In this era of digitalization, having an online marketing strategy that is effective is more vital than ever before. In this case, having an eCommerce website is considered an asset especially if you are running a small business.
A well-established online marketplace offers instant access to a large number of audiences. However, you still need a strategy that can generate more sales and drive sellers and buyers to your Marketplace.
This guide will let you know more about the online marketplace and how it can be beneficial for your business along with strategies for digital marketing and top online marketplaces.
What are Digital Marketplaces?
Digital marketplaces are platforms that offer a secure environment for buyers as well as sellers both by offering the products and services. Through digital marketplaces, buyers can quickly look for people who offer the products they are looking for within their budget.
The online marketplace popularity like Amazon.com, Etsy, eBay, etc. increases every year. Today users want a seamless shopping experience and for that, it’s vital for sellers to embrace new strategies.
It’s not at all easy to drive enough traffic to a website particularly if someone is just starting their eCommerce business. However, with an online marketplace, one can avail of all the benefits and can drive enough traffic to their website.
However, that doesn’t imply simply sitting back and waiting for your clients. There are numerous strategies that one can implement for boosting their online marketplace sales, attracting potential clients, and so on.
Digital marketplaces are known for making online shopping easy for users.
Products on marketplaces incorporate:
- Physical goods such as beauty products, electronics, apparel
- Digital products such as ebooks, printables, and online courses
- Services such as accounting, consulting coaching, etc.
Some of the names of popular eCommerce marketplace incorporates:
- eBay which has more than an 891million visitors in just 6 months
- Etsy which has more than 380 million visitors in just 6 months
- Walmart which has more than 474 million visitors in just 6 months
- Amazon which has more than 2.7 billion visitors in just 6 months
It’s easy for anyone to sell physical as well as digital products on the above-given platforms. However, there are marketplaces that are dedicated specifically to selling digital products. For instance, Udemy; an online course marketplace that has more than 150000 online classes from a number of instructors.
Let’s dive into the amazing benefits that are associated with digital/online marketplaces:
- Increase in sales: Numerous brands look for online marketplaces for promoting their products with the hope of selling them. But, with an online marketplace, one will see an increase in their overall sales as well as profits.
- New customer influx: Fashion and shoe brands get more benefit from customer influx. How? Since it’s quite easy for users to choose and purchase the product online without going anywhere if size information is there.
- Low setup costs: The cost for setting up an online store is nothing, simply menial costs for the website and for advertisements if required. There is no need for physical displays of the product since photoshoots can improve the display of products and highlight the products in an interesting way thus making them appealing to everyone.
Digital Marketing Strategies for Online Marketplace
Here we have jotted down important strategies that one must follow to win with digital marketplaces. Let’s get started with it!
SEO
By using the online platform one can have access to a large number of audiences however still have to work on the effective strategies of SEO for driving traffic.
So, the ideal means to do that is by making utilization of relevant tags as well as keywords. Make use of sites such as keyword Tool for searching the relevant keyword, incorporate product descriptions that are SEO friendly, and optimize your page for making the listings appear on the top of the search results.
In addition to this, ensure to include SEO strategy in social media posts, blogs, etc. for attracting potential users to your page.
Know Your Buyer
Do you know the important marketing strategy that one must take into consideration while designing an online marketplace? Knowing your customers! No doubt, market research is imperative in case you wish your content to be appropriate and for attracting customers to your webpage.
Ask yourself a few questions about your target audience, things that motivate your customers, how to address their needs, and so on.
Landing Page Optimization
The landing page of your online marketplace needs to be informative, easy to navigate, and friendly. Do you know why? Since it provides each and everything your users want to know before starting with the process of making the purchasing decision.
Of course, you want your customers to have a better experience which can easily be done by optimizing the eCommerce business page.
Try to include informative descriptions for your products, trusted reviews, and interactive and catchy content wherever possible. Lastly, ensure your business landing page must reflect your identity.
Payment Processes
The online marketplace will offer different options for payment processes like debit /credit cards, PayPal, etc. What you need to ensure is that the payment processes you provide must adhere to compliance guidelines. Otherwise, it might leave a bad impact on your customer’s overall experience.
Order Fulfilment and Shipping
With an online marketplace, one can offer their customers a number of shipping methods. In case, if you want to offer enhanced methods of shipping then ensure you must be able to meet customer expectations.
Failing to do so can leave a bad impression on your business. As per many studies, issues related to shipping have a major effect on whether a customer will finish their order saved in the cart or not.
Convey Company Values
The strategy of your online marketplace must include company values too and social media is an ideal platform for doing the same. Design posts/content that help in promoting who you are. Incorporate content that is informative and engaging.
Also, share insights regarding your brand and ensure the audience you are targeting must be able to recognize what value you are offering them through the products/services.
Competitive Differentiation
Once you have completely settled your online marketplace, you have to think about how you can remain ahead of your competitors. Why do buyers choose you and why not others selling similar products? What makes your eCommerce business distinctive from your competitors? What different you can offer that your competitors can’t?
New Technologies that Facilitate Sales
You need to make use of technologies for building a positive digital marketplace page. You can add automated processes and chatbots to your website. Even, you can use data analysis to understand the people behavior; who visit your website. Why? Since it will only help you in designing an engaging customer experience.
Referrals and Testimonials
Referral marketing is still an effective strategy that can boost sales. It’s the tendency of people to trust product referrals as well as feedback from other buyers rather than a catchy marketing gimmick.
So, how can you encourage referral? How can you attract a large number of people to your digital marketplace? By offering existing customers great deals and discounts if they refer your product page to their friends.
What are the Top Online Marketplaces?
What strikes your mind when you think about online marketplaces? Amazon? eBay? Facebook Marketplace? Myntra? Right?
Let’s have a look at a few of them one by one in detail:
Amazon
Amazon has more than 300 million active buyers. 100 million are members of prime. It’s suitable for medium and large-size sellers who want exposure to a large number of customers.
Do you know the reason behind Amazon’s success? The reason is people have established trust in Amazon as well as in the products that are listed on this platform. Amazon also offers the best deals that persuade people to purchase the products from Amazon.
Amazon provides its, sellers, with ample options. One can either sell products directly on the website or manage all shipping responsibilities on its own.
What makes Amazon stand out?
- Largest selection of products
- User-friendly design
- Comprehensive review system
- Different customer loyalty programs
- Convenient filters
Etsy
Etsy started as a marketplace, especially for handmade items as well as artisan goods. A few years back, it expanded to manufactured goods. You will see there are a large number of middle and large-sized businesses popping up on this platform every day. In 2019, Etsy had more than 2.5 million sellers and more than 39.4 million buyers globally.
What makes Etsy stand out?
- Curated recommendations
- Strong Etsy community
- Personalized email notifications
eBay
eBay platform has more than 182 million users all over the world and no doubt offers an amazing opportunity to brands for selling their goods.
This online marketplace was started as a place where people can buy and sell used goods and now is the largest marketplace in the world.
Certain categories are quite much popular on eBay rather than on Amazon such as consumer electronics, health and beauty, sporting goods, and so on.
What makes eBay stand out?
- Wide variety of goods
- Different payment options
- Comprehensive tutorials
- Various shipping options
Facebook Marketplace
The Facebook marketplace also is a suitable place to see, buy as well as sell items. It has more than 800 million customers. Do you know the main benefit of selling on this platform? It has a large audience and can offer access to a number of users.
On this platform, one can sell home decoration items, unused baby products, second-hand furniture, etc.
What makes Facebook Marketplace stand out?
- Reach massive audience
- Simple-to-use platform
Myntra
A fashion marketplace where a large number of sellers get full sales support. It’s quite easy to sell products from a huge user base. In addition to this, sellers on this platform get the chance to understand users’ behavior through multichannel promotion campaigns.
What makes Myntra Stand out?
- Multiple payment options
- Offers best deals
- More brand choices
Meesho
An online social platform that has its headquarters in Bangalore. It’s quite easy to sell on this platform but one needs to go through the steps for selling on Meesho. It’s the free marketplace that one can choose for starting the business with zero investment. Even, this platform enables one to reach millions of users through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, etc.
Also, the payment gateways that this marketplace use is secure and quick. Now, what are the items that one can sell on this platform? They are clothing related to men, women, and kids, home appliances, cosmetics, jewelry, furnishing products, and many more.
What makes Meesho stand out?
- User-friendly interface
- Simple to track orders
- Detailed item descriptions
- Star rating feature
There are ample online marketplaces that one can choose from. In order to get succeed in finding the best one, be clear with your goals and requirements. Why? Since each platform has different features so one must choose as per their budget and requirements.
Wrap Up
Hope you have enjoyed reading this post and it will surely be going to help you. As we can see, people prefer doing shopping online rather than visiting physical stores. No doubt, in the future people will continue to buy products online only. Online marketplaces can grow eCommerce business; just one needs to look for the right one.
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