How to Build a Marketplace Website That Users Will Love

An online marketplace is a website that connects vendors and buyers. Good illustrations of the marketplaces are Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Walmart, Uber, Airbnb. The key role of them is to bring together the right seller and customer. This kind of service differs from the usual online store. As the second ones sell only their own products online.

A typical online shop is owned by one big company, e.g., Zara, IKEA, Nike, JYSK, Apple. A marketplace allows both sellers and buyers to find each other in the easiest way and to make transactions. A platform can be used for exchanging goods or to trade since they include everything from online services and applications to physical items like beauty products, furniture, or clothing.

What are the other differences between a marketplace and an online store? Traditional online stores have one seller, two-sided marketplaces are used for selling by a lot of vendors. One more difference is the sales model. Marketplaces choose variable models. Online stores prefer a fixed one. Also, if we talk about marketplaces, they may need neither actual inventory nor a warehouse. Whereas online shops require at least storage.

In the article, we consider the following questions: the types of marketplaces; how to create an online marketplace; main steps in developing; the price of marketplace website creating; functions of a marketplace.

Main steps in building an online marketplace

There is no single answer on how to create an online marketplace because the ideas and development of each of them are specific. But there are two things that are irreplaceable. They are strategy and good planning.

Below, we are going to share with you key steps that can’t be ignored in building an online marketplace.

Come up with an idea

Everything starts with the idea. Think about it. What problem will your marketplace solve? Ideally, it needs to be useful for both groups: the vendors and the customers.

Typically, buyers use marketplaces because they want to get well-quality items for a low price. Providers want to find customers and manage their sales in the easiest way possible. Plenty of marketplaces are based on improving the user experience. However, only improving is not enough. You need to solve a really painful problem for both groups of users.

Define your target audience

How can you make sure that your idea will solve somebody’s problem? By talking with potential users. So, your next step is to identify your target audience.

To describe your potential customer use the following options: age, gender, location, profession, hobbies, education, family, income, fears, and inspiration. You may add several more options to this list if you need to have some extra information.

Make marketing research

In the perfect world, your idea would be unique and there were no similar products around. But the reality is different. Almost everything you want to do has already been done. Because of that, you need to understand who your competitors are, what the features of their products are, their drawbacks, and their benefits. Ask yourself if you are able to offer more value than your competitors?

Project specification

The website development stage starts with project documentation. Despite the fact it may seem a boring and monotonous task, detailed documentation will save you plenty of time and money in the future. If you hire an in-house team, it isn’t that important. But if you choose to work with the contractors, the documentation will be an essential roadmap.

Build the marketplace MVP

A great idea is to start with developing the minimum viable product (MVP). In short, MVP is a version of a website or app with enough features to be used by customers. It differs from the usual product in the number of functions. And, consequently, the total cost and development time.