HOW TO BUILD A MARKETPLACE APP: A STRATEGY TO FOLLOW

The global pandemic that has wrecked havoc all across the planet for two years has tested humanity's endurance and even survivability, bringing entire industries to a halt. However, it has been a tremendous boost for several industries, propelling them to new heights. Online trading was one of the industries that thrived during the majority of countries' shutdowns.

Marketplace platforms account for 50% of all digital purchases in this burgeoning industry. Such remarkable numbers transform online marketplace app development into a lucrative activity, delivering massive income to firms and people that decide to make a marketplace app the cornerstone of their company strategy. But, before we get into the specifics of how to build a marketplace app, let's start with the basics and learn what a marketplace is and what types of marketplaces exist.

A Marketplace and Its Advantages

A digital business's organization frequently mirrors that of its physical counterpart. If online businesses reflect brick-and-mortar stores on the internet, real-life shopping malls have a virtual counterpart known as a marketplace. This online marketplace serves as a middleman between sellers and buyers, with multiple vendors offering their goods and services to a digitally-driven audience that accesses them via a website or, as is more frequent in our smartphone-powered day, a mobile app.

What benefits does this company model offer to its stakeholders?

• It makes it easier for sellers and buyers to work together.
• It enables vendors to access a worldwide audience.
• It improves enterprise efficiency by automating a portion of the trading pipeline.
• It allows vendors to focus on product promotion while leaving marketing and management to the marketplace owners.
• It simplifies and accelerates purchasing by allowing users to find and buy what they need in just a few clicks.
• It causes the network effect when each successful purchase contributes to the platform's overall image and performance.

Market Segmentation by Type

Online marketplaces are classified based on a variety of characteristics.

1. The target audience:

Business-to-business. eWorldTrade and Amazon Business are two of the best examples of B2B marketplaces. Such initiatives are intended to operate as middlemen between businesses, often between manufacturers or wholesale suppliers and retailers. They not only simplify sales but also assure financial transparency in transactions and assist firms in their client searches.

Business-to-consumer. Everyone is familiar with AliExpress, Amazon, and Booking.com. These are the most successful, although there are several B2C marketplaces that connect businesses with individual clients. As you can see, this means fierce rivalry in this market.

Consumer-to-consumer. Peer-to-peer platforms, as they are also known, enable people to sell and acquire things under one virtual roof. Uber, OLX, and Etsy are among the industry leaders.

2. Offer

Product. If you build a marketplace like this, it will deal in physical or virtual goods. In this area, your competition will be Amazon and eBay.

Service. Marketplaces like Uber, Upwork, Airbnb, and TaskRabbit let users find service providers in transportation, lodging, repair, medicine, information technology, and other fields.

Hybrid. You may find and buy both products and services on OLX, Oodle, or Craigslist.

Project. Crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter, Fundable, Indiegogo, and others allow startup ventures to seek investors.

3. Focus

Vertical. The goods or services available on such platforms are limited to a specific field. Etsy, for example, focuses in vintage and handmade items, and Petit Vour sells solely ethically manufactured beauty goods.

Horizontal. You can buy anything from anyone here. Remember the previously mentioned Amazon and AliExpress, which have a tremendous selection of merchants and goods?

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