One of the best ways to increase profit for your business and to reach more customers is by being accessible everywhere. Which means, let’s say you have a physical store or even branches, you also have to be accessible online. Especially nowadays with online shopping being the beast in product trading. There are two ways of selling online, one is on an e-commerce platform and the other is on Marketplace. If you want to reach more customers, it’s wise to invest in both ways, especially in marketplaces as it has the advantage of having more audiences than the other.
Marketplace or Online Marketplace is a virtual shopping center where the owner allows third-party sellers to sell products on his platform. Examples of marketplaces are Amazon, eBay, CreateJoy, Bonanza, Etsy, Jet, Carbon38 and many more. Think of it as a mall or an all-in-one shop but online.
Pros and Cons When Selling in a Marketplace
Pros:
More convenient than any other platform
For sellers, marketplaces offer the convenience of handling almost all logistics for your product. Sometimes, all you have to is to wait for a sale, pack it and sent it to their own courier team, and collect your money.
Marketplace can your business access to a larger pool of customers
The reason why marketplaces can gather many audiences and customers is because of the idea of being an all-in-one shop online. In fact, studies show that there are more people online than physically outside. Added by the convenience that it offers from easy methods of payment to the comfort of door-to-door delivery of products.
Marketplace have higher traffic channel than a single e-commerce platform
Marketplaces already have a high traffic of audiences. It saves you from the trouble of finding customers which is really hard if you’re only using a single e-commerce platform. A good example of a niche marketplace for florist is BloomNation. Floral boutiques can join this marketplace so their sales won’t limit to local customers.
New customers acquisition
Since your products are also show to other products and businesses, the chance of getting new customers will triple.
Shared credibility
Many marketplaces, especially the well-known ones, have already established credibility. And whatever their credibility is will be passed on to you if you sell on their platform. This means, even if your product is new, customers tend to buy it due to the fact that it’s being sold in their trusted marketplace.
Cons
Monthly fees
Like setting up a stall in a mall where there is a rental fee, displaying your shop and your products in a marketplace also has a corresponding fee. And some marketplaces charges extra fees for each products sale which can be a chunk of changes particularly for high-volume sellers in addition with nominal monthly fees.
Marketplace Competition
Since the marketplace allows many third-party sellers, it is hard to stand out between them. Especially because the platform allows similar products to be sold.
Lower Brand Recognition
Many customers thought that everything that is being sold in the platform is owned by the marketplace. To them, the marketplace name becomes the brand. Which may result for your own brand name not to be noticed.
Overall, selling your product in a marketplace is a good idea. The pros and cons are there for you to decide whether it’s worth it to take the advantages it offers and lose some things that you may be able to control.
Contents related to this topic : Where to sell your products
