Traditional e-commerce websites and multivendor marketplace platforms are two very distinct types of websites. Instead of just one supplier, as is the case with most e-commerce start-ups, marketplaces aggregate products from hundreds or even thousands of sellers. E-commerce entrepreneurs are responsible for a wide range of tasks, including product sourcing, pricing decisions, order processing, and more.
All of these responsibilities are handled by the individual vendors on multi-vendor websites. When it comes to generating revenue, an online retailer prioritizes expanding their customer base, while a marketplace entrepreneur is concerned with meeting the needs of all buyers. Multivendor websites, which include both buyers and sellers, require a distinct set of capabilities than standard e-commerce sites due to the basic differences between online stores and online marketplaces. All sorts of things are affected by this, including user profiles, reviews, online payment systems, admin dashboards, and more.
And marketplaces have their own unique business model to follow. The multivendor marketplace platform owner typically takes a commission on sales, but the majority of the money goes to the vendors.
Benefits of Multivendor Marketplace Platform
Buyer benefits
By reducing the number of steps required to complete a purchase, online marketplaces help customers quickly and affordably get the products they need. Also, shoppers have more options to choose from and more confidence in their purchases when using a reputable multi-vendor marketplace that provides ratings, reviews, and vendor profiles.
Vendor benefits
The most obvious perk for vendors is exposure to a massive audience. The internet has made it possible for any arts and crafts enterprise to open up shop and begin taking orders from clients. So why bother when they can just post their items on Etsy and reach Etsy’s 82 million monthly visitors?
However, smaller niche websites with tightly concentrated audiences can also offer major financial benefits for vendors. Several multivendor marketplace platforms provide vendors with superior tools for managing their businesses in addition to exposure to larger or more specific audiences. In addition to better inventory management and price optimization, vendors will also benefit from simplified customer communication.
It should be noted that marketing and SEO also play an important role in the success of a multi-vendor marketplace. It makes people aware of the marketplace’s existence and compels buyers and vendors to register on the platform.
How to Market your Multivendor Marketplace Platform
The foundation of any thriving business is its marketing strategy. Only a well-thought-out marketing strategy can lay the groundwork for success in the future, whether the goal is to win over customers or industry professionals. The following are some suggestions for promoting your multi-vendor marketplace business.
Getting buyers to your platform
Customer shopping behavior analysis is a fantastic method for pinpointing your most valuable customers. It may seem apparent, but you should direct your marketing efforts toward the customers who will bring you the most profit for your business.
Don’t be afraid to start small and target specific markets (based on your analysis of potential customers’ needs) before expanding to other categories.
Before making a purchase, 92% of consumers read online reviews. Without some kind of review or rating system, your online marketplace is missing out on a major competitive advantage. The presence of review and rating systems encourages both consumers and vendors to have faith in your marketplace and also fosters a sense of community between them. As an added bonus, your marketplace will rise in search engine rankings if you enable customer reviews.
Read more: The Key Features of a Successful Multivendor Marketplace Platform
Getting vendors to your platform
Many vendors offer their products on more than one market, so it’s important to zero in on their customer base. In addition to scoping out competitive markets, you should investigate the type of online communities (such as message boards and social media networks) that your target demographic frequents.
Keeping your vendors around should be a top priority once you’ve won them over. Your multivendor marketplace platform needs to be as accommodating to vendors as possible if you want to achieve this. Amazon and other large marketplaces do this by offering services like Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA), which allow sellers to keep their inventory in an Amazon warehouse and have Amazon handle shipping to the buyer.
Rather than focusing on establishing one large seller, focus on building up a large number of smaller sellers who will have the chance to grow with (and be loyal to) your business.
Tips for Content Marketing and SEO for Multivendor Marketplace Platform
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) – The next stage is to use search engine optimization to specifically target your buyers’ demographic after you’ve learned their search habits and preferences (SEO). Here is where you’ll make sure your marketplace has all the keywords that your ideal customers are looking for. Search engine optimization (SEO) means writing all of your content, from product descriptions and blogs to About Us and Frequently Asked Questions pages, in a way that draws in as many visitors as possible through organic means.
Content Marketing – Content marketing is another strategy for bringing in new customers to your marketplace. Marketing content is exactly what it sounds like: content you produce specifically to spread the word about your product or service. Blog entries, e-newsletters, videos, podcasts, and user-created content like ratings and comments are all good examples. Having a pre-built multi-vendor marketplace solution like Appscrip can be beneficial in marketing.
Paid Search – Assuming you have any funds for advertising, you may choose from a wide variety of strategies to attract customers to your website. Some examples are:
- Internet and social media PPC (pay-per-click) advertising
- Endorsements from influential people in exchange for payment or publicity
- Allowing affiliates to earn money by promoting other businesses
If you don’t concentrate your marketing efforts on the channels that the people in your target audience are most likely to use, you run the danger of your voice being lost in the void.
Read more: How to Set Up Your Own Multivendor Marketplace Platform
Using buyer-generated content – Customers will be more likely to make a purchase after reading reviews written by actual customers, and you’ll have a wealth of original content that can be used in your own marketing efforts at no cost. That’s a tremendous value. You should do all in your power to make rating and reviewing your products as simple as possible for your buyers.
Analyse and promote top products – Having used analytics to prioritize your marketing efforts, you should now go back into your marketplace data to determine which products and categories are most successful at bringing in customers. The next step is to promote these top-performing products in your advertising. It makes sense to combine traffic sources that aren’t doing well with those that are used to promote products that are doing well in the marketplace.
Check out Appscrip’s multivendor marketplace platform solutions to establish your marketplace effortlessly and in accordance with your requirements, whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to optimize an existing marketplace app or website for optimum growth.
