Ecommerce marketplace

Etsy is geared toward “crafters, artists, and collectors”, and except for items categorized as “Vintage” or “Supplies”, Etsy is designed to sell handmade items created by the person selling the product. This makes it a good option for crafters, artists, and antique or vintage shops looking to sell online.

15 top online marketplaces

1. Amazon Marketplace

Amazon is the leading online marketplace in the United States, with close to $280.5 billion in net sales in 2019 . The Amazon Marketplace is one of the most well-known marketing channels for online retailers — which also makes it one of the most competitive.

2. Walmart marketplace

Walmart.com brings in 127 million unique visitors every month , and according to consumer research gathered by Tinuiti, there is a large overlap between Amazon.com and Walmart.com shoppers: Over 57% of Amazon buyers also shop on Walmart.com. Having a presence on both marketplaces gives you a better chance of capturing those shoppers.

How to sell on the Walmart Marketplace: To sell on Walmart.com, you need to fill out the Marketplace Application , which takes about 15 minutes to complete. If your application is approved, you’ll need to create your Next, you’ll register and complete your profile, verify your bank account, upload a product, and launch your account. Once the Walmart Marketplace team approves your account, your products will go live within 24 hours.

3. Kroger

How to become a Kroger vendor: Retailers can apply to become Kroger suppliers or vendors online through Kroger’s website . Kroger suppliers and vendors must use Kroger’s Supplier Hub to apply and manage their Kroger vendor accounts. To be considered as a Kroger supplier,you must be certified by a third-party agency, complete registration in our Supplier Management System, and meet Kroger’s selection criteria and requirements.

4. eBay

How to sell on eBay: eBay offers a “Quick Start” guide to help you start selling in 4 easy steps. Merchants can create a “My eBay” page from which to answer questions and view sales information. eBay also offers business consultation (for free), a Business Efficiency Guide, and Seller Development Resources, which is a program eBay designed to assist merchants in successfully selling their product.

5. Chewy

Acquired in 2018 by PetSmart, Chewy.com is one of the biggest online marketplaces for pet products, beating out Amazon in pet products sold in 2018. Chewy is known for excellent customer service and affordable prices.

6. Wayfair

If you sell home decor, furniture, mattresses or any other household item, Wayfair can be a great place to sell your products. Launched nearly 17 years ago, the site has over 11 million active users and boasts seriously high checkout averages (nearly $230 per transaction! ).

How to sell on Wayfair: Wayfair operates as a dropship model and calls their third-party sellers “partners.” When a shopper places an order on Wayfair, Wayfair forwards the order to your warehouse, then you pick, pack, and ship the order to the customer — while Wayfair covers the shipping cost. You can apply to sell on Wayfair here .

7. Costco

Costco is one of the biggest brick-and-mortar retailers in the US. For consumers, Costco has become synonymous with quality, bulk-buying, and value, with warehouses stocked with premium brands and private labeled products at below-market price-per-unit prices.

How to sell to/in Costco: Costco has limited information available about becoming a vendor. If you are selling non-food or sundry items, you can contact the corporate office. If you are a prospective vendor of food and sundry items, you can contact the appropriate division office. See their vendor contact page here .

8. Target

How to become a Target vendor: To sell your product on Target.com, you’ll need to connect with their merchandising or sourcing team and submit a proposal. If your product is selected, you’ll set up an account on Target’s Partners Online portal.

There’s limited information available online about how to become a Target vendor and the Target vendor application, as well as Target fees. We do know that Target prefers to sell products with a proven track record, making Target a better choice for established ecommerce brands than for new online sellers.

9. Newegg

Newegg is an online marketplace for electronics and hardware. With over 40 million customers in 20 countries, Newegg is the top electronics marketplace online. If you sell electronics or hardware, you should sell on Newegg.

How to sell on Newegg: To apply to sell on Newegg , fill out this Seller Application . Once you’re approved, you can list your products and start selling. You can ship orders yourself or use SBN (Shipped by Newegg). Newegg pays sellers weekly.

10. Jet

Jet.com is actually owned by Walmart, but its marketplace is completely separate from the company’s main one. It’s a great site for items typically bought in bulk, as it rewards customers with discounts and freebies based on how much they add to their cart. Jet calls their third-party sellers Jet Retail Partners.

Benefits of Marketplace Ecommerce

• • A marketplace allows the business or platform operators to charge a cut on the products that the vendors sell therefore exponentially increasing the profit opportunities.
• • E-marketplaces provide a transparent purchasing process as factors such as the prices of the product and availability of the stock are all accessible on a single platform in an open environment.
• • Better opportunities for suppliers and buyers to establish new trading relationship either within or across their supply chain.
• • Time constraints for trading across geographies is eliminated because of the online platform which operates round the clock.

• • The buyers get a wide variety of options on products to compare on a single website. Thus helping them find the most reasonable price for the best quality product.
• • Real time updated information on the price and availability makes it easier for the buyers to get the best deal.
• • The buyers can find trusted established vendors and build a trading partnership by dealing exclusively with them.

• • Smaller stores or vendors who are not sure about establishing their own eCommerce website or want to reduce their marketing costs can align themselves with these larger businesses and gain visibility through their fulfillment options.
• • Regular exchange of quotes between the new and the old vendors is possible, thereby streamlining and maintaining- standardization.
• • The platform acts as an additional sales channel to market and sell their products.
• • Enables oversea sales by providing opportunities to trade in the international e-marketplace.

E-Commerce Marketplace Challenges and Solutions

• Seller and buyer retention – While the most important challenge has always been to attract buyers and sellers to trade in the e-commerce marketplace, the second next crucial problem is to make them active users of the platform for a long time.
The issue of buyer retention can still be solved with the help of marketing, wide range of sellers’ availability and improved user experience, however engaging lot of sellers at once is always a problem. Therefore the business owners should always come up with new ideas of how to keep the sellers engaged for a long time at the same time increase their base. E-commerce Marketplace can typically solve the issue by providing an easy way to engage the sellers with the relevant buyers and consecutively provide them with additional features and benefits to expand their business on this platform.

• Connecting buyers with relevant sellers- This process plays an important role in engaging the buyers and sellers to the Marketplace. To solve this issues the platform owners should use different methods like tracking buyers and sellers behaviors driven on-site search system, personalized emails based on the algorithms, auto filling sellers account, providing handy and user friendly navigations, etc.

• Buyers trusting the sellers – Trust between the buyers and the sellers plays a very critical role in achieving a conversion. To build the trust, the platform owners have to fall back on traditional way of feedback giving it a digital twist. Features such as ‘Testimonials’ – which will speaks volumes about the authenticity of the product and the buyer, an actionable ‘Rating’ system- where everybody can easily rate the products, sellers and the services, or Social Proof- since customers don’t trust machines, they trust people and experiences, this can make a great impact in socially proving your testimonial and ratings through people who have used it.

• First Impression is the best impression- This proverb is true to its truest sense when it comes to eCommerce Marketplace. It is very important to provide the best user experience to your customers on any device through which they are accessing your platform. Easy to understand and access application would prompt your customers to keep coming back to you.

• Price competition can pose a problem- In large marketplaces, price competition can pose a huge problem. Vendors can choose to compete for the lowest price, which may serve the customer but could end up earning lower profits for both the marketplace and the vendor.

• Quality assurance can also be an issue – Marketplaces may not always have control over the quality of products or timeliness of delivery. One way to combat this is to establish a review system, allowing consumers to give feedback on specific third-party sellers and products. Some marketplaces like eBay will move the seller down in search results or downgrade their account due to negative reviews, while other sites like Amazon leave it up to the consumer to penalize a vendor based on poor reviews. The right enterprise software platform can help you manage these aspects of quality assurance.

Authorship:

https://tinuiti.com/blog/ecommerce/top-online-marketplaces/
https://www.happiestminds.com/Insights/ecommerce-marketplace/#:~:text=What%20is%20E-commerce%20Marketplace?%20The%20E-commerce%20marketplace%20or,shops%20or%20person%20showcased%20on%20the%20same%20platform.
https://www.happiestminds.com/Insights/ecommerce-marketplace/