Whitepaper: Towards an online marketplace

Posted on 28-09-2021

Marketplaces are websites where multiple providers can sell their products and services. More and more e-commerce parties are responding to the trend and starting a marketplace. And no, you don't have to dethrone Amazon to be successful.

How profitable is such an online marketplace? And should you open your online store to third parties? In our whitepaper we discuss eight do's en don'ts on starting an online marketplace. Read the first three below.

#1 Determine the desired form

Starting an online marketplace starts with thinking about the desired form. Do you present yourself as a platform that brings buyers and sellers together solely, or do you also sell products yourself? What markets are you targeting: consumers (B2C such as Bol.com), companies (B2B such as catering platform Foodl) or something in between (C2C such as Marktplaats)?

#2 Determine your niche

From tea towel to laptop: players such as Bol.com and Amazon offer an enormous range of products. For a novice player it is almost impossible to compete with that. Therefore, it is better to target a niche market in order to be commercially successful. For example, think of a platform for fishing supplies or think of a gym platform that is is converting its website into an online marketplace, subscribers can buy all kinds of sports-related products. In short, determine the niche you want to focus on. This way you create a clear scope for yourself and you automatically become interesting to a certain target group.

#3 Invest in a good technical infrastructure

In 2020, there are numerous software solutions for setting up an online store relatively quick and easy. That is a bit more difficult in case of an online marketplace. You will have to invest in good search function and smart search filters, so that customers can quickly find the right product in the separate ranges of the different vendors.

Let's get started!

Starting up a marketplace can yield a lot. What should you think of? How do you set up your payment process optimally? Taking into account that you will have to deal with mixed baskets and the resulting need for split payments. Download the whitepaper today to delve into all the opportunities and challenges.