The old world charm and intrigue that street bazaars invoke, is unsurpassable. Nothing beats the thrill of coming home with a souvenir bought for a bargain. That’s how a marketplace Buy & Sell App helps you.
Be it Brimfield, the Mecca of New England outdoor flea markets or Chandni Chowk, New Delhi, the allure of junk and valuable antiques thrown together is aphrodisiac to treasure hunters.
Today we have online marketplaces that help in buying and selling of used goods. They allow you to sell goods without setting up your own online store.
What’s A Marketplace Buy & Sell App?
An online marketplace is a website or app that serves as a mediator between customers and companies or individuals offering products or services in the B2B and B2C sectors. Its task is to provide a platform where marketplace participants interact.
According to Statista, in 2017 e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to $2.3 trillion and is expected to grow. This indicates that consumers and businesses have both moved their interactions online.
Upside Of Marketplace Buy & Sell
 Provides an additional channel to market and sell your products |
| Reduced marketing costs compared to other sales channels |
| Opportunities for overseas sales |
| Compare prices and products from a single source |
| Provides a level of trust between you and the buyer |
| Impartial reviews of products and service |
| Opportunities to establish partnerships with traders and suppliers |
| Greater transparency – availability, prices and stock levels are accessible |
| Operate round the clock |
How to go about launching an Marketplace Buy & Sell App
Starting an online marketplace is much different from starting an eCommerce business, yet there are similarities.
Let’s say you have an eCommerce business and where you sell cosmetics. Switching to the online marketplace business model will help you to grow your business.
This could be done by building a huge community around your online marketplace such that other vendors can sell their products too. Now when new products are introduced there will be new buyers too.
And these new vendors (of new products) will put in their effort to bring in new customers to build a community. As the goal of a business is to enhance profits.
The best part is – you don’t need to expand your inventory and invest in real estate. Of course, you could (as Amazon), but that’s still some distance away.
Define Your Product & Strategy
There are four main benefits you can offer:
 Best quality |
| Best value |
| Must-have |
| Luxury and aspiration |
Proceeding from this, you should answer the following questions:
 What products or services is your app targeted at? |
| Who is your target audience? |
| What makes your product unique? |
Major features may be the same in your app and your rivals’ applications. But you can always introduce interesting and attractive features like:
 Discounts |
| Loyalty programs |
| Free shipping |
| Guaranteed refunds |
| Personal offers |
| Gift cards |
Features to include in the marketplace app
Establish your priorities and performance indicators first.
There are eight key pillars to focus on when defining top indicators:
 UX
Correct image placement, color selection, etc. draws attention, guides users through the application, and helps them focus on searching and buying. |
| Usability
User interface should be easy to understand.
An identifiable brand name and logo. Your product must resonate with your brand. |
| Secure payment gateway
|
| Product comparison
People research products online before making a purchasing decision. Introducing an innovative approach to view and compare products in the application will let users research products without leaving the app. |
| Customer reviews
Customers always want to know the opinions of others before making a choice. Positive reviews are likely to fetch a purchase. Product reviews helps to convert customers. |
| Product images
|
| Discounts
Most of the times customers abandon carts even if they are fine with the price. If offered a discount, they are more likely to buy the product. |
Define the business model of your application
 Charge a commission on transactions
When a customer pays a seller, the marketplace charges a flat fee or a %age of the transaction. Sellers aren’t charged before they get value and hence its attractive to them. This model is used by Airbnb, Etsy, and Uber. |
| Membership model
Users are charged a fee to access the platform. The marketplace helps sellers find new customers, thus saving them money. |
| Listing fees
Platforms charge a fee to sellers when they add new products. This is used when sellers get value based on the number of listings and the value per listing is large. This model is simple as it locates all the listings in one place, and guarantees lots of visibility. Craigslist uses this model. |
| Featured listings and ads
This model offers free listings, but sellers can pay to have their goods featured above others. Letgo does this with its ‘bump’ feature. |
Try out multiple models to find the best option for your product. Eventually, when your application grows, it makes sense to combine several models and build your own distinctive model.
Apps that made it big
OfferUp is the biggest marketplace for local customers and sellers. It provides security and allows users to build their reputation on their page. Just like on eBay, users can rate a person after a deal. It also provides chat where the deals are conducted personally.
This app is just like Offer Up. It is best known for its auto fill ability that allows users to fill the ad form automatically so that it can be posted quickly. This app scans the image that you upload to your ad and fills the detailed information in order to grab the customer.
Conclusion
There are pressing reasons to get into the online marketplace business:
The biggest reason is the network effect. Network Effect is a phenomenon whereby as the user base of a product / service grows, the value and utility increases for current and future users. In other words, as a product’s value and utility increases with the increase of its user base.
Building a new marketplace requires focusing extensively on research and analysis, explore stories of success and failure, and gain knowledge. Choose your development team wisely, work hard, and make the gold mine work.
