the current pandemic (covid-19) has completely changed the traditional ways of doing business because now this is more of a “survival of the fittest”. from a big mall to a small local store, this industry must be ready for major disruption in coming future.

as per a recent digital analysis, the gigantic online marketplaces like amazon, ebay, alibaba, etsy, and some others have accounted 60% of online business in last few years. hence, these findings clearly portray the latest trend that people prefer to buy from multi-vendor marketplaces because of competitive pricing, money back guaranties and good customer experience.

the current drastic effects of pandemic and latest digital marketing trends, many entrepreneurs are considering online marketplace where they can invite local sellers and vendors to sell. if you are thinking of lunching a multi-vendor platform then here below are top five steps that you must keep in mind for a successful ecommerce marketplace.

competitive analysis

competitive analysis is really important to start any business. hence, gather the information about your customers, asses the strengths and weaknesses of your rivals and then make informed decision particularly choosing the accurate business niche.

research is very important for doing any sort of business, you must reach out to those vendors are already using some other online platform and then list down the pain points and what you should do in order to rectify these pain areas while building up the market place.

requirement gathering & technical capabilities

create a proper requirement gathering document on the basis of initial research. create a questionnaire-based document keeping the pros and cons of developing such platforms. here below are some sample points or questions that you must note down to ask yourself and to gather information from others:

• who are your current direct competitors in the market?
• what digital platform/technologies they are using?
• how many registered vendors they have on their platform?
• what extra you should have in your platform in terms of functionalities?
• how would you handle shopping and delivery?
• do you have enough technical capabilities to build such platform and if not, then who would be the best partner to team up?
• what technology is important while developing the ecommerce platform?
• do you to integrate with any third-party apis?
• what will be the selling model of this platform, saas or license based?

investment

investment is very important if you do not have initial capital to invest. you must create a proper business plan which should include all possible initial expenses/cost and clear roadmap when exactly you will be able to bring first cent.

create a business plan with impressive sales pitch and try to find investors firstly in your local market or you can also search for online crowdfunding sites that can help you to arrange the money.

online marketing

you are building up an ecommerce platform which is a web-based platform so you must not ignore the importance of digital/online marketing because this is cost effective when you compare this with offline marketing and this plays a vital role in creating a buzz about your brand.

in the beginning, you can start with seo (search engine optimization) & social media marketing. google ads are costly. it is recommended, if you do not have expertise in online marketing then must take a help from seo and adwords experts and invest wisely.

on-boarding

with an initial digital marketing hype, though there must not be any problem in breaking the ice for initial sales efforts but brining the sellers on your marketplace can be crucial if you do not plan it properly.

here below are a few strategies that can help you out in on-boarding the sellers on your ecommerce platform with ease:

• you must prepare a list of sellers who are using other such platform and approach them.
• you must have a list prepared with the pain areas for using other ecommerce platforms so create an email campaign mentioning these pain areas and how your marketplace can cater these areas.
• create a proper social media plan and reach them with new offers and better platform.
• try to find other referral website and post your ads.
• contact ebay, etsy, or other sites to place your ads as multiple sellers are selling the products.
• you must keep a budget for offline marketing like print ads, billboards, tele sales, etc.

concluding the above,

starting something of your own is a rollercoaster, you must give at least 6 months with full throttle and then must wait for results. do not lose hope because it deviates your focus and try different techniques and strategies to market and sell your platform.