Marketplaces reloaded — A mix of channels is required

A few years ago, topics such as verticalisation or direct sales, which retailers and manufacturers used, are increasingly causing the question of how to deal with the trend of »platform economics« and which strategy is the right one to be answered.

Range vs. Data access?

Marketplaces and platforms continue to develop into the epicentre of online commerce. According to a study, 38 per cent of consumers start their online search on a marketplace.

The advantage of the enormous empire-wide visibility is, at the same time, as opposed to the dependence on digital retail centres. Although the platforms offer high-quality social targeting and reliable fulfilment, all customer data is also then stored at the marketplace.

Finding the right way here as a provider is not easy. There is no clear recipe for success, as the development of marketplace strategies is just beginning. Some providers are successful with just a pure marketplace concept, others put in an additional, or entirely on their own, online shop and, still, others themselves become the marketplace.

Make or buy?

In order to run your own marketplace, a certain range and brand awareness is necessary, since, you’re already starting with a large range of products and many retailers should, therefore, be integrated. In addition, it is more promising to position yourself with the marketplace in a specific category and to target advertising budgets to a specific target group, rather than trying to position yourself as another full-line retailer next to Amazon.

For many, even larger retailers, it may, therefore, be better to use existing marketplaces. There must be a focus on which platforms are served with which products. Omnichannel scenarios, which still serve marketplaces in addition to their own sales channels, are very complex and should be tackled piece by piece.

To operate completely without a marketplace, and thus, to be much more flexible and to gain access to valuable customer data, unique selling points are needed. What added value does your company’s digital presence offer in terms of service, content, and user experience? Retailers who want to position themselves need to offer a unique shopping experience.

dotSource helped build a marketplace!

More information about the project can be found in the current case study. This can be downloaded here for free. Experts at dotSource are happy to advise and support you, be it in the development of individual digital strategies or the further development of existing processes. Contact us now.