10 Unconventional Ways to Monetize Your B2B Marketplace

You have a successful B2B marketplace and commissions are rolling in steadily.

Your wholesale marketplace is on the right track for sure!

But what’s going to be your next strategic move?

How do you plan to amp up your earnings and profit?

In the fiercely competitive B2B landscape, depending solely on vendor commissions is no longer enough to stay ahead of the curve.

To unlock the full potential of your wholesale marketplace website, you need a strategic mindset to go beyond the ordinary and embrace innovative approaches.

Yes, you need to think bolder and deploy multiple revenue models on your enterprise multi-seller portal.

Wonder how to do it?

Let us give you a guided tour.

How to identify lucrative revenue streams when you build a B2B marketplace

Ancient wisdom says, “Seek and you will find”.

And this adage resonates perfectly with your diversification plans.

All you need is a blend of creativity and a lot of data-driven insights to guide you in uncovering new opportunities that accelerate growth.

Let us begin this journey by diving into some hottest B2B ecommerce trends:

• $20.4 trillion will be the global B2B Ecommerce market value by 2027
• 18.5% is the CAGR of global B2B ecommerce growth from 2023 to 2032
• $44.88 trillion will bethe B2B ecommerce market size by 2032
• 7.2X faster growth of B2B marketplaces as compared to overall B2B ecommerce 
• 250% increase in B2B mcommerce orders from 2020 to 2024
• 94% of B2B buyers source products/services on B2B marketplaces
• 74% of B2B buyers prefer online buying over buying offline 
• 65% of B2B companies are now transacting online across industries
• 90% of distributor websites will offer direct online ordering to buyers by 2025

Source: Forbes, McKinsey & Company, Digital Commerce 360, Gartner, LinkedIn, Precedence Research 

B2B digital commerce is booming and marketplaces are driving this growth. Enterprises planning to make their own niche in the dynamic landscape of B2B eCommerce need to build a B2B marketplace that connects buyers and sellers seamlessly, fosters collaboration, and comes up with innovative ways to grow the revenue channels.

How does a B2B marketplace make money?

The primary revenue source for a B2B multi-seller platform is the commissions earned through sales on the platform. Sellers listed on the marketplace portal pay a certain fixed amount or percentage wise commission on each sale made through the platform.

Additionally, wholesale marketplaces also employ other revenue means for facilitating their sellers to sell better through the marketplace website. These other revenue sources can be transaction fees, advertising, listing fees etc.

With a wide array of products and diverse sellers, a B2B marketplace can strategically implement multiple revenue sources to boost ROI. These revenue sources can include paid hand holding and supporting services for sellers, add on services to enhance marketing and other innovative ways  that boost orders for the sellers.  

10 Ways to add multiple revenue streams on your B2B marketplace

Though having good sellers ensures enterprise B2B wholesale marketplaces start earning decent revenue, it is important to think beyond commissions. By exploring innovative strategies, implementing unique branding initiatives and leveraging cutting-edge technology enterprise B2B brands can stand out in the crowded market.

By differentiating their marketplace website, brands not only enhance the appeal of their business but can also add new revenue sources beyond the traditional commissions.

Let us check out a few innovative ways to go beyond the status quo and make your marketplace a thriving hub with many successful revenue streams.

Commission-based Model

Every B2B marketplace starts with the commission model as the main revenue-generating channel. The sellers on the wholesale marketplace pay a fixed or percentage-wise commission to the parent brand on every sale made through the platform.

The commission-based model ensures regular revenue for the marketplace brand and also incentivizes the sellers to actively work on selling more and boosting their orders. This model engages and aligns sellers’ interests with those of the parent brand.

When the marketplace has more orders and more products it gains traction and becomes popular shopping giving more sales opportunities to each individual seller listed on the wholesale marketplace. Commission remains the core and most stable revenue source for any marketplace website.

You can implement the following commission models on your marketplace for business-to-business buyers:

• Tiered Commission Rates- Sellers pay different commission rates based on sales volume or performance levels, incentivizing higher sales with lower commissions.
• Category-Based Commissions- Commission rates for sellers on your B2B marketplace can vary depending on the product category, with higher rates for premium products or specialized categories.
• Performance-Based Commissions- Sellers achieving a certain sales target threshold can pay lesser commissions or get added benefits which will further encourage growth and performance improvement.
• Exclusive Deals- Offer additional benefits such as limited distribution rights or increased exposure to sellers in lieu of higher commission rates on your wholesale marketplace. 
• Volume Discounts- Sellers pay discounted commission rates for high-volume sales or bulk orders, as a reward for generating big ticket orders on your multi vendor platform.

Subscription Fees

Subscription fees have long been one of the most lucrative revenue channels for marketplace websites. Take a look at some stats from popular marketplace websites:

• 95% of the IndiaMART’s revenue from operations comes from subscriptions
• $40.2 billion revenue was generated through Amazon Prime in 2023

Source: Statista, IndiaMART

The subscription model is a proven way to grow the revenue of your B2B marketplace website. By planning strategic subscription models for your sellers, buyers and other service providers you can easily monetize your marketplace better. 

For example, you can implement the following subscriptions for different participants:

i) Subscriptions for Sellers

Tiered membership for wholesale marketplace sellers with varying levels of features and benefits. For example, a basic tier might include limited product listings, while a premium tier could offer unlimited listings and other benefits like better reporting, best selling products and regions insights. 

ii) Subscriptions for Buyers

To the buyers you can offer access to exclusive deals/discounts, product bundles and value added services. For example, a premium subscription holder client could get early access to new products, bulk purchase discounts, and priority customer support.

iii) Subscriptions for Service Providers

When you build a B2B marketplace you can offer your third party service providers like logistics brands, payment gateways etc. a variety of services with your subscription program. Like for delivery partners, you can offer access to the admin panel for getting automatic alerts for pick up scheduling, options to manage order status during different stages of delivery etc. For payment partners you can offer prime positioning in best selling products checkout etc. 

Transaction Fees 

Transaction fees can serve as a supplementary revenue stream alongside commissions or act as the primary source of income for your B2B marketplace. Given the typically larger ticket sizes of B2B orders, leveraging transaction fees can be an effective strategy for monetizing your multi vendor website.

With a diverse vendor pool you can implement a variety of transaction fees structures to ensure a constant stream of revenue on your B2B multi seller platform.

Here are some ways to add transaction fees for your sellers:

• Flat Fee per Transaction- The sellers are charged a fixed amount for each sale made through your wholesale marketplace.
• Percentage of Sale- A percentage of the total transaction value is deducted as a fee for facilitating the sale through your marketplace portal.
• Tiered Pricing Structure- A tiered transaction fee system where the transaction fee/ per order decreases as your sellers achieve higher sales volumes.
• Category-Specific Fees- Based on different categories of products and services, different transaction fees can be applied with higher fees for premium or high-demand categories.
• Additional Services Charges- Set up escrow services, facilitate faster shipping or similar services and charge an additional fee for all the transactions/sellers who opt for these services on your B2B marketplace.

Listing Fees

Listing fees is a versatile revenue generation opportunity wherein you can give your B2B multi vendor store’s sellers the option to choose from various tiers of product listing options. Such tiered listing options can offer diverse features and benefits catering to diverse needs of your sellers and eventually aiding them in managing their business better. This approach offers dual benefits of incentivising your sellers to invest in higher-tier listings for enhanced visibility and exposure and also enables you to align and tailor your monetization strategy as per market demand and seller preferences.

Here is how you can implement a variety of listing fees when you build a B2B marketplace:

• Flat Fee per Listing- Sellers can pay a fixed amount for each product catalog they publish on the marketplace.
• Tiered Pricing- Implement a tiered listing fee structure based on factors such as the number of catalogs/products, product categories, or seller subscription levels (premium, regular etc.).
• Featured Listings- Here you can charge an additional fee for featured or promoted listings with enhanced product visibility on your B2B marketplace.
• Time-Based Listings- In this type of listing you can charge sellers a fee for listing products on the multi vendor marketplace for a specific duration, for example, during prominent sales or promotion events, weekends, quarterly or monthly basis etc.
• Category-Specific Fees- You can also implement listing fees based on different product categories on your wholesale marketplace, where differential fee structure is implemented for high-demand, low demand or seasonal demand categories.
• Bulk Listing Discounts- For hero sellers with huge catalogs and consistent large orders you can offer discounted bulk listing fees to encourage their participation in the growth of your B2B online marketplace. 
• Free Trial Listings- As a welcome feature you can offer a limited number of free listings to encourage onboarding and then charge regular listing fees with additional catalog listings thereafter.

Advertising 

Advertising opportunities for sellers on your B2B marketplace website can offer a powerful avenue for boosting visibility, driving sales, and generating additional revenue streams. With the help of targeted advertising options, your sellers can strategically position and promote their products to relevant audience groups on your multi vendor B2B platform. Such a set up not only enhances the sellers’ exposure to your brand but also results in a win-win scenario where sellers get additional orders and parent marketplace brands earn steady revenue in terms of ads and commissions. 

Here is how to implement various advertising options with your B2B ecommerce solutions:

• Sponsored Product Listings- Offer paid ads to your sellers to have their products featured prominently in search results or category pages.
• Banner Ads- Offer paid positioning offers to sellers on your home page banner or other prominent high-traffic pages banners. 
• Email Marketing Campaigns- List paid sellers in your marketing emails sent out to targeted buyers of your marketplace.
• Homepage Featured Listings- Offer premium placement on your B2B marketplace homepage for a fee.
• Dedicated Promotional Pages- Create event-based promotional pages and offer prominent ads/listings for a fee.
• In-App Promotions- Allow your sellers to offer unique promotions or additional discounts for app-only buyers to promote your apps in one go. 

Premium Membership

A well-received and lucrative additional revenue source for B2B marketplace websites could be offering premium memberships to sellers as well as buyers. Both sellers and buyers need access to privileged services that can enhance their selling and buying experiences on your marketplace platform. 

The benefits of implementing premium membership for sellers on your B2B multi vendor marketplace go beyond generating recurring revenue and also help foster loyalty and incentivise participation. Similarly, with premium membership for buyers you can ensure more repeat orders and buyer loyalty for your B2B marketplace brand as well as your sellers. 

By offering premium membership on your B2B multi seller site you not only create a sense of value and exclusivity among buyers and sellers but also establish a steady revenue stream for the marketplace. 

Here are some examples of introducing premium membership benefits for your sellers and buyers when you build a B2B marketplace:

• Enhanced Product Visibility- Offer premium sellers better positioning of products and their brand in all search results and top-traffic grossing pages.
• Lower Transaction Fees- Offer discounted transaction rates or commissions to premium sellers on your marketplace website.
• Dedicated Support- Give your premium buyers and sellers dedicated support to expedite assistance and resolve any issues or grievances. 
• Marketing and Promotion- Give your premium sellers assured positioning during your marketing campaigns and promotional opportunities on your B2B marketplace. Similarly, give your buyers early access, cashback/ additional discounts, free shipping etc on new product launches or during promotions. 
• Customized purchasing options- Premium membership holder buyers can avail personalized purchasing options such as bulk order discounts or tailored product recommendations on your wholesale marketplace.
• Analytics and Insights- Sellers with premium membership can be given access to advanced analytics tools and insights to help them design data-driven sales strategies.

Lead Generation

Offering your sellers lead generation services through your marketplace can be a good source of revenue as well as increased sales. You can implement lead generation tools across your B2B marketplace and give your sellers access to leads in lieu of lead generation fees.

With the verified leads offered by your marketplace brand your B2B sellers can identify, engage, and convert potential buyers into customers. This setup will not only grow the sellers’ client base but will also increase sales opportunities and ultimately drive revenue growth for your wholesale marketplace. 

Additionally, access to lead generation services allows sellers to focus on their core business activities which eventually streamlines operations and solidifies your brand presence. 

Here is how you can implement lead generation services for  your sellers when you build a B2B marketplace:

• Add Lead Capture Forms- Add custom forms across your marketplace portal and then offer verified leads to your sellers based on your add-on lead generation service fees.
• Promote sellers on your Social Channels- Promote your sellers who opt for the lead generation services on your social channels and thus position them well in front of your client base.
• Mention in Blogs and Other Material- Your wholesale marketplace might be publishing a variety of content in the form of blogs, eBooks, videos and other content marketing articles. Offer mentions in such content to your sellers in lieu of opting for the lead generation paid services. 
• Referral Programs- Introduce referral programs on your marketplace and forward the referred leads exclusively to related sellers who have opted for lead generation services.

Data Insights and Analytics

Thanks to a huge data pool from your multi-channel traffic on your B2B marketplace you have access to a variety of data-driven insights that can drive sales for your sellers. You can monetize these insights by offering customized analytics insights to your sellers.

Leveraging data insights and analytics can provide valuable insights to your customers into customer behavior, market trends, and performance metrics. Based on these insights they can tweak and tailor their offerings to boost their sales on your B2B multi vendor marketplace.

When you build your B2B marketplace you can implement data and analytics to add revenue sources in the following ways: 

• Sales Performance Metrics- Give in-depth insights to your sellers about sales performance, hot selling products, ads performance etc. to help them make informed decisions for better sales. 
• Customer Segmentation- Give segmented customer lists to your sellers and provide add-on targeting services to avail targeted personalized marketing campaigns on different channels like wholesale marketplace website, B2B apps, social media etc.
• Predictive Analytics- Integrate best-in-breed predictive analytics tools that forecast sales trends based on past customer behavior insights. Monetise these insights by offering them to your sellers in lieu of special one-time or periodic fees. 
• Competitive Analysis- Share competitive analysis with sellers on your B2B marketplace to help them better understand competitor performance, pricing strategies and market positioning to tweak and improve their sales and pricing strategies.
• Marketing Effectiveness- Analyze the effectiveness of your sellers' paid ads on your marketplace and other social sites etc. (when done in collaboration with the parent B2B marketplace brand) to help them optimize their marketing spend and maximize ROI. 

Value-Added Services

Offering value-added services not only helps in building a unique brand presence but also helps in solidifying your relationships with your vendors and customers. Value-added services foster an environment of trust and loyalty in your B2B marketplace and earn customer loyalty which eventually results in better sales and revenue.

By going beyond just offering a platform for showcasing and selling their products and offering additional services your sellers get access to tools, features and services which were otherwise inaccessible to them as independent sellers. This gels your sellers with your wholesale marketplace and thus drives better revenue in the long run. 

Here is how you can implement value-added services for better sales and also generate additional revenue:

• Co-Branding Opportunities- Offering co-branding opportunities with your B2B marketplace brand, providing packaging material with customized branding etc. can be used to generate better visibility for your sellers on a paid basis.
• Multiple Shipping Providers- Streamlined shipping via multiple shipping partners integrated with your marketplace website can help sellers expedite and optimize their shipping which in turn can meet urgent customer demands and improve satisfaction. Your wholesale marketplace can offer such shipping services at an additional cost to your sellers to generate revenue.
• Dedicated Account Management for Sellers- The facility to assign dedicated account managers who provide personalized support, guidance, and assistance to B2B sellers throughout their journey on the marketplace can be offered as an add-on service for revenue generation when you build your B2B marketplace.
• Technical Support and Training- Offering premium technical support services and training programs to help sellers optimize their product listings, manage inventory effectively, and maximize sales performance can be another revenue-generating option on your marketplace website.
• Marketing and Promotion- Providing sellers with marketing and promotion services such as targeted advertising campaigns, social media promotion, or email marketing to increase visibility and drive sales can be offered as an additional service for added revenue on your B2B marketplace platform.

Launch Brand’s Own Products

With a huge vendor and products pool your B2B marketplace is a data goldmine that can offer valuable insights into buyer demand and demand gaps. You can leverage these insights to launch your marketplace brand's own product ranges.

Launching your own product categories on your wholesale platform allows your brand to diversify offerings, strengthen brand identity and generate additional revenue for your B2B multi vendor marketplace. By introducing your exclusive products on your marketplace platform, you can leverage your existing customer base and reputation to drive sales and capture a larger share of the competitive B2B market. 

Here are a few ways to launch your marketplace brand's own product ranges and generate additional revenue:

• Private Label Products- You can introduce private label products manufactured under your B2B marketplace brand name and position them on your marketplace website thus creating an additional income source for your marketplace brand.
• Featured Product Showcases- Along with the bestselling products of your sellers, highlight your marketplace brand's own products through featured product showcases, discounted pricing, banners, or dedicated sections. This increases product visibility and generates revenue by garnering orders. 
• Cross-Selling Opportunities- Create cross-selling opportunities by showcasing the marketplace brand's products alongside complementary products from other sellers.
• Bundled Product Offerings- Create bundled product offerings by combining your marketplace brand's own products with complementary items from other sellers. This will offer convenience to customers while increasing the average order value for your brand as well as your sellers.
• Limited Edition or Seasonal Collections- Introduce limited edition or seasonal collections of your marketplace brand's products. This will create a sense of exclusivity and urgency, driving customer interest and sales.

With these innovative revenue generation methods at your disposal, you can also amp up your marketplace game and add new lucrative revenue streams to your B2B marketplace website.

However, to implement these strategies you need a powerful, scalable and feature-rich B2B ecommerce solution like StoreHippo that makes innovation and experimentation seamless, fast and agile.

How does StoreHippo help build a B2B Marketplace with Multiple Revenue Streams

Well, with such a detailed list of adding new revenue streams, earning more from your marketplace now seems easy, right? 

However, without access to next-generation B2B marketplace software, your plans may stagnate, causing you to miss out on valuable opportunities. 

But you need not worry for you have StoreHippo to power your plans and streamline the implementation of various revenue generation techniques on your wholesale marketplace. 

Here is how StoreHippo B2B ecommerce solutions help you accelerate your growth and create a niche for your marketplace brand:

1. Comprehensive B2B multi-vendor marketplace solutions to build your marketplace website, run it easily and grow your business.
2. Next-gen technology to make quick customizations and changes to implement new revenue streams.
3. Smooth learning curve to help your vendors run, streamline and grow their business. 
4. Comprehensive vendor ledger to help B2B marketplace admins charge fixed or percentage-wise commissions.
5. Easy customizations and custom forms to gather customer feedback and leads for revenue generation.
6. Powerful discount engine and gamut of marketing tools (cross selling, product bundling, abandoned cart follow up, unified notifications) to build a diverse marketing strategy.
7. Seamless integrations to build unique B2B marketplace value-added solutions for gaining insights, analysis and strategically implementing revenue-generating ideas.
8. 60+ payment gateways and a broad spectrum payment solutions for facilitating B2B sales. 30+ integrated shipping solutions to assist your vendors with streamlined shipping and generate additional revenue.
9. Built-in reports and analytics and seamless integrations with best analytics and reporting tools
10. Support for diverse business models (B2C, D2C, B2B2C, Hyperlocal commerce, International ecommerce etc) to enable the launch of new product lines on multiple sub-stores managed by central admin.

Built on MACH architecture, StoreHippo fully hosted and managed B2B ecommerce solutions provide your wholesale business with all the tools and features required to make your brand successful. Built on mobile-first principle StoreHippo enables you to build a B2B marketplace, B2B apps and PWA marketplace store. You can also use the same backend logic and APIs of the decoupled headless platform to create new touchpoints for your B2B buyers.

With a host of B2B features like bulk processing, MOQ, RFQ, differential pricing, tiered pricing, store credit and more you can streamline the overall functioning of your marketplace website. 

Conclusion 

To build a B2B marketplace is the beginning of a transformative journey toward unlocking new growth opportunities. To make your wholesale B2B multi-seller portal stand out, earn more revenue, and solidify its market position, you must focus on innovation, customer satisfaction, and strategic partnerships.

StoreHippo B2B ecommerce solutions built on headless architecture give your marketplace brand the agility, creative control and scalability needed to adapt to evolving market demands and surpass customer expectations.

With StoreHippo, you not only build a marketplace website, but also align your business for making the most of the current ecommerce environment by building innovative solutions for growth hacking. StoreHippo makes it easy for you to implement a variety of new revenue streams on your marketplace and maximize your ROI.

Ready to make your B2B marketplace a brand like no other? Get started on a journey of exploration and innovation with StoreHippo. Book your B2B ecommerce solutions free demo right away.