Top multi vendor marketplaces in the world sold $2.67 trillion in 2020. Sales on marketplace sites, like Alibaba, Amazon, eBay, and others, accounted for 62% of global web sales in 2020, (Digital Commerce 360). Do you want to open a similar type of online marketplace like Amazon, Alibaba or any other brands you are inspired by? Do you also want to be a millionaire by starting your own online marketplace? But are you sure which marketplace model will best suit your business? Do you know about the different types of marketplaces to consider before proceeding to create one?
Well, today I am going to brush away all your confusion about types of marketplaces and tell you what model will be the best for you. So stay glued!
Table of Contents
Types of multi vendor marketplaces every entrepreneur should know
1. Horizontal marketplace
A model implies selling all and everything to reach the broadest audience possible. It’s an online destination to find anything without any hassle with the help of the self-explanatory menu product category you are looking for. To better understand this model, let's take an example of popular marketplaces.
Leading Horizontal Multi Vendor marketplace
Amazon
The best horizontal marketplace that is capitalizing the whole commerce industry. Started as an online book store, but later it covered all the industries like FMCG, consumer electronics, fashion, education, software, entertainment, etc. Their revenue for the financial year ending March 31 2021, stands at $419.130B, which is a 41.47% increase year-over-year.
Flipkart
Another ecommerce giant with a large customer base in India, they also sell in other 200 countries in partnership with eBay. Currently, Flipkart has 160 million users and sells 150 million products across 80+ categories. In terms of revenue, Flipkart made 346.1 billion Indian rupees in 2020.
Best advice: To launch a horizontal marketplace, start with selling a small range of products. After you achieve a result, invest the money into expanding your product range. Why? During the initial stage, selling multiple products in various industries will add confusion, require huge capital, and workforce.
2. Niche or Vertical marketplace
A niche marketplace is for selling products under a particular industry, catering to a set of audiences, whose interest highly lies in buying the products.
For example, under the online fashion industry, there are various niches you can target such as - women’s clothing, men’s clothing, kidswear, cosmetics and skincare, and even more. So if you choose Women’s clothing, you are targeting a niche market.
Niche marketplace ideas for budding entrepreneurs
Organic Products
Organic product sales have jumped to $106 billion in 2019 from $95 in 2018, which shows the worldwide demand for organic products has grown substantially (Statista). To start, you need to partner with farmers, organic food brands, natural skincare brands, organic supplements selling brands, etc.
Handcrafted Items Marketplace
Global handicrafts market crossed $647.57 billion in 2020 and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 10.9% between 2021-2026. (EMR) Hence, it's the best opportunity to launch a marketplace and pioneer handicrafts market by selling items like handmade textiles, vintage items, jewelry, craft supplies, etc.
Fashion Marketplace
Fashion ecommerce global market value in 2021 has touched $759.5 billion. The estimated market size of the fashion ecommerce industry is predicted at $992 billion by 2024. Marketplaces like Myntra and Amazon Fashion are already driving growth and revenue by selling apparel, footwear, accessories, cosmetics, etc.
Jewelry & Ornaments Marketplace
The forecasted market value of global online jewelry is 9 Billion by 2027, expected to propel at a CAGR of 15.5% between 2020-2027. (Globe Newswire). Entrepreneurs willing to earn hefty profits and have knowledge of the Jewelry industry should give it a try.
Consumer Electronics Marketplace
The electronics market is going to be valued at $511.06 billion in 2025 at a growth rate of 10%. Moreover, searches on Google for buying Air-conditioners, Smart TV prices, dishwashers, have been on the rise. Various electronics marketplaces are witnessing enormous amounts of inquiries on these products. Some big market players are Alibaba, Amazon, JD.com, eBay, Walmart, Newegg, Flipkart, etc. (Global Consumer Electronic)
Furniture Marketplace
With the advancement in logistics, reduced shipping cost, and augmented reality (AR), online furniture marketplaces are improving. Another great news is that the online furniture market is estimated to surge by USD 84.26 billion during 2020-2024. That’s why starting today is the right decision to travel a long ride of success.
Popular Niche/Vertical Marketplace
Nykaa
Nykaa has over 1.3 lakh+ products and 1500+ brands registered on its platform under the beauty and cosmetic category.
Pepperfry
Pepperfry is an omnichannel business model which connects buyers and sellers in a cost-efficient manner. At this point, they deliver to 1000+ cities in India, have 60 lakhs customers, and 21 fulfillment centers.
3. Service aggregator marketplace
Service Aggregator marketplace brings all service providers on one platform to sell their services to individuals or companies. Services can be anything that solves people’s problems. For example, home maintenance services, car repair, laundry service, personal care, healthcare services, and more.
Service aggregator marketplace ideas you can start today
Personal care services
Who doesn’t like salon services at home? From spa at home to party make-up and a lot more
Car maintenance services
To launch a car service marketplace, you can partner with professional car workshops across various locations. You can target locations (pincodes, cities, states) where car owners are plenty. You can list the workshops on your platform, market the platform on digital channels and earn commission on each order. The idea behind opening such a marketplace is to save time for busy car owners by giving them an online facility to book car service, and avail pick and drop service.
Home maintenance services
Build a marketplace that can reduce the inconvenience and delay people confront while searching for knowledgeable electricians, carpenters, plumbers, pest control professionals, housekeeping staff, laundry doers, etc for their home.
Healthcare services
Appointment with Doctors no more of calling their assistants and booking slots. Every industry is now online, so why not the healthcare industry too. As doctor’s demand is always high, a marketplace would give buyers the opportunity to book online consultations with verified doctors and can save time from waiting long to meet doctors.
Successful service aggregator marketplace
Urban company
IT is the largest home service multi vendor marketplace in Asia. On their platform, customers can book from 40,000 professionals offering beauty services, massage services, cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair, and more. It has covered 30 cities in India and 4 global markets (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sydney, and Singapore).
Yelp
A platform dedicated to customers who want quick access to restaurants, cafes, hairdressers, spas, gas stations, dentists, movers, accountants, etc. Till date, Yelp has 178 million users per month, driving most visitors from the USA.
GoMechanic
India’s car service marketplace that has a huge network of 500+ car service centers across multiple states of India. Customers have to specify their city, car model, fuel type, and service type in order to get a list of local car service providers. They also offer doorstep delivery and service warrant from verified providers.
4. Rental marketplace
Want to make a quick buck by selling services/products at rent? This is possible through a rental marketplace where people/companies sell products on rent. Top products that people usually demand to rent are cars, office equipment, electronics, textbooks, clothing, etc.
Rental marketplace ideas for entrepreneurs
Car Rental
The car rental market accounted for USD 86 billion in 2020 and is expected to reach USD 131 billion by 2026. Major growth drivers are-
High purchasing power of consumers
Increasing penetration of car owners into renting their cars for earning passive money
To start, you need to onboard car rental agencies, individual car owners and taxi service companies, on your multi vendor marketplace.
Clothing and accessory rental
In 2019, the online clothing rental market was valued at US$ 1.26 billion and can touch US$ 2.08 billion in total revenue by 2025. Currently, this segment is less competitive, hence the chances of getting success fast are higher. Some top players in the online clothing rental space are Rent The Runway, Le Tote, etc.
Furniture rental marketplace
Financial losses caused post-pandemic have pushed many large/small corporations to shift to rented furniture on an annual subscription-based price model. Moreover, consumers/businesses who frequently change their home/office location often require furniture. Hence, such people are the perfect buyer persona for your brand new multi vendor marketplace.
Electronics tools rental
With the rising cost of electronics, many start-ups, small businesses, and even working professionals are shifting to cost-effective rental electronics instead of buying new ones. And what they demand the most are laptops, AC, Smartphones, refrigerators, and more.
Textbook rental marketplace
The idea behind a textbook rental marketplace is to eliminate the financial stress of budget-conscious students that freak out buying or reselling expensive textbooks. By creating a textbook-rental marketplace, you can generate income by renting books/Ebooks/audiobooks/PDFs at an affordable cost and deliver them to student’s doorstep.
Equipment rental marketplace
Approach authorized equipment manufacturers and companies to sell on your platform and connect them with construction companies who need them to fulfill their projects. Buying construction equipment like tractors, cranes, etc are expensive, that’s why businesses find renting profitable. As there is no upfront cost, no storage spaces, no transportation expenses and save at tax time.
Office equipment rental
Nobody wants to buy new equipment for Trade shows, business projects, conventions, corporate events that last for a few hours/days. That’s why businesses rely on rented office equipment. Time to take advantage of this demand by starting an online office equipment rental site with the best multi vendor ecommerce platform.
Successful rental marketplaces
Rentomojo
Rentmojo is a platform selling home maintenance services tied up with vendors and works on a cost-sharing basis with them.
Mahindra construction equipment
A marketplace for construction equipment that connects buyers, suppliers, contractors, and manufacturers from all across the USA. Their marketplace is a blessing for small manufacturers or contractors who couldn’t afford expensive equipment.
Turo
It is a carsharing marketplace that provides rented cars to travelers to explore the entire country. Car owners from the US, UK, Canada, and Germany are registered on their platform to rent their cars. In terms of annual revenue, they are currently at $76.1M per year.
Chegg
A book rental platform that helps school and college students to access learning resources instantly at an affordable cost. Students can rent a book for $50 instead of paying $200 to buy a new one. Talking about numbers, their current market value is $10.979 Billion.
5. Hybrid marketplace
Hybrid multi vendor marketplaces target both B2C and B2B markets to sell products/services from a single platform, instead of creating two separate marketplaces. The idea is to increase profitability. Not to forget, a B2B customer is also a B2C customer (and vice-a-versa), thus there are greater chances of increasing the customer base.
Examples of successful hybrid marketplace
Amazon
Amazon marketplace has one site that caters to both types of buyers. Businesses can order in bulk at wholesale prices by creating a business account. Whereas individual sellers can order in small quantities at market price.
So when customers shop from Amazon, he/she will see different content (pricing, products, etc) based on account types (business or individual).
6. Hyperlocal marketplace
The hyperlocal model works on two primary factors: Geography and Time. The prime purpose of a hyperlocal marketplace is to shorten the delivery time for the consumers for products/services that need immediate fulfillment. Sellers earn by listing their products/services, and store owners or stakeholders earn through commissions.
What website features consumers need from Hyperlocal marketplace?
Auto-detection of the user’s location.
Personalization buying experience
Multiple payment options, both online and offline.
On-demand pickup or delivery option from nearby stores
Reviews and ratings of both sellers and buyers.
Realtime order and delivery tracking
Ability to place orders via different channels like a website, mobile app, or phone call.
Hyperlocal marketplace ideas for entrepreneurs
Flower delivery
Do you know how many searches Google receives for the keyword ‘online flower ordering’? It’s 22,200 per month. With that small but influencing figure, you can easily predict the current and future demand of an online flower business. So now start hunting for florists and propose them to sell on your multi vendor marketplace.
Food delivery
The popularity of food delivery is touching the sky. Consumers are massively adopting the concept of doorstep delivery of fresh readymade foodLikeke Zomato, Grubhub, you can also connect restaurants with their target customers and earn commissions on every order.
Grocery, Dairy, and Bakery
With express delivery, easy availability, inevitable grocery deals, subscription benefits, and other facilities; consumers are fascinated towards online grocery platforms. After COVID 19, online grocery market growth has accelerated at a rate of 12.61% and its worth would be $2,81,841.4 Million.
Medicines/Pharmacy
Increase in communicable and non-communicable diseases has stimulated the growth of pharmaceutical delivery. With a medicine marketplace, you can save millions of people from such diseases by supplying medicines on time and at discounted cost.
Successful hyperlocal marketplace
Zomato
The Leading food delivery app with a presence in 556 Indian cities and towns. In September 2019, there were 270 thousand listings on this platform.
SweepSouth
A home cleaning hyperlocal marketplace that provides fast delivery of professionals to clean outdoors and indoors. They follow a rigorous background checks process to verify and onboard domestic workers. They have mandated an easy 4-step checkout process for placing orders, where customers have to clearly mention their requirements.
Ferns N Petals
Started their business in early 1994 offering online gift segments. Apart from flowers, they also sell hand-made chocolates, customized cakes, decorative plants, and personalized bottles to target a large segment of people.
Medlife
A hardcore hyperlocal marketplace that offers 2-hour express delivery to its customers while adhering to legal standards. From verifying a prescription, passing it through rigorous checks, checking all the probable parameters to delivering medicines to doorsteps, is what they offer.
7. Custom marketplaces
A Custom marketplace refers to when a user designs a site based on its business model, future expansion plans, and brand guidelines. The owner has full control to customize site design, add custom payment gateways and custom shipping partners, set product prices, create marketing offers, customize language and currency, etc according to the customers demographic and demands. With the flexibility to control every single aspect of your marketplace, you can ensure a highly personalized user experience and accelerate the customer purchases overtime.
Launch a Multi vendor marketplace with StoreHippo
After cultivating the marketplace types, it’s time to learn about the features your best multi vendor ecommerce platform needs. Let’s unravel them-
Omnichannel ecommerce
Sell on the various digital platforms by personalizing the customer experience on every channel via API-based headless commerce architecture.
Provide complete freedom and transparency to vendors so they can register easily and start selling in no time
Multi-store ecommerce
Create multiple sub-stores under your main storefronts for different locations or for a product category.
Single master dashboard
Business owner gets a detailed overview of everyday business like sales, revenue, vendor performance, etc, right from the abdomen dashboard.
Multi-currency and multilingual support
Get your website content and currency translated into 100+ different languages and currencies.
Pre-integrated payment gateways
Get access to 60 payment gateways that are 100% safe and offer friction-free transactions.
Easy to integrate shipping solution
Choose the most reliable shipping solution from the list of multiple delivery partners integrated on StoreHippo.
Hyperlocal ecommerce support
Create multiple stores based on customer geolocation to fulfill their needs. Offer the same products at different prices depending on the location.
Final takeaway
If you feel that a particular marketplace type is very good, its current and future demand is solid, and you are convinced that it will give you good returns in the long run, the rule is you should invest in it today.
Hey! Are you thinking that as a beginner with a low budget you cannot open a marketplace? No worries because building a marketplace using StoreHippo does not require you to hire coders or developers, as you can do it alone at a minimum investment.
To get started quickly, sign-up for 14 days free trial of StoreHippo, the best multi vendor ecommerce platform.
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