Online marketplace platforms are believed to be one of the most promising ecommerce industries. However, two-thirds of them close in the first year.

In this article, TIGO experts share insights on how to avoid mistakes when creating a marketplace website and promoting it.

Introduction: What Is A Marketplace? 

A marketplace is an online platform where sellers and buyers find each other and interact with each other. Such platforms have very different specializations – from universal trading platforms with goods for all occasions to industry-specific marketplaces for services. For example, financial, insurance, or consulting.

Depending on the specificity of the website, both companies and individuals can act as sellers.

How are marketplace platforms different from ordinary online stores? There are several main differences between them:

• The number of sellers and goods on the website

An online store usually offers products of one or more brands. The marketplace presents products from various sellers, often from many different categories. In this sense, it is like a large online hypermarket.

• Offline presence

Many online stores exist offline, too, in the form of brick-and-mortar stores. Marketplaces usually do not have offline stores but there are pickup points.

• Audience and geography

Marketplaces tend to spend a lot of attention and resources on user acquisition. Therefore, they have more audience and traffic than normal online stores. In addition, advanced logistics allow marketplaces to work with wider geography.There are several types of marketplaces. We recommend you have a look at the table below to get an example of marketplaces types:

Benefits & Risks Of Building Marketplaces

The benefits of creating a marketplace include: 

• A large selection of goods or services from different suppliers attracts more customers than individual online stores. And it is more convenient for suppliers to offer goods and services in the marketplace, where there is already demand than to create and promote their website or online store;
• The marketplace relieves the owner of problems with the delivery, communication with the buyer, and settlement of problems with orders. All this falls on the suppliers, and the owner of the marketplace is engaged in attracting users and developing the online platform.

Even though today the desire to create a marketplace may seem a good idea to get quick profit, it is also necessary to remember the risks this business idea may bring:

• The development and launch of a marketplace require a significant amount of investment at the start. You will have to attract and retain both buyers and suppliers at the same time. That is, the marketing budget needs to be doubled;
• You will need an experienced ecommerce consulting team to provide you with careful analytics at the start and help with a quick launch of an online service, as well as attracting users at an early stage and helping mitigate challenging situations.

Odoo Multi Vendor Marketplace

Odoo Multi Vendor Marketplace is designed to be installed and ready to use with minimal configuration. But we understand every client is unique so every functionality is open for customization to perfectly suit your needs.

Now you can easily build your marketplace in Odoo with the help of Odoo Multi Vendor Marketplace. The module allows you to connect with multiple vendors so that they can sell their products on your Online Store. Your business model can attract “Brick-Mortar sellers” to sign in for your Odoo Marketplace. As it gives an opportunity for them to place their markable impression to the wide audience. As a Marketplace Owner (Admin), you have complete authority to approve/disapprove products, orders, sellers, etc, manage sellers’ payments, seller shops and much more.

Key Features

1. Transform your Odoo Website into Online store for multiple vendors

2. Add terms and condition on the seller registration form

3. Admin can also sell his/her own products on the Marketplace

4. Only sellers approved by admin can upload their products on Online Store

5. Admin can set manual or auto-approval of seller products and their quantities.

6. Only approved products by admin are displayed on store

7. Assign individual warehouses and locations for all sellers for Effective inventory management.

8. Allows to show/hide seller’s information on the website such as sales count, Product count, Return Policy, Joining date, shipping policy, etc.

9. Allow customers to reach out to the seller through ‘Email to Seller’ button.

10. Each seller has a separate shop and profile page in the marketplace.

11. Sellers can set a unique profile page and provide shop description, shop name, tagline, etc on the website.

12. The seller can provide the shop’s term and conditions using WYSIWYG.

13. View total sales and easily manage all orders on your shop( sales order analysis )

14. Overview all shop related information like products approval requests, total orders on his account and seller payments directly on the seller dashboard.

Features Breakdown

Here are the key features of Odoo Multi Vendor Marketplace.

Separate Marketplace Admin Panel

•  Neat Dashboard for quick peek.
•  Separate menu for sellers and Sellers shops management.
•  Create New Marketplace products.
•  Approve/disapprove new product requests from sellers.
•  Manage product Inventory requests.
•  Manage seller orders.
•  Separate Seller payment Menu.
•  Publish/unpublish seller Ratings and recommendations.

Enhanced Marketplace Website View

•  Marketplace website is designed for easy navigation for the customers.
•  A separate seller shop for each seller.
•  Seller information and shop link visible on the product page.
•  Customers can view seller shop and its details on the website.
•  The customers can buy from their favorite seller directly from his Marketplace shop.
•  Write a Seller review and view ratings from others.

Seller Dashboard Features

•  Elegant Seller Dashboard for faster shop navigation
•  The seller can view and edit their Marketplace shop details.
•  Set shop page, shop policies, etc.
•  Separate menu for monitoring orders and payments
•  Request admin for payments
•  Manage Marketplace products.
•  Send new product and Inventory update requests to admin.

Automatic Mail Notifications

•  Manage automatic Mail notifications from settings
•  Enable mail notifications on new seller requests for both admin and seller
•  Mail alerts on new product requests.
•  approval/disapproval of new requests sends mail to both admin and seller.
•  Enable Alerts on a new order placed on Marketplace.

Commission Management For Admin

•  The Admin commission rules can be set globally or for individual seller.
•  Global Settings apply for all sellers.
•  Global settings can be over-ridden in seller profile by the admin.
•  Earn percentage-based commission for every sale on your Marketplace.

Display Ratings And Recommendations

•  Build authenticity and customer trust with ratings and reviews on your Marketplace.
•  An inherent ratings system in the module. No additional addon required.
•  As the Admin, manage seller ratings and reviews from customers.
•  A separate tab in the Admin Panel for easy management.
•  publish/unpublish ratings on the marketplace website.

Frequently Asked Questions

What exactly Does Odoo Multi Vendor Marketplace Module Does?

It transforms your single e-commerce website into a working e-commerce marketplace. Your sellers would signup and sell their products.

What your business receives are; A flood of customers from every walk of society and commissions for every sale they make on your website.

You as the Marketplace admin is entitled to complete control on the happenings on your Odoo Marketplace. You approve/disapprove products, orders, sellers, etc, manage sellers' payments, seller shops and much more.

What makes it so successful?

It is the ability of the marketplace to bring sellers from virtually anywhere around the globe at the fingertips of the consumers. And with a multitude of sellers come hundreds and thousands of variety of products for the customers to choose from.

Thus, tremendously increasing your conversions and customers as compared to a single e-commerce website.

Why are Brick-Mortar sellers would be interested in signing up for your online Marketplace?

A diverse and broad consumer base, Brand Exposure, Easy Leads and higher Sales.....As with consumers, the sellers also get brand exposure and attention of thousands of customers from all around the world at one place.

They can sell to customers in Australia while being based in the USA themselves from your Marketplace. Attracts Buyer and Sellers alike on your Marketplace and increase your sales and reach with Odoo Multi-Vendor Marketplace Module.

This module can be downloaded from Odoo store or from Webkul.

Conclusion 

The demand for marketplaces continues to grow, which leads to the emergence of new applications. There are many competitors in this niche, and if you are determined to enter it, you need a quality product that effectively addresses the specific needs of your target audience.

If you follow the recommendations we have outlined, you will have a better chance of finding your place in the market. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, constantly improve your app, stay on top of current trends, and listen to your users. And don’t forget that you can always find support on every ecommerce-related issue at TIGO – just fill in the form on our website, and we’ll be back to you with the solution.