Marketplace – what is it, and what does creating such a platform look like?

For several years now, marketplaces have been becoming an increasingly popular type of online store. Primarily due to their ease of operation and the ability to offer a wide range of products in one place. Additionally, marketplace e-commerce does not require significant investments – all you need is a well-designed website where customers can find products from various categories like electronics or gardening. Learn more about what a marketplace is.

| What is a Marketplace?

A marketplace can be simply understood as an online e-commerce market. This type of platform involves products or services being provided by multiple sellers. In the case of a marketplace, as the platform operator, you are responsible for processing transactions and ensuring that stores comply with the website’s terms and conditions.

A marketplace is a form of multichannel e-commerce and is often used to streamline the sales process. The way a marketplace operates enables consumers and sellers to enter into contracts online. According to the law, it also constitutes the place where such contracts are made.

It’s important to note that this form of sales is not only popular in Poland but also internationally. Customer interest is driven by the opportunity to find a wide range of products and sellers in one place. This is why the platform is often referred to as an online marketplace. After all, you can buy both new and well-known brands there. This solution provides products from various categories, including home, sports, or computer components.

Just be sure not to equate a marketplace with price comparison websites. Such a platform operates on different principles, and each seller must comply with the rules and other trading partners.

| How Does a Marketplace Work?

The simple and intuitive operation of a marketplace is one of its most important advantages. It is crucial to present offers that match potential customers’ desires. Once customers have found specific products and services, they are redirected to the page of the chosen seller.

In the case of a marketplace, acquiring detailed information is important because it allows for the best possible search results tailored to customers’ needs. This helps customers quickly find what they are looking for. A marketplace should include result filtering and sorting by price, availability, or delivery time.

A marketplace not only provides many sellers’ offers in one place but also shifts the responsibility for transaction processing to the store operator. However, the actual sales process is handled by wholesalers, retailers, or other companies.

If you are the owner of a marketplace, you have several responsibilities, such as:

• Adding and approving new sellers
• Monitoring seller profiles to ensure they comply with the terms and conditions
• Setting sales commissions
• Analyzing sales statistics, earnings, or commissions for individual sellers

Wondering what it means to be a seller in a marketplace? Such stores in Poland provide access to a ready-made platform, usually on a subscription basis. In addition, you add products and manage your offering. You also have full control over shipping methods, prices, and delivery types. You can access customer data, sales reports, and orders all in one place.

| Who is Marketplace E-Commerce For?

If you don’t want to invest a significant amount of money in e-commerce, a marketplace is a good choice. You primarily need to focus on creating a user-friendly place for many customers. Advertising your site and achieving a high ranking in Google are crucial. You don’t have to worry about stocking inventory – that’s a task for businesses looking to open a store on your platform. Your main concern is making sure the website functions well.

Wondering who else might benefit from a marketplace-type online store? This solution is useful for businesses looking to diversify their revenue streams. It allows you to continue selling your own products while also offering products and services from other online stores.

Marketplace is a good solution in many situations, whether you run a small or large store. In each case, you can customize the platform to your needs, such as providing access to a wide audience tailored to the appropriate category. You can also change commission rates or store operation rules while the platform is operational.

| Is a Marketplace E-Commerce Store Free?

A marketplace is a profitable way to make money, so it’s not a free solution available to everyone. Keep in mind that marketplaces are a popular type of e-commerce in Poland and worldwide. Therefore, in most cases, it is a profitable solution that provides significant profits to both the operator and sellers. This is especially relevant to the growing competition, which requires online stores to sell products and services through multiple sales channels.

You have several options for how to settle the costs of running an online store, but the most common ones are a subscription or a commission model. Learn more about the different methods for paying for operating a store on a marketplace:

• Subscription

Having several subscription options is a good way to settle the cost of running an online store. The diversity of this method makes it more accessible for more businesses to use, allowing them to adjust to their needs, such as choosing an option with a limited range of products. Usually, this option is available for basic accounts, corresponding to e-commerce with a smaller range of services or products. This is also appealing to new sellers.

However, you should make sure to offer the option to purchase a professional account on your marketplace, where there are no limitations for customers. In this case, the subscription costs are usually higher.

• Commission

Another option for settling the costs of running a store is the commission model. In this case, as the operator of the marketplace, you set the commission value, which is typically a specific amount or a specified percentage. The commission can be uniform or depend on the selected category, the number of products offered, the seller, or the products themselves.

 

 

 

 

| Advantages and Disadvantages of Marketplaces

Marketplace is one of the most significant trends in both Poland and other parts of the world. This is due to several advantages it offers to online stores, particularly in terms of low operating costs and a low entry barrier for sellers. However, like any option, marketplaces have their strengths and weaknesses that you should consider before using this option. Get to know them and decide for yourself if an online store on such a platform is a good solution for you.

| Benefits of Marketplace E-commerce in Poland

• For Buyers

Polish marketplaces are an ideal solution for potential customers because they have access to multiple sellers and products, all in one place. This means that they can shop on a website like Facebook Marketplace and find everything they need. Other benefits include the ease of exploring product details without the need to open multiple pages. Additionally, marketplaces often offer lower prices compared to standard online stores, which attract a larger audience. These platforms stand out in terms of data security and transaction processing. Moreover, sellers are vetted by operators.

• For Sellers

Marketplace sales portals in Poland offer a tremendous opportunity to reach a broader audience. Sellers don’t have to worry about self-promotion, high Google rankings, or building their own websites. This minimizes fees for additional services related to management and promotion. Running an online store on a marketplace comes with other advantages, including:

• Using additional sales channels
• Benefiting from the visibility of a specific marketplace
• The ability to manage or modify products or services as needed
• Selling both physical and digital products, as well as services and reservations
• Low fees for access to a ready-made sales platform
• Access to a vast customer base in Poland and worldwide
• Professional support
• Intuitive online store management
• Effortless control over order quantities and profits
• Access to sales reports
• Greater visibility of products and services on the Internet, especially on Google
• Facilitates brand awareness-building

 

• For Owners

As the owner, you can see many benefits of this solution. Of course, one of the most important is the opportunity to earn significant profits, especially if the service is popular among buyers and sellers. In addition, the benefits include scaling your business. You can easily expand your offering. This encourages customers to use your offerings more frequently. Besides, marketplaces allow you to join many suppliers to your platform. You have complete control over how the platform operates, including setting sales terms, commission rates, and online store management fees.

If you introduce offer differentiations or paid advertising on the service, you’ll gain an additional source of income, as platforms like Allegro do.

| Weaknesses of Marketplaces

• For Buyers

Among the most significant disadvantages for buyers are high delivery costs. This applies when you want to order products from multiple stores, resulting in separate shipping costs, ultimately increasing the purchase amount.

Additionally, such platforms often limit customer interaction, making it challenging to personalize orders.

• For Sellers

Although there are numerous benefits for stores that utilize marketplaces, you should not forget about the weaknesses. Foremost is the continually growing competition. The more popular this model becomes, the more businesses create accounts. It is challenging to stand out on services like Allegro, as the terms attempt to standardize the way offers are presented, leading to issues. Sellers must also adapt to the rules of the specific sales platform, adding costs for account management or item listings. Running a store on a marketplace comes with sales commission payments or monthly subscriptions and adjustments to pricing policies and limited customer interaction.

Owners of such platforms do not have many downsides. The most you may notice is the difficulty in managing such a complex service. After all, moderation requires a lot of time and precision. This ensures that every store operates according to the terms and rules, and a group of specialists will certainly handle this task.

| Facebook Marketplace – What Is It?

The trend related to marketplaces has also reached social media. One of the best examples is Facebook Marketplace, which is thriving in this direction. As a result, the platform offers space for users to sell both new and used products.

What distinguishes Facebook Marketplace? First and foremost, the service allows for public offers. Customers see these products in specific categories. This significantly simplifies finding a suitable offer, and you can expect many orders through Messenger.

Additionally, Facebook Marketplace is very user-friendly, and you can sell virtually any products, although there is a list of prohibited offers. Listing products is quick and can even be done via Messenger. Customers eagerly use this option due to access to multiple payment methods and the ability to find various products.

 

| 5 Key Marketplaces in Poland and Abroad

You don’t need to create your own marketplace to benefit from this solution. Another interesting option is to create an online store and then expand your offerings on one of the most popular platforms.

A marketplace can be an additional sales channel. In this case, you can take advantage of ERP integration or other convenient solutions. This way, you’ll have access to all the platforms where you offer your products and services in a single administrative panel. You won’t have any issues with price and inventory synchronization, and you can easily add new offers or product descriptions. Before using these helpful tools, find out which marketplace platforms are the most popular.

Allegro

Undoubtedly, Allegro’s marketplace is one of the most preferred services in Poland in terms of brand awareness and popularity among sellers and buyers. This platform has gained recognition not only among companies offering various products but also among potential customers who can find practically everything there. Statistics show that Allegro has up to 100 million offers, attracting nearly 14 million internet users every day.

However, many companies have already discovered the potential of Allegro, and their numbers are steadily increasing. Therefore, there is considerable competition on the platform, especially when offering popular goods. Furthermore, as this platform evolves, the commissions tend to increase. At the same time, you won’t have any trouble connecting your store to Allegro. After all, many sales platforms provide such tools, sometimes even free of charge.

Morele.net

Another Polish marketplace is Morele.net. Although it’s not as popular as Allegro, the service is still frequently visited, primarily due to the combination of many sellers and a wide range of products. While the platform’s specialization is electronics, Morele.net also offers various other products. So, you can create a business account there and link it to your online store, even if you have a slightly different product range. Just like in other marketplaces, you won’t have any trouble finding integrations for managing your profile. This allows you to add products, change descriptions, prices, or simply start using paid promotions on the platform.

Amazon

One of the most well-known marketplaces is Amazon, attracting customers from all around the world. It brings together many sellers from different categories. This contributes significantly to the platform’s strong position and the high revenues reported each year. Initially, Amazon was limited to books, but now you can find virtually anything there. Moreover, anyone can open a store on this platform, regardless of their location. As a result, customers from Poland, Germany, China, the United States, or Egypt all converge in one place. Although this marketplace has introduced some restrictions on delivering goods, it still offers considerable availability.

Recently, a platform dedicated exclusively to Poles, Amazon Poland, was launched. This is a great opportunity to use this service and expand your sales there. After all, your store won’t have to compete with as many national providers. The brand’s recognizability effectively encourages customers to visit the platform. You won’t have any trouble connecting your online store to your Amazon profile because there are numerous integrations available.

AliExpress

Another leader in the marketplace platform market is AliExpress, a part of the Chinese Alibaba Group. Its strong position is due, in part, to its global reach. This platform is particularly popular among sellers, while retail customers use it less frequently. Nonetheless, AliExpress is an excellent place to purchase a wide variety of products at lower prices. You should be prepared for longer delivery times, as a significant portion of the assortment is shipped from China.

It’s worth noting that AliExpress offers over a million products, with shipping available to over 200 countries. You can also integrate this marketplace with your online store. In that case, you could become a seller using dropshipping, significantly reducing the costs you need to cover.

OLX

OLX is a slightly different type of marketplace platform compared to the previous examples. It is a local classified ads service. You can both sell and buy items from various categories like home and garden, electronics, hobbies, sports, or pets. There are also popular job listings, property rental or sale ads, and car-related information.

OLX can be used by both businesses and private individuals, with the latter being the largest group of users. However, you can create a seller account as well. This is especially popular in categories like jobs, home and garden, electronics, and services.

OLX is popular in Poland, so if your target audience is in the country, you should consider integrating your store with this service. This will give you another sales channel, and this well-known marketplace will increase the visibility of your offerings on Google.

Empik.pl

The Polish book retail network has expanded its product range beyond books for a long time. While you can find such items in their physical stores, the website also offers products from other categories. Over the years, Empik.pl has transformed into a marketplace. This means that a wide range of products is available there, from electronics to cosmetics. The platform features products offered by Empik.pl itself and external companies. You can take advantage of this option as well. While not all sales platforms offer integrations with Empik, the most popular ones will facilitate connecting your store to your business account. Empik, as a marketplace, is gaining popularity, and competition is already significant. Being present on this platform will allow you to reach an even wider audience and improve your Google ranking.