
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Advanced Analytics
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Ratings and review
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Social Media Sharing Options
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Personalization
Essential Steps To Be Considered While Developing an Online Marketplace
Marketplace creation is a complex process that demands intense focus and effort and a certified mobile app development services provider. To minimize problems when designing and launching a marketplace, you must plan carefully and make data-driven decisions at each stage. So, how do you create an online marketplace website? See our step-by-step approach below.
Identify the niche market.
Determine the marketplace kind and monetization strategy you’ll employ. Before beginning development, thoroughly investigate the chosen niche: do market research, assess rivals’ products, and identify the target audience.
Make a structured and detailed plan.
Create a detailed plan outlining all business processes and phases of engagement with users inside the service. Keep in mind this:
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The internal interface and website structure should be intuitive for the user. There should be no complicated algorithms that can turn off a client who has just viewed the resource.
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The product catalog should be organized around widely approved and well-known categories. You do not need to create your own; you can thoroughly examine competing sites and rely on popular query and category ratings. In the future, respond to user requests, improve existing product categories, or establish new ones.
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You should have a clear marketing strategy that includes both online and offline promotion of the project. From the start, it is critical to supply all channels and sources of communication for each target audience.
Define the needed functionality.
When establishing the essential functionality, it is important to list and prioritize the features, as you will most likely not be able to implement them all at once while developing a marketplace. You can start with must-haves and go to should-haves and nice-to-have features, or you can choose based on their importance to users. Use market research findings to establish functionality and ensure that important features are implemented first.
Choose Your Development Team
Form a development team. Consider its makeup, hierarchy, and interaction model among individuals from various departments. Determine which professionals will join your team and which will be outsourced.
Before you hire dedicated developers for your e-commerce project, there are two main principles to consider.
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First, professionals must be highly qualified, have expertise in establishing new projects, and deliver custom ecommerce solutions.
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Second, the most expensive services may only sometimes represent the finest quality. That is why you should pay close attention to the experience of the e-commerce website design firm you intend to engage.
If organizing the team yourself is too difficult, you may always employ a mobile app development services company to assemble the appropriate specialized team adapted to your project’s specific demands.
Choose the Right Technology Stack
The technology stack for marketplace development is divided into client-side technologies (which include the website’s visual aspects) and server-side technologies (which include programming languages, frameworks, and databases).
Client Interface: HTML, JavaScript, and CSS
Programming Languages: C++, Python, Java, PHP, Ruby, etc
Leading Frameworks and Libraries: React.js, Angular.js, Vue.js, Fusion.js, Ruby on Rails, Backbone.js, Django.
Databases/database management system: MongoDB, MySQL, Oracle
Cloud Solutions: Azure, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services.
The tech stack varies according to the size of the marketplace. Also, it is according to the type of platform that you are choosing. For example, you need Android app development services to create an Android app. The well-known current marketplaces operate on radically different technologies but thrive. That is why, rather than attempting to find a single universal solution, it is more important to understand how to use technology correctly.
Design the Architecture
Your future marketplace will be built on various forms of software architecture. The option you choose is determined by your scalability and flexibility needs, as well as your user experience requirements. Here are some examples to consider.
Monolithic Architecture
It is a simplified structure in which all functionality is packed into a single codebase. It works well for small marketplaces but can become cumbersome and difficult to operate as the platform grows.
Microservices Architecture
It divides the market into smaller, separate services that interact with one another. It provides better scalability and flexibility, but demands more development effort.
Headless Architecture
It divides the front end (user interface) from the back end (data and logic). The backend exposes APIs that can be used by any front end, making it an excellent choice for multi-platform markets.
Develop Core Features and Integrations
Developing a marketplace website begins with the primary features and integrations. Especially if it is an iOS app development, the features differ from those of the Android platform. The solution must have all the necessary characteristics for smooth operation. Leave the should-haves and nice-to-haves for future development cycles.
What should I start with? Marketplaces often contain user accounts and profiles, product listings and searches, shopping carts and checkouts, and product listing and order management. Provide a whole admin interface for managing the marketplace, such as adding vendors, tracking transactions, assessing platform usage, and determining fees.
Choose the Hosting and Deploy
Choosing a hosting provider is critical since server characteristics influence your store’s load speed and overall performance. When selecting a hosting company for your marketplace website, take into consideration:
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Choose a solution as per your budget requirements
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Remember, underrated performance can reduce your sales
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Your server should be able to scale with the increasing traffic effectively
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Content delivery network should be for better speed and performance
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For security, there should be SSL certificates, firewalls, spam filters, DDoS protection
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Automated backups must be provided to ensure customer data safety.
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There should be exceptional support from the hosting provider for troubleshooting.
Once you choose the appropriate provider, consider that your marketplace should run smoothly and must provide better user experiences.
Keep Expanding Your Marketplace
When the feedback from the previous phase has been collected and reviewed, and you are confident that your target audience will receive your product well, you may move forward with marketplace website development. At this stage, you should concentrate on the comments you received and the users’ problem issues and work out how to remedy them. The development team will add new functionality to the product and change the design and user flow.
Continue Promotion and Growth
As you planned the platform’s promotion in Step 2, it is time to launch the campaign! The scope of social media marketing, advertising, influencer collaboration, content marketing, SEO, and partnerships is astonishing. Both vendors and buyers will evaluate your commission rates and the platform’s design and usability.
Final Thoughts
The demand for marketplaces grows, resulting in the introduction of new applications. There are many rivals in this niche, so if you want to enter it, you must have a high-quality product that efficiently solves the specific demands of your target audience. At Whitelotus Corporation, we have actively provided clients with several online marketplace website development solutions. Contact us to learn more about our services. We can help you create a revolutionary e-commerce website that can attract users worldwide.
