Anyone who is interested in developing an online store will probably come across the term marketplace. But, after all, is a marketplace an e-commerce? To begin with, let's differentiate between the two terms.
An e-commerce (or electronic commerce) is an online platform where a single store intermediates directly with its customers. Thus, it is up to the entrepreneur to maintain both the website and the logistics of the company.
The marketplace, on the other hand, can be compared to a large virtual shopping center. In it, a single site is responsible for holding several stores, where each one sells its respective product within a segment. The idea is that customers can find products from different stores in a single place.
But the differences do not stop there. So, let's understand this better? Read on and see which model is best for your business!
Display Your Products
In e-commerce, besides setting up the whole structure of the site, the entrepreneur has the challenge of needing to form the best strategies and invest in paid ads to advertise his store in different social networks and thus attract more customers.
Another detail that you should pay attention to is the stock of your products. To maintain good traffic, your store must have a smart stock. Since you are the only one responsible for displaying the products on the platform, a lack of stock can drive customers away.
With a marketplace, on the other hand, you don't have to worry so much about stock, because this detail is delegated to the store owners. They are the ones who will put the products in their showcases, being responsible for increasing the movement and, consequently, the number of sales on your platform.
Pay attention to the investment
If you are interested in setting up your own virtual store, make sure you have a large working capital.
This concern serves to ensure that your business does not suffer financially in the beginning, because you will need to take care of the hosting service on servers, database storage, and even the layout of the pages.
In addition, before launching your site you must have a security system against fraud in your store, to protect both the e-commerce and the customers' data. Also, you must have a customer service tool.
In the case of the marketplace, your concern is very similar to what was said above: construction of the site, security system, hosting service, and page layout. On the other hand, the entrepreneur does not need to take care of the logistics or the company's stock.
Since your responsibility is to keep a secure, quality site online, you won't have to worry about an eventual stock problem, for example.
Integrate the Marketplace into Your E-Commerce
If you already have a virtual store, you can integrate the modality into your business. For this, you need the support of your development team (if not, hire a specialized service) to perform the task.
In this sense, a tool widely used in existing e-commerce is Magento.
It has plug-ins for integration with different marketplaces, capable of automating the management between the store and its sales channels, opening new business possibilities for the logist. And it also allows the shopkeeper to easily choose the products that will be advertised within the platform itself.
Finally, as we have seen, the decision to open one of the two presented models can vary greatly according to your strategy. And now, answering the question whether a marketplace is an e-commerce: both fall into the e-commerce category, as they sell through an online platform.
So, did you like our post? Any questions left on the subject? Leave us your comment!
