Ever wonder how sites like eBay or Etsy became so popular? As with the majority of websites, the flood of traffic they currently receive daily didn’t grow overnight. With the right amount of preparation and strategy, you too can create your very own online marketplace. Don’t believe it? Read on!
In order for buyers to purchase, you need a lot of options and products, meaning sellers. In order to attract a large crowd of sellers, they want to know you have a decent amount of potential buyers. Starting out, you are looking at zero on both sides. But don’t feel bad, this is where everyone starts! Even though it is a difficult business model, it just needs a bit of insight and real effort to turn it into an effective online business.
For starters, you will need to get your supply side in order first. This usually entails a very targeted effort. Besides research and sending passive emails and attempts, do yourself right by going further than expected. Make it personal, direct and most of all, really. It is very easy to pass up an email or message. Over the phone or in person communication requires that you are heard. Best of all, if you are good on your feet, you can have solutions to any and all concerns, answer any questions, and offer insight to make your point. Some sellers may be very interested to work with you. In fact, a lot will jump at the chance to make additional money. However, you have to be prepared to speak and deal with sellers that are possibly already successful. You may find that some products and sellers with give you a lot of attention and traffic from buyers. It is important to successfully handle these and land them.
With a variety of appealing products and solid sellers, your buyers will follow. This flywheel effect will benefit your business and help it grow. Software like iScripts MultiCart is already built specifically for online marketplace development. If you have a domain and hosting account, you can easily install this script on your server and build an online marketplace within just a couple of days. The script can be customized for your specific business and already includes everything you need like payment gateways, coupon code, and gift card functionality, product pages, seller and buyer panels and a lot more. After that, focus on gaining your sellers and products to get your business started off right.