Thanks to the idea of hyperlocal business models which are redefining the economy with on-demand delivery models. The idea of home delivery is gaining ground and businesses are cashing in on it. BigBasket a famous brand have established their hyperlocal marketplace in the year 2016 and the change in the pattern has provided a wide range of product availability to the customers with super-fast delivery.
With hyperlocal delivery model, BigBasket established an online marketplace for local vendors and sellers and they have integrated a network of all the possible bakeries and popular vendors. This move opened up the doors for many small businesses to grow with the help of a marketplace.
There are multiple types of online marketplaces categorised based on industry, focus and target audience. We will be discussing them one by one and how the Multi Vendor Marketplace Module can help you build your own marketplace is explained.online
Online Marketplace based on Core-Focus:
There are two types of online marketplaces based on focus segments: There are marketplaces that provide either one type of service or sell one category of products and the others are a hub for multiple services with a variety of niche.
Vertical Marketplace
A marketplace providing a single type of service and not diving into the pool full of fishes. Let us consider an example of Etsy, what started out as a simple place for people to sell crafts has become a behemoth.
Horizontal Marketplace
A marketplace where you will find many services or different types of products on one online platform. For example, a mall where you will find all the brands and products under one roof. An online eCommerce marketplace like Amazon is a horizontal marketplace.
Another broad classification for types of online marketplaces
A major feasible classification for the online marketplace occurs on the verticals they are offering:
· Product-based online marketplace
This type of online marketplace deals with selling products. Like Amazon and Flipkart are product based marketplaces. Commission and subscription are the two ways product based marketplaces earn money. They can even charge for delivery fees.
· Service-based online marketplace
An online marketplace where service providers can list and provide services like personal care, cleaning, plumbing, appliance repair, pest control, graphic designing, etc.
Popular service-based online marketplaces are the Urban Company, Fiverr, Upwork who are providing multiple services with hundreds of categories.
· Booking or rental online marketplace
No chance you haven’t heard about a booking or rental service providing an online marketplace. Ola, Uber, booking.com, MakeMyTrip are the most popular websites for booking or rental Marketplace.
A platform or an online marketplace for the purchase or sale of goods and services through wireless handheld devices or mobile phone
eCommerce
A two-party site, e.g. seller – shopper, company owner – investor, etc.
The crowdfunding-the website enables people to post their projects and raise funds through fundraising efforts for their execution.
Marketplaces on the basis of Customer Type:
B2B – an online marketplace for the exchange of goods or services between companies or two business merchants
B2C – an online marketplace for the transaction from the merchant to customer for goods or services
C2C– an online platform for the transaction between customers for goods or services
How to start a Hyperlocal Marketplace with Multi Vendor Marketplace?
An online marketplace should have a seller and customer-driven features covering all possible requirements of the admin, seller, and the consumer. A multi-vendor marketplace extension is a module that can serve you well for setting up a B2B or B2C marketplace.
You can customize the settings as an admin. With Multi Vendor Marketplace module the seller who registers on your marketplace can easily manage the functionality for providing the service or selling a product to the customers.
Benefits of Multi Vendor Marketplace
Protection and guarantee for users
Authentic sellers and customers
Customizable settings and easy to configure from admin and sellers end
Track product details and orders for operating intermediate transactions
Marketplace handles the complete process
Multi vendor Marketplace provides superior customer experience
How to generate revenue with an Online Marketplace using Multi Vendor marketplace addon?
Based on Commission Model
How does the commission model work for Multi Vendor Marketplace? A commission is a percentage or amount of money a person gets when the product or service is being provided to the customer. With the aid of Marketplace Module, the store admin can set up a global commission for the sellers.
Using Multi Vendor Marketplace, commission for the individual sellers can be set. It provides the marketplace owner with the functionality of the category level commission. Marketplace admin can charge different commission rates on various marketplace product categories.
By offering a Membership Plan
Membership plans allow the store administrator to launch a subscription-based program. If the store administrator allows membership plans to work, then all new sellers and current sellers will have to purchase a marketplace membership to list their goods in the Multi Vendor Marketplace.
The marketplace owner can allow a free membership plan in which sellers can list only restricted products. Store admin can also send custom notifications to those sellers whose membership plans are about to expire. By giving a free subscription for a limited period will grab you more sellers in your market place.
Conclusion:
Some vendors and small businesses think it is easier to sell their goods in an online marketplace than to build a website and look for technological tools that handle several e-commerce sites. A marketplace is easy to manage with multi vendor marketplace addon.
If you’re willing to have an omnichannel approach with several online marketplaces, research all the industries and niche and think about which one suits you best and looks more lucrative, to begin with. Then we’ll help you keep your product details in order, safely, conveniently for all your marketplaces and networks.
Do you own an OpenCart store and willing to start a marketplace business? OpenCart Multi-Vendor Marketplace extension by Knowband is an exemplary plugin available for your OpenCart Marketplace business.
You must be coming up with a lot of questions for the same. First, what makes a multi-vendor marketplace an appealing business model for a peer-to-peer, B2B, or B2C business? The thing is: you want to make sure that you are working on the most profitable possible business. And that is just what a marketplace is. You can choose an industry to start your business with.
How does the OpenCart Multi-Vendor Marketplace Extension work?
If you are looking for a well-developed option for managing admin and seller interface then OpenCart Multi Vendor Marketplace extension is the solution. The extension has a separate admin interface and seller interface along with the front-end.
The registered seller is provided with a seller dashboard to manage all his orders, product inventory, delivery, and payment gateways and what not! The seller can easily register for selling his products on OpenCart Marketplace and access the dashboard. This is what a marketplace owner wants.
OpenCart Multi-Seller Marketplace plugin has a flawless admin interface that allows admin to manage all the sellers easily. It makes the seller commission management effortless. Proving multiple product choices in different categories is now handy with the OpenCart Marketplace extension.
How Admin of OpenCart Marketplace is Benefited?
Setting up a marketplace itself is an optimum business idea. This can make you plenty of money if done thoughtfully and strategically. All you need is a plan and a management system. The OpenCart Multi Vendor Marketplace extension is fully functional which can be incorporated into your existing single-vendor eCommerce site and converts it into a marketplace.
Easy Commission Management: A Source of Passive Income
The marketplace business is a source of passive income. If you are an owner of the marketplace then you will be earning some commission over every sell completed over your marketplace. The Multi Vendor Marketplace Plugin designed for OpenCart allows the admin to charge the sellers the global as well as the category-based commission.
Prudent management of sellers, products, and categories
It is simple to accept the seller’s profile from the admin panel of the OpenCart Marketplace plugin. The store owner can easily track the profile of the vendor and the items that are posted on sale. The admin can also assign sellers the categories. Besides, the vendors can submit an admin category request that is handled at the back end of the OpenCart Multi Vendor Marketplace plugin.
Offer Several Shipping Choices
OpenCart Marketplace Multi-vendor plugin provides custom delivery options to the customers. A seller is allowed to offer different shipping options for their products.
Track the Orders and Payments
Keeping the track of the sales, orders, and payments is an essential part of the business. The OpenCart Marketplace Extension provides efficient monitoring of the site’s sales report and the pay-outs.
Opencart Multi-Vendor Marketplace plugin offers admin to configure the payment settings for PayPal from the store’s backend. Admin needs to fill in the store’s backend with the Client ID, Client Secret Key, Paypal Email subject, and Paypal Currency.
Attract More Sellers to your Marketplace
Easy Seller Registration
If you want more vendors to sell on your OpenCart Marketplace then install the OpenCart Multi-vendor Marketplace extension because it allows third-party vendor registration in few clicks by simply filling out a form.
Sell Everything
The OpenCart Multseller marketplace extension allows sellers to sell ‘N’ number of products added in different categories. They can easily list the products and manage the inventory. OpenCart Marketplace allows the seller to request for the approval of product categories.
Lucrative Product Page
Sellers can incorporate banners, shop logo, and metadata from the dashboard to make the product page more appealing. An SEO friendly URL can be added by the seller.
Sellers can keep the Track
The sellers can track the Dashboard’s overall transactions and sales report with ease. It makes management simpler and quicker.
Shipping Choices and easy Payouts
If allowed from the OpenCart Multi seller Marketplace module admin panel, the sellers can add their own shipping methods. This will give customers a lot more choices.
Sellers can request the payment from time to time. This is very simple and easy.
Provide Notifications and Alerts through Email
This has a powerful email notification system that is capable of providing timely updates and feedback to the marketplace community concerned. Provide all the information about activities taking place within the online marketplace to customers, sellers, and store managers for taking the appropriate action at the earnest level. This will help us make the right business decision with no hiccups.
Customers are the Most Benefited Entity
Wonderful services at the most competent price: A customer will be happy to buy a product from your store if he can see what others are saying about the product they are willing to buy. It has been observed that a product that is highly reviewed receives more engagement.
Visitors of the OpenCart Marketplace store can now select the ideal products from a wider range of product choices. Let you the customer decide if the product and the seller are good enough by asking for feedback and reviews. From the seller’s account page, customers can easily contact the product sellers and raise a ticket for their queries and problems.
Final Words
Handling a business is not easy and a small task. Not every business owner can set up their own marketplace and earn money but giving them an opportunity will make the difference. Also, you need a strong and easy-to-use marketplace platform to create a successful marketplace. And to help you find the best platform, we have developed a Multi-Vendor Marketplace Extension for you, to see the demo you can click here.
Hyperlocal delivery is a new style of shopping. Everyone is looking for a home delivery option for the required things to avoid going out. Moving out of the walls for shopping isn’t safe and buying stuff from a supermarket or a grocery store can put you into risk.
Practicing social distancing, taking extra care, and maintain hygiene is the new normal. We are now habitual of the work from home and not willing to leave the comfort zone. Every coin has two sides. With the dark side of the pandemic, On-demand, near-me, hyperlocal delivery services are the new business opportunities that came into existence.
Hyperlocal delivery businesses work in a small region by providing different types of services. The process can be monitored in real-time. To start a hyperlocal business you need to decide the service you want to provide or you are good with, find the target audience, decide the geography and make it happen in the given time.
Hyperlocal delivery business overcomes the biggest constrain of renting or owning a physical space. Instead, you only need space on the cloud and an app or a website, to begin with.
I will be discussing the top 10 low investment hyperlocal business ideas for 2020. It is important to understand the concept, how it works and for that, you can refer to our blogs on Hyperlocal Marketplace. The hyperlocal business basically revolves around on-time home delivery.
1. Fresh Edibles
Getting your morning bread and fresh milk delivered on your doorstep that too from the store you purchase from can be a great relief.
The fresh edibles delivery business is the niche you won’t fail on. It hardly requires any investment. The main focus of hyperlocal business is to cater to the needs of people living in a certain geography. The store owner can decide the region or the distance where they would like to serve.
All you need to give express delivery for fresh fruits and vegetables, bakery products, and dairy items. Managing an inventory and keeping the tracks of the demand will help you expand.
2. Groceries
Next in the category is the Grocery home delivery business. A hyperlocal marketplace for a grocery business can give you a kick start. No individual can live without food grains, cereals, millets, or pulses. You can start delivering these day-to-day essentials on the doorstep.
An e-grocery has observed tremendous growth in the last three years. Now after the pandemic, it is the most demanded and successful businesses in the economy.
3. Health and Hygiene
I have put health and hygiene in a single category because the two works together. The hyperlocal business idea does not just stick to delivery services but giving on-demand services is an important aspect. In the last couple of years, e-pharmacies has been a popular concept in India. Now the need is higher than ever before.
COVID-19 outbreak increased the demand for home assistance, nurse facility, medicine delivery, doctors’ home visit, and many more on the line. You can connect with some of the doctors in your area and ask them to join your hyperlocal marketplace on-demand service platform.
Provide Baby care facility, old age caregiving services, home delivery of pharmaceutical products and medicines in your neighborhood. If you live in a small town then it is a great idea for starting a new hyperlocal business.
4. Personal Care
Traveling kilometers for personal care in heavy traffic will waste your weekend. Why not bring the salon to your home? Oh! Yes, I have quoted the line from an advertisement but this can become a reality with the hyperlocal business idea of personal care.
Personal care home services have received a good response in urban cities in the past few years. Urban Company is one of the popular personal care company providing on-demand services. You can start with beauty salon services, Spa and Massage, or hairdressing.
Also, you can make the home delivery of personal care products like soaps, shampoo, floor cleaners, detergents, mops, etc. You will have to make some research before starting this business. For that, you can ask people to fill up a form asking all the personal care requirements for a week.
A good plan can bring success and this won’t need much of an investment. Hyperlocal on-demand services in personal care can be a good option to start with.
5. Expert Hospitality Services
Make a list of all the handyman services a person needs. You can gather all the experts in a place for providing services like plumbing, carpenter, welding, stone works, etc. for your new hyperlocal business. A craftsman or an expert in any of the fields can work with you on a commission basis.
You can take advantage of the current situation and ask people in your neighborhood for the requirements. It would be more suitable for a retailer or an artist to work with you in this crisis.
Handyman implies a person who can do minor repairs and tasks but who does not have the qualifications and experience or credentials for more than minor repair jobs. If the work does not need expertise or mastery then you will easily find many people looking for work.
Start giving work to people and make money for you too. This can be at the top of the list as not many people are into this business.
6. Cleaning Services
Providing cleaning services can be a perfect way to start doing what you love — soon, with a low barrier to entry. Start with your neighborhood and see the response to this. You can hire people on your behalf and provide cleaning services like vehicle cleaning, carpet, cleaning, sofa cleaning services, or garden maintenance services.
Word of mouth can work for this hyperlocal business. Share ads in your neighborhood, and get more bang for your buck by gaining some local businesses as customers. Usually for a comparable amount of work they would pull in a higher paycheck.
7. Pet watching
Do you love pets? Consider turning into a pet sitter. Or even if you don’t then you might find people who do and in the need for work. Start a hyperlocal business with pet watching services or with pet suppliers.
Pet suppliers are equally as important as food or medicine. A business idea needs some strategic planning and if you see many people with pets around you then this can be a good option for starting a hyperlocal business. You will be able to provide the required items on time which gets delayed with existing eCommerce stores.
Join in to start a pet sitting service like Rover or Care.com.
8. Fitness equipment
In my opinion, fitness gyms are the most unhygienic place out there. Many people use the same machinery and equipment which needs sanitization every now and then. You can start a hyperlocal home delivery service by providing fitness equipment or renting them for a few days.
People are more conscious about health in urban areas and this can be a one in a million idea for a newbie with a little investment.
To get the word out, give in-home seminars, customized diet and fitness regimens, and online group boot camps. Don’t forget to load an Instagram feed with motivational quotes, free workout videos, and even nutritious snack ideas — it’s a great way for fitness gurus to create their brands.
9. Logistics
This can be put a bit above in the list but all the mentioned hyperlocal business ideas are equally important. A document delivery, on-demand pick up and drop services, Stationary delivery application can be a great help during this work from home time.
We are well aware of the fact that people are going careless with social distancing. Why not start a business providing delivery services like existing courier companies? Here, the only difference will be the addition of the location factor.
Hyperlocal delivery services will operate in a smaller region with safety and hygiene. You can pick a parcel from one place and deliver it to another in minimum time.
10.Tow-truck
Tow-truck business can be a good choice when we talk about hyperlocal business. With a tow-truck, you can provide services like movers and packers, tie-up with delivery service providers, become a partner with local auto repair shops, motor clubs, auto auction companies, and property owners.
This might need some investment if you do not own a truck or a suitable vehicle but can make a lot of money if planned well.
A tow truck company makes money by charging fees for a tow. A standard charge will include a flat tow charge, a mileage fee, and a storage fee. Hyperlocal tow truck business can be profitable and if done with safety and hygiene, people won’t mind paying a little extra.
Pro tips from the author:
A hyperlocal business has two constraints, time and geo-location. Firstly, identify your small business idea and determine if your business idea works well from home. If you are a beginner, then start as a side business or hobby. Research well before starting up and reach your target audience. You can take the help of a website developer or a mobile application for creating a market place. Make a strategic business plan. Get to work!
With over 1.2 billion listings on eBay, sellers have to compete a lot for the attention of eBay’s 182 million active buyers. And this is a little tough for the new sellers. So this is the main reason most of the sellers are looking for some tips to getting started selling on eBay. This marketplace is not only too vast but also complicatedalso be complicated at times. If you are new to eBay, it is best to start slowly, learn the landscape, read the rules, find out about the fee structure, and grow your eBay hobby or business methodically. Here are some pro tips for the sellers to sell on eBay Marketplace.
Make your post outstanding
By using some eye-catching words in the header can grab a buyer’s attention. Your headline description must be clear. Inside your description, all your product conditions must be clearly specified. Along with the headline and description, product image plays an important role in the buyer’s attention.
Apply Seller Initiated Offer
Recently eBay Marketplace introduced a new feature called Seller Initiated Offer, which can be directed to buyers who put a product in their watch list or who have a product in their cart. For example, if a buyer adds a laptop to their watch list or cart, that’s a clear indication a buyer is interested in a product, and so you as the seller can go into the Seller Hub and check the specific listing and see that people have shown interest. Then, the seller can send an exclusive offer with a personalized message.
Timing is key, price your item right
According to eBay, Sunday is the best day for purchases, followed by Saturday and Monday. To sell your items quickly, think of the time and most important what products people want. For instance, Christmas items will do better in early December than March. You get the idea. As for pricing, make sure your item is perfectly priced as most buyers purchase a product after comparing it to others. Free shipping also helps to sell your product more quickly.
Understand Seller Limits
Selling limits are ruled for all sellers, but they are more strict for new sellers. It places certain limits on sellers to prevent any kind of fraud. New sellers have different limits like account limits, category limits, and item limits. After you have successfully sold a few products, then you can request higher selling limits.
Choose the Right Listing Category
The product listing category is very important in the marketplace. Always put the product in the right category. For instance, the right category for a smartphone is electronics than any other category. If you put your product in the wrong category then no one buys it because they are looking for a product that matches the right category.
Other selling tips:
Be clear about your return or refund policies; build up your seller reputation by asking happy customers to post a short review and star rating, and advertise your eBay post elsewhere, including auction sites and social media, to maximize your reach.
Use eBay extensions to list your e-commerce store products on eBay:
We provide the best extensions which help you to list your products on eBay Marketplace from the e-commerce stores like Prestashop, Opencart, and Magento. Listing your products individually on these platforms is a very time-consuming process. So these extensions help you to save your time and money.
Some benefits of these extensions are as follows:
Bulk product listing: With the help of eBay integration extensions sellers can upload products in bulk and they can map the e-commerce store categories with the eBay categories as well.
Profile Management: Sellers can upload products by creating multiple profiles. Under profile, Management sellers can also select the basic settings. Profile-based product listing will help you to list different products in different categories on the marketplace.
Product listing: Under this tab, sellers can see their product status. From this tab, the seller can check which checks that which products linked to which category, their listing ID and their listing status, etc.
Price Management: Using this feature sellers can list their product at a different price than their e-commerce store price. They can adjust the price higher or lower on the basis of fixed and percentage-wise.
Various Payment Methods: eBay integration extension helps the seller to set the payment methods as per their choice.
Quantity Management: Admin can add a quantity buffer while listing products on eBay to avoid any out-of-stock orders. This module also allows admin to sync inventory in bulk from store admin to eBay.
Shipping Management: Admin can create multiple shipping profiles and can also offer free shipping or international shipping on eBay using our module.
Return Policy: Admin can manage eBay return policy settings from the module itself.
Conclusion:
So, if you are selling on eBay or you are a new one then you must follow these tips to get the most of eBay. These tips will help you to sell your products more quickly. And if you are selling on other e-commerce stores like Prestashop, Opencart, and Magento in addition to eBay Marketplace then you must use these integration extensions to save your time and efforts.
2. Fill seller’s credentials (username and password) and click on the “Log in” button.
3. Choose the “Offer List” option from the “My Inventory” tab of the Home Page as shown below:
4. Search SKU from “Offer SKU” field and tick the checkbox parallel to those SKUs which you have to delete from ePrice marketplace as shown below:
5. After selecting the products you need to click on the “Delete selected button” as shown below:
6. On clicking the “Delete Selected offers” option, you will see a popup appears on the screen in which you will find the selected SKUs and the “Delete” button to delete these products as shown below:
2.0 By uploading Offer Feed
By using the offer feed you can easily delete a bulk of products from the ePrice marketplace. The link to download the sample offer feed is given below:
2. Fill seller’s credentials (username and password) and click on the “Log in” button.
3. Open My Inventory tab and choose the “Import From File” option as shown below:
4. Upload the Offer Feed (which you have created) from the import page of eprice as shown below:
5. You can also check the status of the feed that you have uploaded by clicking “Track Offer Import”. On clicking the “Track Offer Import” option, the history page will be opened which shows a list of the uploaded feed with their processing status. You can check the same from the below image.
After reading this blog, you will be able to understand how a seller can delete products from the catch marketplace.
Methods to delete Products from the catch marketplace
You can delete products from the catch marketplace by two methods:
By deleting manually from merchant account
By Using Offer Feed
1.0 Delete manually from merchant account
Login to the Catch merchant account (URL: https://marketplace.catch.com.au/login).
After logged in, you will be redirected to the home page where you need to select the offer list from the “My Inventory” tab as shown in the image given below:
In the offer list page you need to search the SKU by using “Offer SKU” field and check the checkboxes corresponding to those SKU which you want to delete as shown in the image below.
At the bottom of the page, you will find a button to delete the product as shown in the image below.
On clicking that button, a popup will be appeared on the screen which will show the list of SKUs that you have selected to delete and the button to delete those products. This is shown in the image below:
2.0 Using Offer Feed
You can delete the products in bulk from the Catch marketplace using offer feed. You can download the sample offer feed from the link given below:
In this feed, you need to fill the data in the following fields:
SKUs: Enter the SKU which you want to delete
update-delete: Enter “DELETE” in this column.
club-catch-eligible: Enter FALSE
tax-au: 0
After creating the feed, you need to upload the feed on the catch merchant account. The steps are given below:
Login to the Catch merchant account (URL: https://marketplace.catch.com.au/login).
After logged in, you will be redirected to the home page in which you need to select the “Import From File” option from the “My Inventory” tab.
On the Import file page you need to upload the feed as shown in the image:
You can track the status of the uploaded feed using Track Offer Import Option as shown in the image given above. On clicking on the Track Offer Import option, a new page will be opened where you can check the status of the uploaded feed. If the feed is imported successfully then you can also check the processing status of the feed as shown in the image below:
Summary
After reading this document you (seller) can easily delete your products from the Catch marketplace.
With the evolution of modern technologies, eCommerce industry has taken a boon and continuously growing towards success. The endless advantages provided by online trading make it popular among sellers and buyers both. Being a seller, it’s important to understand the increasing demand for handheld technologies and should come up with the latest strategies to serve their customers with an amazing shopping experience. Sellers need to think of selling either by Dropshipping or via an eCommerce Marketplace.
If you have any kind of connection with the retail sector or online businesses then you must be familiar with the terms eCommerce Marketplace and Dropshipping. Many of you might have seen the industry publications, social media ads talking about the benefits of selling on Marketplace or benefits of dropshipping. But how will someone know the exact meaning and difference between these two buzzwords? Well, this article will let you know the answer to the question mentioned above.
Dropshipping:
The practice of Dropshipping is a kind of an eCommerce model which helps an eCommerce store owner to sell products without owning or managing any inventory that means sellers don’t need to invest in acquiring inventory, warehouse or in shipping methods. Dropship model is super beneficial for the startups where they can not invest a huge amount in the initial phase of their business. It let many small business owners earn a good amount of profit in fewer investment.
It is a hassle-free process providing a bundle of advantages due to which it gained popularity in the eCommerce community. Dropshipping lets you free from managing warehouses and inventories. This allows eCommerce store owners to offer a large number of Stock Keeping Units and can even give a try to new vendors for more variety of products. Meanwhile, the retailer can also experiment with new product categories according to the latest trend going in the market. This option is less risky and difficult than a traditional wholesale store.
However, this smart technique needs an eCommerce store owner to remain aware and be smart as it has to be executed with proper technology and diligence. However, the reckless behaviour of retailers can cost them high as they can lose control on the processes like shipping process, data of inventory, product information, etc. This could lead them to severe losses, otherwise dropshipping could be a boon for online businesses.
eCommerce Marketplace:
Selling on an eCommerce Marketplace is always in trend as it helps sellers to gain a huge number of profits. Some of the renowned Marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, Google Shopping, Newegg etc. provides a recognisable, value traffic platform to many retailers where they can set up their brand shop and sell between millions of customers. Retailers can leverage the well-structured facilities of Marketplace without investing a single penny on the same.
The idea of selling on a Marketplace could be a great deal of profit. Marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy,eBay, Walmart, Google Shopping etc. are doing wonders in terms of business growth. The access to a huge number of audience let sellers earn a huge chunk of profits. Marketplace also helped sellers to provide brand exposure and recognition which makes them trustworthy brand between customers and they can buy products without any inconvenience.
However, there are many marketplaces that deliver goods on the behalf of retailers that means, whenever a buyer buys a product, the store admin and vendors get notified automatically. After this, the Marketplace shipping agent will collect the product directly from the vendor if the retailer has no stock and delivers it to the buyer. This clearly shows that even Marketplace works on the process of dropship when needed.
Dropship Program:
Setting up a Marketplace is definitely not a cup of tea for every retailer. Many retailers who want to increase their trading power online, they go for some dropship programs to expand their product inventories and offerings to generate more sales and revenues.
An excellent example of a dropship program is launched by Crate and Barrel. Their dropship program is all about to market and sells products from different vendors that lie in their product verticals. This strategy helped them to sell a wider range of items with unlimited shelf space.
Over To You
At this point, we have a full-fledged idea about the difference between dropshipping and an eCommerce Marketplace. So, which one is better? Well, there is no single answer as it totally depends on the type of business you wish to pursue from an eCommerce standpoint.
There are many brands which are aiming to access huge no. of audience via a single platform with minimum barriers involved. In this case, they should look forward to shaking hands with some renowned Marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, Amazon, Walmart etc. On the other hand, there are many small business owners who can not afford to invest a huge amount of money on inventory. It’s a good choice for startups to go for dropship model as they can skip the risk of loss in inventory at the initial stage of their business.
There is no full-fledged solution when it comes anything related to online business. So, it’s up to you to choose the best model for your business type as it totally depends on what kind of goods you sell. It’s important to choose wisely as it will help sellers in the overall growth of their business. Regardless of whether you choose the dropship model or an eCommerce Marketplace, it’s important to increase the relevant sales and traffic on your website. So, what are you waiting for, start focusing on your online eCommerce business as soon as possible?
Gaining huge profits was not that easy before. Integrate your eCommerce store with the Marketplaces like Etsy, eBay, Walmart and others in just a few simple steps. KnowBand offers Marketplace Integrators for various CMS platforms like PrestaShop, OpenCart, Magento and Shopify which allows you to present your products among larger audience and encourage the brand awareness as well.
The holiday season is embarked by the people planning on how to spend them and at the same time purchasing the new items as per their needs. The holiday season brings the smile back on the faces of the customers and as well as the sellers. The customers are now finally free to give a look to the items which they require while the web store now has immense opportunities to sell the products to the customers. Therefore, it is one off the most awaited time of the year.As the holiday season arrives, most of the sellers on the marketplace need to come up with better ideas in order to make better sales.
We at Knowband assist you in every phase of eCommerce marketing and sales. We’ve created a quick promotional checklist of the holidays and sales dates of 2019. Identify which holidays and sales dates align with your brand and create your marketing campaign accordingly.
If we give a proper look to a multi vendor marketplace then we can easily realize that there is a definite competition between the sellers among the market place. All the sellers wish to make better sales and earn higher profits which is the sole criteria of establishing themselves on the market place. Better approach and proper connection with the customers is the key to reaching out to maximum customers and making huge sales. The sellers can mold the customer’s information to their benefit and try to make sales to the customers. The web store turned marketplace with the help of Multi vendor Marketplace module have many sellers already selling, so each seller has to prove the worth of their products in order to be chosen and get high sales. Let us discuss some of the techniques which can be used by the sellers to attract the customers to make a purchase on a multi seller marketplace during holiday.
1. Attractive Themes
What could be a better idea than to use a Christmas oriented theme for your product store on the market place. The utilization of proper themes is one of the important factor that helps the customers to connect to the web store mentally. More visitors will like to explore your products when they see the exciting and attractive themes matching the situation and the season. Therefore, the seller must make proper use off the themes and layout in order to bring out the best in the product presentation.
2. Super sales
Most of the customers do wait for complete year in order to make a purchase. In this case, if the customer sees a series of flash sales going on any product then he will be eager to make a purchase. It helps in boosting the morale of the customer and also imparts the customer with a feeling of getting better deal. The customer feels as if he is making a product after buying it on a certain rate % off. Thus, one of the important technique that can be used by the sellers to make better profits.
3. Jumbo offers
The jumbo offers may be mixed with the super sales but they are quite different. While the super sale includes a considerable off on various products, the jumbo offers include offers provided by the seller on selected brand and the rate may go as low as 30% of the original price and at the same time the seller can also provide some kind of chance to the customer to enter a lucky draw, where they get a chance to win the mega prize for the season. Most of the customers would like to try their luck and make a purchase.
4. Better purchasing options
As the holiday season arrives, customer is willing to spend a considerable amount of money on the products. Now, it depends upon the sellers as to how to make more sales to the customers. Most of the time a customer would refer to make purchase and needs to pay the amount using different medium. Therefore, the seller must incorporate maximum number of paying options for the web store owners. Well, what could be worse than a customer who cancelled the transaction just because of the purchasing options? More paying options may include various cards acceptance and COD while a better approach would be to provide the customers with some of the prize off on payment through selected modes.
5. Product availability
The customer would like to make a purchase only after they finds the product’s suitability and its worth of spending such an amount. Therefore, better chances of making a sale on products would be the bulk availability. The sellers must have a large collection of the products so that they don’t run out of the products. The customers may be provided with a variety of the options when they enquire about the products. The seller needs to be ready to face the worst case scenario where the demand of the products may exceed the original expectations.
6. Free shipping assistance
A customer would like to get a free shipping assistance after making a purchase. As the holiday season has arrived, therefore any good gesture shown by the sellers may directly results in the conversion. The customer may feel good about the quality assistance shipping provided to them and may consider making another purchase from the seller. Thus, the seller must try to provide the customer with all the required help. Anyway, providing free shipping assistance during holidays may be implied a small token of love from the seller as a gift. It also helps in improving the number of satisfied customers.
Conclusion
The Holiday season brings lot of opportunities for the sellers. Thus, the seller must gear up the website to make huge sales during the holiday season. Making sure of proper approach and the little information about the customer behavior and understanding can help the seller in making huge profits and also improving the customer base of the store for future references. Do not wait for the holidays to begin. Instead, start marketing your business to your customers right from the beginning of the year. We at Knowband assist you in every phase of eCommerce marketing and sales.
The virtual multi-vendor marketplace is one of the most prominent trends in the eCommerce industry. The ease of expanding inventory and product range makes it an inevitable upgrade for the eCommerce sites. While the complexity in making the code changes and marketplace management have been intimidating the store owners for a long, but not anymore. The Multi-vendor Marketplace Extension is a handy solution that converts your single vendor eCommerce store into an online multi-vendor marketplace site.
Are you facing the same problem? Even though this marketplace is an effortless platform to reach out to a wider range of audiences, convincing the seller to indulge in them is still a task. Just like it was difficult to convince the consumers to shop from online stores instead of the shopping malls, convincing the vendors to sell their products in the marketplace is strenuous.
Ways to encourage the sellers to register a shop account at your marketplace
1. Market your multi-vendor marketplace smartly
Marketing is the stepping stone of all business structures. Whether the idea is to attract the end-user or the vendors themselves, nothing but a smart marketing strategy is a foundation for the pillar of the future. Listed below are some of the ways to market your business idea appropriately.
While the internet and social media platforms are a handy way to reach out to a larger audience in one go, offline marketing is a must when it comes to attracting sellers. Along with the hoardings and TV ads, you need to visit the vendors in person. There are a lot of sellers who may not be technically sound but can add a lot of value to your business.
Proper Placement
Strategic placement of the ads and banner is a must. The delivery trucks of logistic services are one of the best places to start your campaign. Place the hoardings in wholesale markets, distribute pamphlets in trade fairs and place them where it comes in merchants’ notice.
Regardless of the target audience, the social media platform is the most effective place to get noticed. Create an account on social networks where you expect to find your target niche. Create an online buzz with affiliate marketing.
Use the social media channel
Join groups & communities of merchants across different social media channels. This will help you connect directly with them. Share information on these platforms and keep the merchants updated about the latest progression.
2. Make the transaction easier
The lack of technical knowledge is the biggest turn-off for merchants across the market. So, you need to educate the seller about the entire idea of the marketplace and make things simpler for them while attracting a larger customer base.
The user modules and training sessions can help them get an idea of how the entire business structure works. The Prestashop marketplace is one such platform that may prove a boon for the vendors.
The unlimited features for Marketplace can make the sellers feel like they are using their website. Easy inventory management, payment options, and order management can make the entire business transaction smooth for the sellers.
Optimize your marketplace according to the need of the vendors and convincing the vendors will become easier.
The commission and the payment structure are another big concern of the vendors.
Whether you structuring the commission as per the category of the product or the quantity. Everything should be explained.
Install the modules at your marketplace that automatically break down the cost and ROI. It should be assigned at the payment gateway itself. Any delay in this may leave the vendors in suspicion.
The General followed strategy is payment at the end of every week. This keeps the books clean and liquidity maintained at the sellers’ end.
4. Help them manage inventory
Inventory management is the biggest heck for all online merchants. This is another reason that makes them hesitant to delve into the multi-vendor marketplace.
Prestashop Marketplace CSV Import/Export Addon is one such module that can help import the products and their combinations via CSV. Thus, it becomes easier for the vendors to enter data and keep track of the products.
Other than that the Prestashop store owners can manage the low stock problem with the help of the Prestashop Marketplace Low Stock Alert Addon. It keeps a track of the inventory of the sellers and provides an alert message when the stock is below a certain limit.
5. Optimize the Multi-vendor marketplace with plugins
Even if the marketplace is easy to handle and requires no technical supervision, there are still a lot of factors that may fail to convince the vendors.
The language barriers, currency conversions, invoice generations, and customer support are some of these issues. Convince them about the changes that are in the marketplace can bring to their overall business scenario by installing plugins and extensions.
Prestashop deal manager, Low stock manager, and other such add-ons can help you optimize and customize your marketplace integration accordingly. Find out the loopholes and the pain points of your vendors and update the marketplace.
6. Informative blogs
Feel free to write about the success stories and reviews of your vendors. An informative blog with some Marketing data will tempt the sellers and bring them close to your store. Moreover, Google indexes blogs quickly thus will help the admin in catching the attention of multiple sellers across the globe in a short time.
Additionally, the multi-vendor marketplace extensions developed by Knowband offer a lot of other features that make it even easier for the store admin delves into the multi-vendor scenario.
Some of the admin features are discussed below:
The multi-vendor marketplace extension enables the multi-vendor feature in your eCommerce. The store upgrade is done without actually making any code changes.
The automates the entire process of store tracking and management.
The admin can approve/disapprove the seller’s profile if they want to from the back-end.
The multi-vendor marketplace module for Magento, Prestashop, Magneto 2, and OpenCart even allows the admin to track, add or remove the products/category from the site.
The plugin allows the store admin to fix the global/individual and order-wise commissions and manage the dues easily from the back-end interface.
The store admin can create various membership plans for the sellers as per their requirements.
The admin can even view the performance of the individual sellers and can even track the transaction in the marketplace.
The admin can send email notifications to the sellers via a multi-vendor marketplace module.
The sellers get a separate dashboard to keep track of their products as well as sales.
They can view the orders and manage the same from their dashboard.
Conclusion
The various tips and techniques discussed in this post are just the first step to taking your business model forward. However, the process of convincing the vendors is ongoing and should be improvised according to the needs and requirements. The prominent chicken-and-egg problem of the marketplaces is something that you need to ponder.
Knowband, the eCommerce plugin development company, offers a multi-seller marketplace module for platforms like Magento 2, PrestaShop and OpenCart Module. 3 months of full free assistance will be provided on each module. With the simple installation and configuration process, Knowband offers the smartest way for the store admin to transform their online shop into a fully-functional Marketplace in a few simple clicks. For any query, feel free to contact support@Knowband.com
Marketplace is one of the most profit generating business in the contemporary eCommerce market. Businesses are flourishing with the new approach where they do not have to invest in inventory of products, but still make huge profit from commissions earned from the sales made by sellers on the site. It’s all butter, isn’t it?
Undoubtedly, marketplace is a treasure of revenue generation, but like every precious treasure, it is also not so easy to acquire. Otherwise, we would be seeing every other site becoming a marketplace to hunt the treasure. From supply chain management, customer support, product quality, marketplace reputation to bringing the sellers and customers on the site, a marketplace is a challenging business.
A marketplace business cannot acquire customers if there are no or only a few sellers on it, and would not be able to convince a seller to sign up if there are no customers on the site. That’s the chicken and egg problem of a marketplace where you get stuck between whom to bring first- sellers or the customers. Luckily, despite these challenges, successful marketplaces do exist.
In this post I have focused on how you can deal with the chicken and egg problem of the marketplace and understand why it’s not only about developing a marketplace site but developing a marketplace business on the whole.
What is the chicken-and-egg problem?
Which came first? Same can be said for seller and customers on marketplace sites
If there are buyers, but only a few sellers to fulfill the orders, stock won’t be enough to fulfill all the orders. So, the buyers will leave unhappy out of the product scarcity and probably not return back.
Yet, if there are no buyers on the site, how would you convince a seller to sign-up?
With no buyers for their products, seller’s won’t find your site beneficial for them. Even if they sign up, list their products, and wait for the buyers to come, there is no guarantee that a sale would be made soon enough. In case if they receive an order after months of listing, you can’t say if the product is still available in the stock with the seller, or it is fresh enough to maintain the quality. So, ultimately customers won’t get a quality service from the site, ruining the site’s name.
Supply is the biggest challenge behind a marketplace business. With this chicken-and-egg problem, it takes a while to build a marketplace business. A new platform generally lags in creating enough value for attracting new users. Whether, it is the customers or the sellers, they won’t join you until you have something valuable for them.
Certainly, this is a huge issue for your startup, but as I said, despite these blockages, successful marketplaces do exist. So, stay tuned because we are going to discuss how can you survive this tough time while getting traction and building your supply and consumer base in the long run. Here are the six tips:
1. It’s all about patience and a plan-
Have patience till you establish the both sides-seller and customer community
It’s a probable case that you might not see the signs of traction even after months of the startup. In this case, you should comprehensively reassess your business model and market. The nature of this time period is somewhat opposite to an inventory based eCommerce startup. There you build your own supply chain by stocking products by yourself. In marketplace, you need to build both the customer and seller communities; you will need more time to prove your value to both the sides.
It might take a few months for a marketplace to finally get and prove that value. However, in the meantime, you need to identify a niche for your business and start focusing on that very specific target. Used by most of the successful marketplaces, with niche market targeting your main investment would be the time spent in canvassing sellers. Etsy and Amazon are the two such examples, which started from a niche market (Vintage, handmade products, and books respectively) and later expanded to the broader section.
So, until you get to that level, you need to stay focused, steady and patient.
2. Take a close look on your initial investment-
Experts have different opinions on level of initial investment in marketplace promotion
The level of initial investment in a marketplace business is a matter of debate. Some experts say making big up front investment signals the entities that you are serious about the business and would stay focused in the long run. So there would be stability. It would also make your suppliers and producers comfortable about your intentions to keep the business running. Experts support this view by giving the examples of big upfront investments by several businesses like Microsoft’s launch of Xbox. They made a huge commitment by spending around $500 million for promoting the platform.
However, my views are inclined with the other side of the experts who believe in regulating the burn rate during the initial periods. You need to give yourself some time to build the value for your business first. The reason is, not everyone is Microsoft, who has no scarcity of dollars, plus an already build business value. While some businesses might score huge success with early big deals, you cannot buy the speed when it comes to building a marketplace. Regulating your investments in the initial period would save the fuel and take you furthermore on the runway.
So take a careful look at your initial burn rate. There is no need for big teams, and big offices early on. Most of the initial marketplace investments are made only in two functions: Developing the marketplace site, and building the supply chain base with buyers and sellers community.
3. Tighten your target on the niche market-
Focus on a target market and apply efforts to win that niche
Successful marketplaces may function as a repository for diversity of products and choices at the same place, but none of them has started in the same phase as they are there now. The example of Amazon and Etsy marketplace in the first point advocates this view. Etsy started as a destination for Vintage and handmade crafts and later expanded itself to other categories. Today, Etsy accepts integration even with stand-alone eCommerce sites and platforms. While Amazon started as an online bookstore and evolved as a huge marketplace of everything you can imagine buying. Even Amazon accepts integration with other eCommerce sites and eCommerce platforms.
Both of the entities tightened their focus in smaller vertical before they expanded into the bigger market. This narrow focus steadily became their largest USP and traction. Today, you won’t think of a better online place than Amazon to buy books , even if it is no more a mere bookstore and same goes to Etsy for handmade crafts.
The growth outside the niche would be an organic process that would develop in time. If the growth doesn’t start organically, you can help yourself to speed it up by targeting on seller acquisition efforts. You can prepare action plans targeting certain types of product categories and sellers, and then gradually expand outside the niche of the circle. You may use your geographical location as an advantage by first expanding the reach to local level before going for national and international level.
4. Focus on your niche users’ utilities-
Performance in the niche market decides the fate in the broader section
It is now an understood fact that successful marketplaces are built from a niche to the masses. During the niche period, it is important to optimize the experiences of your early on-boarders before you can start appealing the masses. By focusing on user engagement for your early adopters (both sellers and customers) you will increase the likelihood of being discussed by them in their circle, and that discussion would contain something promotional for you.
For example, Etsy did a fantastic job as a marketplace for handmade crafts which led to carry on its legacy even after it expanded to other categories. Amazon did a fantastic job as an online bookseller in the US before it evolved into a marketplace giant with a reach across the globe. And, a bit different but relevant example, Mc Donald’s did a fantastic job with its hamburgers in the US before expanding to other products and other countries.
All these entities, took a special care of their early adopters before the expansion, as a result, their legacy continued even with the new products and new audiences. So, before focusing on the broader section, make sure your marketplace performs excellently in the narrow section, ultimately taking you to the broader section organically and automatically.
5. Build the community with your Niche users-
A community of users can only be made if you focus on their utilities, and support them from time to time. Social media is the best platform to build a community. Utilize this platform to expand your reach to the users.
Meowingtons is a perfect example of how you can focus on your niche to take a leap to the broader section. It started with the thinking that out of the whole US population, there is a good share of women population. Out of the whole women population, there is a good share of women who like cats. So, it focused on the women who like cats an started selling the cat accessories, cat utilities, and cat theme accessories for women. Today, it is a successful startup with more than 5 lacs followers on different social media platforms.
6. Trust your vision, but follow the stats-
You might find people not believing in your vision. Do you need to stop right there?
The market is full of conceptions. Everybody have their way of doing things. You might get ridiculed by some of them regarding your vision. You will find people suggesting to back-off when your start doesn’t happen with that pace.
Well, when building your marketplace business, or expanding it to newer boundaries, you have got to believe in your vision, but do not have a blind faith in your ideas. If you are going right, you would definitely find the positive signals at different phases of the business. Keep a track on your development and re-asses the steps you have taken and how they have worked for you. Have a survey from your early adopters about their experiences, audit the repeat customers and repeat sales, track the pace of seller sign-ups and their views about the user experience on the site.
If there are no positive signs of traction, and stats are not in favor of your ideas, rethink about continuing further. You cannot make a successful marketplace business with just visions, you have to stay tuned with the stats and facts.
Having discussed some of the basic tips and tricks of starting an online marketplace, let us now take a look at how can you take care of this chicken-and-egg problem. Whether a huge chuck of customer base will attract the sellers or a large number of vendors will motivate the customers to shop from your site is still an issue.
Some of the strategists think that attracting the seller first is a better option. However, as per my personal experience, working on your niche market and creating a strong audience base as a single vendor site may help attracting the third-party vendors as well. And once the sellers will start pouring in, the product range will increase and store visitors will get more option to shop from your site. Here are some of the tips to deal with chicken-and-egg issue.
Final Say
Summing up the entire thing, I would discuss some of the key points that can help you take care of this problem for your online marketplace. Take a look:
Starting off the platform as a producer can help you dive into every nook and corner of the industry. Working at the ground level can help you identify the bottlenecks of your shopping store. Having a practical experience as a vendor can help you get the best from your third-party sellers.
Create a network of not just customers, but vendors as well in the very beginning. You can leverage the power of your network in the wrong run. When it comes to a marketplace, building a personal connection with your sellers is as important as having a strong customer relationship.
Acquire high-value users before you approach the vendors to be a part of your online marketplace. It’s kind of a vicious circle. The quality customer base and motivate the sellers to sell on your site. Moreover, a large number of sellers and product variety can give compelling reasons to the reluctant visitors to shop from your site.
It may sound conventional, but getting celebrity endorsements is definitely one of the ways to attract both sellers and end-users. Getting the partnership or endorsement from someone who has a fan base and help you channelize your long-term vision.
How to get the customers?
Discussed below are some of the strategies that can help you bring traffic and boost conversions of your site.
As mentioned earlier, focusing on the niche market and creating a strong customer base as a single-vendor site is a must. Incentivize your potential customers.
Instead of just focusing on customer acquisition, make sure that you take up steps for consumer retention. Follow up emails, social media engagement are some of the ways to keep them engaged.
How to get the third-party sellers to sell your site?
Once you have established yourself in the niche and the target market, attracting the sellers will get way more easier. Additionally, you can opt for the following tricks to increase the number of vendors of your site.
Finally,
The six tips we just discussed should allow you to give a correct start to your marketplace business. Building both sides of the marketplace simultaneously is a hard job than a one-sided inventory model, but once you reach the scale, things would start kicking and would establish your roots well and firm. Till then have a little patience, and give your business enough runway to fly high with both sides being well established.
