Talking about online marketplace platforms they are on the rise and they are helping businesses generate revenues at a faster rate. If you are planning to be part of the profitable business journey then you can start giving it a shape with marketplace website development. But, if you are not aware of marketplace development, its costs, and the process of development in 2021, then read on as this blog would guide you on how to build an online marketplace that includes basic and advanced features, the latest technology stack, and development costs. Before you get into the details of these aspects let us understand basic things about online marketplaces
Different Types of Online Marketplaces
If you are thinking about what exactly a marketplace website is then we help you understand this concept. Well, it is an e-commerce platform that is an intermediate between sellers and buyers. It helps shopping online for users who wish to purchase services or products from distinct suppliers. The marketplaces differ based on the business models and participants
Classification of Marketplace by business model
Before you move to the marketplace website developmentprocess, you need to determine how your platform will work in the future. You can decide that based on the business model you choose and integrate relevant monetization strategies accordingly. Here is the classification based on business models
- Vertical marketplace
- Horizontal marketplace
- Global marketplace
Well, how these marketplaces are different from each other. Let us find out
Vertical Marketplace
Vertical marketplaces are created to concentrate on one specific niche or area. These online marketplaces provide similar goods from multiple vendors. For example Airbnb
Horizontal Marketplace
These marketplaces offer a collection of services and products that belongs to multiple categories. Also, these platforms can be defined as a one-stop-shop destination. For example, Amazon
Global marketplace
These marketplaces serve multiple locations. They offer services and products from different locations and target customers worldwide.
For example, Etsy
Classification of Marketplace by participants
The marketplace websites can also be categorized by the participants engaged. It includes B2B, B2C, & P2P marketplaces. Here, you would be able to determine the marketplace website coststhrough this type of classification.
1. Business-to-Business(B2B)
Well, B2B means a business-to-business model of online marketplace websites. The marketplace helps sell services and goods and connects several buyers and sellers under one roof. For example, Alibaba
2. Business-to-Customer(B2C)
B2C stands for a business-to-customer online model. It enables selling services/products among customers and businesses directly. For example, Bonanza,
3. Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
It is peer-to-peer (P2P these marketplace websites act as mediators between product owners and those who wish to buy it.
This platform helps users share services and products efficiently. For example, Uber
After knowing about marketplace websites and their types, let us move on to the next part on how to build an online marketplace website.
Now, we have discussed what is a marketplace website is and revealed its main types. So let’s turn to the question of how to create an online marketplace platform as it will influence the overall cost of development.
How To Build A Marketplace Website?
To build an online marketplace platform, you can select from 2 different options and they are
- Readymade software
- Custom software
So, let us learn about each solution to help you choose the appropriate platform.
Ready-made platform
Want to launch your marketplace platform faster? Then you can go with ready-made software as it can be launched faster compared to custom software. Well, it has its set of cons too like
- Certain customizations are not possible due to software limitations
- A similar template can be used by your competitors
If you wish to build an online marketplace website, try to go with ready open-source software. It will offer you better control over the platform and more scope for customization.
Custom software
If you wish to give a personalized touch to your business idea, then go with custom web design and development services. It will help you focus on the features and functionalities to be integrated into your platform.
The custom solution needs more resources that would increase the costs for creating a marketplace. This option is perfect if you want to include some advanced integrations and features to enhance your website.
Marketplace Website Development – Tech Stack Required
Before you start with online marketplace web development make sure you identify the programming tools used to build a platform. It is very important for start-ups. This is because the tech stack used would define the maintainability and performance of the app.
The tech stack also influences the marketplace development costs. It is suggested that you select a framework that helps you develop an app faster and launch it faster.
So, let us move on to the primary technologies you need to embed the features for your marketplace platform.
Back-end
Use modern and up-to-date tools for your back-end development. It helps you build a sustainable, maintainable, and effective product.
For Server-side Consider The Following Tech Stacks
- Ruby
- i18n gem
- ElasticSearch
- Redis
- Ruby on Rails
- Sidekiq
- MySQL
Front-end
The technologies recommended for front end development are
- HTML5
- React
- CSS3
- Vue.js.
- JavaScript
Tools & integrations
Tools and Integrations recommended are
- AWS S3
- GitHub
- Slack
- GitLab
- Digital Ocean
Must-Have Features For Marketplace Website Development
1) Admin Panel
- User management solutions
- Analytics & Reports
- Stock visibility & management
- Real-time updates via a single dashboard
- Options for charging a commission
- Itemizing by Category
- Invoicing Solutions
- Tax management
- Customer management
2) Seller panel
- Display of vendor-specific store URLs
- Social Connect & Sign-up Login
- Stock management
- In-app chat system
- Transaction management
- Order management solutions
- Offers, promotions & discounts
- Reports and analytics
3) Buyer Panel
- Management of personal profile
- Registration or Authorization
- Shopping cart
- Client support for interacting with sellers
- Search engine for a seamless search
- Listings
- Reviews & testimonials
- Wishlist
- Integrated payment functionality
- Customer order tracking
Additional Marketplace Features
These features are added features that can add to the cost of your marketplace development but surely it will help generate revenues as well
- Wishlist
- Ratings & Reviews
- Messaging
- Community support
- Notifications
Costs To Build A Marketplace App
Well, the marketplace website costs depend on a lot of factors like whether you want to choose readymade software solutions or custom solutions, features integrated into your marketplace (advanced/basic), location of the developers, tech stack used, and a lot of other factors.
So, the price of your project depends on unique requirements for your marketplace site.
Conclusion
We hope the above guide has been helpful to understand the cost to build your marketplace website. Also, you must have got a fair idea of the factors that decide the cost of online marketplace web development.
The best way to build a scalable marketplace website is to hire an expert in this field. If you are searching for a reliable marketplace website development company, Webfox can assist you to get an efficient online marketplace web design and development solution to connect buyers and sellers under one roof.