Online sales are soaring, breaking and setting new records every day. Given its current status as an evergreen investment, deciding to develop an eCommerce website could assure you of a bright future. 

There are so many eCommerce websites out there. How will yours stand out and even more importantly, how can you maximize revenue? There is a simple answer to all these questions floating around in an investor’s mind, a multi-vendor marketplace. 

You don’t even have to do it alone, eCommerce website development services have become a prominent presence on the market. To get you started on the right track, consider this a guide to multi-vendor eCommerce.  

What Is A Multi-Vendor Marketplace?

Similar to an eCommerce website, a multi-vendor marketplace doesn’t just sell products and services from a single seller. It utilizes the website to connect buyers and third-party sellers from far and wide!

Ultimately users will have a large selection of products and sellers to choose from and can effectively select the price and quality that best suits their requirements.  

Investors that create their own eCommerce marketplace can leverage their website to their advantage. Several monetization techniques exist allowing you to generate high profits.  

Advantages of Multi-Vendor Marketplace Websites

Creating your very own multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace has several advantages from a business perspective. Besides financial profits, there are growth opportunities. 

Monetization

As mentioned, a successful eCommerce marketplace does not only lack ways to monetize and turn traffic into money. Advertising, commission, and listing fees are the main methods of generating revenue.  

Ability to Showcase a Wide Range of Products and Services

Users are several times more likely to visit a website if they will exactly find what they need. Having a large selection of items increases their chances of finding what they want. Ultimately, the more sellers and listings you acquire, the greater number of visitors will access your website. Higher website traffic can relate to higher sales and more revenue for you.  

Partner With Any Brand, Even New Ones!

If you build your own eCommerce marketplace, you will notice the lack of restrictions or otherwise endless opportunities at hand. You can partner with established existing brands or you can try out newly launched brands.   

Startups are more likely to launch their products/services on multi-vendor platforms because it helps them reach a larger audience. A much-hyped product launching exclusively on your website can give a boost to sales on your platform. 

Customer Data For Website Betterment

With a large marketplace, it becomes easier to assess the needs of buyers by collecting data about user behavior and navigation. Using this data collected from your website, you can adapt your website to better deliver to the requirements of the users.    

Popularity

Marketplace platforms are often more popular than other individual brand websites. This is because such platforms are customized to serve such large audiences. The website is fast, design is clear, allowing customers to compare products and get straight to shopping immediately.  

Types of Multi-Vendor eCommerce Websites

As far as types of eCommerce marketplaces go, there are three main types. 

Vertical

A vertical marketplace is precise in its niche and targets only one particular audience. Although items are sourced from various origins, they are all variations of the same product.  

Example: A smartphone website selling just mobiles, even though they are of different brands, all belong to the mobile category.  

Horizontal

Horizontal marketplaces sell a range of products in different niches, but they share a similarity.  

Example: A grocery store that sells groceries of different types and brands, but all still fit into the grocery category. 

Global

A global marketplace features products from almost every niche. Marketplaces such as these cater to all needs and can ship globally.   

Examples: A great example is Amazon, they ship to almost any country around the world.  

Multi-Vendor Marketplace Business Models

There are a few different eCommerce marketplaces that cater to different business setups. 

Retailer

In this type of multi-vendor selling platform, an investor acts as the marketplace operator and will set up the platform for sellers. Sellers referred to as third-party sellers usually represent their respective brands.   

The third-party sellers can list their products for a fee. They can reach a wider audience in the hopes of increasing sales without having to set up their own website or occupy a physical shop.     

Franchisee

This marketplace model is based on the advertisement and marketing of sellers from a specific geographical area nearby (localized marketing).      

Dropshipping

Dropshipping is similar to the retailer model except, products do not have to be kept at hand. Sellers can have the manufacturer directly ship products to the customer. This eliminates the need for a storage area.    

Monetizing Your Multi-Vendor eCommerce Marketplace

Before investing money, investors would be concerned about how their invested money will bear fruits.   

These are a few ways of making your website profitable, here they are:   

Advertising

Offer sellers an opportunity to showcase their products through paid advertisements. Advertising is a great way to use up free space and make money from these spaces.  

Listing Fees

For each listing a seller makes, you can charge a small percentage. These small amounts add up to a large amount if your marketplace has thousands of listings!   

Subscriptions

Introduce some special features or privileges and offer them to sellers at a competitive pricing scheme. These features should give sellers an advantage or the ability to sell more products, else it will not be enticing enough for them to buy.   

Featured Listings

A featured listing is usually a listing that is promoted and appears on the top of the products list page. Buyers who are in a rush to shop may be enticed by attractive features listings as they are the first thing they see. Give you sellers the chance to attract customers by using paid featured listings.   

Commission Fees

This is the biggest method by which investors can earn when they create eCommerce marketplace websites. A commission fee (usually based on fixed percentages) applies to every sale made through your platform.   

Conclusion

Developing a multi-vendor eCommerce website can be tricky and tough. Luckily you can leverage the help of an eCommerce website development company to make sure the right choices increase your chances of making a successful eCommerce website.