Robert Jackson October 23, 2020 In this pandemic age, people prefer online marketplaces compared to traditional ones. Thanks to the thriving mobile app development domain, online marketplaces have gained a lot of popularity. Amazon, eBay, and Airbnb are some of the examples of online marketplaces that have set new milestones in the eCommerce sector. Looking at their increasing popularity, many businesspersons want to establish online marketplaces through mobile apps and websites.
The marketplace mobile app connects vendors directly to their potential customers. The app also offers a mobile platform to large and small companies while giving them the opportunity to increase revenue and improve online presence. What’s more, the marketplace mobile app gives more exposure to the merchants and gives them an advantage of cross-selling. But then, it is not easy to stand out from the rest amid growing competition.
This article talks about major strategies you should follow while opting for marketplace app development.
Seven Major Aspects to Consider while Making Marketplace App
1.Define Type of Marketplace
Online shopping has gained ground in recent years. Companies tend to sell their products directly to their customers using mobile apps. The marketplace mobile app offers a convenient way to consumers while involving many shoppers and sellers on one platform. The marketplace can be any of three categories-
- Business-to-Business (B2B)- It suits the product exchange between two organizations or companies on profitable terms.
- Business-to-Consumer (B2C)- This is the most popular model to deliver the product from the company to the individual. We can say it an online superstore where we can find anything we want.
- Consumer to Consumer (C2C)- It is designed to enable consumers to exchange products with one another. Here, individuals can reach agreement on profitable terms.
Another two types can be defined for the online marketplace are-
Verticale platforms that provide the same products from different manufacturers like Airbnb or Horizontal platforms that provide different goods and services with similar features like Etsy.
2.Make Roadmap
This is the most important factor to consider. Whether you own a startup or a small to mid-sized marketplace, you need to follow an effective strategy to make your marketplace app successful over the period. Your roadmap starts with defining the target audience. Just identify the focus group who can use your app the most and start promotion. Initially, you can start with a limited audience.
It is also beneficial to find the USPs of your marketplace app. The marketplace app development company can integrate necessary features to make your app more appealing for the end-users. When you start promoting your marketplace app, these features and USPs can help you a lot.
Even if you have a budget, it is always beneficial to invest wisely in your online marketplace app because, you need to keep some amount aside for backup, app marketing, and app update on a regular basis.
3.Opt for SWOT Analysis
SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis is highly useful to identify products that can help you increase sales. In the online marketplace app, it is necessary to find unique products and features because most products and features are almost the same in such apps.
You can consider asking the following questions to make the most of SWOT analysis-
- Which items should I sell?
- Which are the benefits my customers will receive?
- Who is your target audience?
- Which are the USPs of my business?
Simply put, you need to provide value to your customers. You can enhance the value proposition by offering free delivery and discounts.
4.Identify Features
App features can assist you to make your marketplace app successful. Here are some of the must-have features to make your app popular in terms of more downloads.
- Secure payment system- Your customers can put trust in your marketplace with secure payment system. The mobile app development company can integrate payment gateways to ensure secure and swift online payment using convenient options.
- Item catalogs- Comprehensive yet appealing product details and improved visualization can attract more customers. The marketplace app assists sellers to promote their products as per geolocation.
- Personalized search- Customers prefer personalized and customized searches. Some of the app users just browse the catalogs and the other users know what they want. Both types of users can get the advantage of a personalized search feature.
- Social media integration- App users like to share their shopping experience on social media platforms. Also, customers can get instant reviews and suggestions regarding products on their social media accounts through the marketplace app.
- Multiple currency and language- It is necessary for marketplace apps to offer support for multiple currencies. It can increase the customer’s interest in the app. Also, it is better to provide support for multiple languages to appeal customers who like to put orders in their native languages.
5.Address Challenges
These days, the customer’s requirements and expectations keep on changing rapidly. Apart from having user-friendly features and seamless performance, the marketplace app should be capable of addressing ever-changing expectations and some of the major challenges like the insufficient feature set for the target audience, lack of flexibility, and proper functionality.
Online marketplace apps like Amazon, Alibaba, and AliExpress have already set their positions and it is difficult to come up with an app that can compete with these established players. Therefore, you should aim to provide a value proposition to customers.
6.Estimate App Development Cost
The cost of marketplace app depends on three factors- complexity of features, app duration, and hourly rate of developers. The app development process involves three major steps- wireframe, design, and development. It is advisable to consult a reputed mobile app development company to get a quote for developing a marketplace app.
7.Choose Platform
After finding features and determining the target audience, you need to choose the platform for developing a marketplace app. Today, technology has evolved to offer a cross-platform app development platform. It facilitates mobile app developers to build an app that can run seamlessly across both Android and iOS platforms.
Wrapping Up
In a nutshell, the COVID-19 outbreak has drastically changed the course of the global economy. Today, we prefer giving orders online to get things delivered at our doorplace. This trend is here to stay. Therefore, marketplace mobile apps have a bright future. While replacing traditional practices, customized marketplace mobile apps can take your business to a huge audience worldwide. All you need to find the right app development partner who can help you follow these tips and get a robust, reliable marketplace app.
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