Expert advice: start your own online marketplace!

It's no secret that the rise of digitalization has made it increasingly difficult for physical stores to reach new customers, especially in smaller towns. The solution? A digital marketplace, of course! Abicart's own expert Raoul Hess explains how it works.

Pandemic times and requests from companies that wanted to reach out online gave birth to the idea of Your Marketplace. Many companies either want to get started with some form of e-commerce or web shop, or get greater visibility on the web to be able to reach out better. Often, they may not have the opportunity to run the line on their own, or it simply feels very scary to take the step. That's where Your Marketplace comes in, here the business community can join forces and form a common platform that benefits everyone involved.

What is a digital marketplace?

Just as shops can sometimes buy an ad page in the local newspaper to make a joint effort where everyone can showcase their current offers for the weekend's shop window Sunday, the digital marketplace works in much the same way. The difference is that it is online, you can reach many more potential customers and you can sell your products and services directly online. You can think of it as a shared online shop where everyone shares the space. Like a kind of mini-Block!

"All it takes is one product"

So what is needed to get started? Well, first and foremost, of course, it takes commitment - both from traders and sellers in the locality, but also from some kind of coordinating force that can drive it forward. This could be a business person within the municipality, a business network or even a private operator.

For the trader who wants to be part of the marketplace, all that is really required is a product. In fact, it doesn't have to be any more difficult than that. You can choose whether you want to sell your product directly from the digital marketplace, i.e. as an e-retailer, or whether you just want to use the platform as a shop window to attract visitors to your physical store.

How do you start a marketplace? We walk you through the steps!

Let's play with the idea that you have good cooperation between a number of businesses in your locality. You might even have a couple of networking events a year where you get together and share experiences with each other. You agree that a digital marketplace where you can share the space to attract more customers would be a great solution. So, how do you do it?

1. It is very important that you have a good coordinator for the collaboration. You need someone who knows a bit about e-commerce and has the commitment to drive the process. For the sake of simplicity, let's call the coordinator Anna in this case.
2. Anna will be responsible for the platform and will be its owner. In consultation with the merchants, she decides on the forms of cooperation around the marketplace, what payment solutions will be available, how you share costs, what it costs for the stores to participate, etc. Should she get stuck, we at Abicart are of course just a call away!
3. Anna coordinates the merchants and sellers who want to participate in the collaboration and together Anna's proposal for the arrangement, distribution of costs, etc. is approved. Anna then contacts us at Abicart to set up the marketplace.
4. We help Anna get started, so-called "boarding". All functions are put in place, the appearance is customized based on the wishes that exist and all traders get their own login and profile pages. Because the platform is so easy to use, the merchants themselves do not need to have any previous experience of e-commerce.
   1. We play with the idea that one of the merchants runs an electronics store, we call him Hakim. Hakim gets a login to the marketplace where he can post his products. He prices the goods, enters current promotions, fills in stock balances and tidies up his profile page. Bang! All of a sudden, a customer has bought a wireless Bluetooth speaker, half an hour later the customer picks up the speaker in Hakim's store - the payment has already been made online!
   2. Maj-Lis, on the other hand, doesn't sell electronics, she runs a hair salon. Like Hakim and all the others, she has a login to her profile page, where she has posted the services offered in the salon. Just as Hakim has just sold a speaker, Maj-Lis has a booking for the next day, what a coup!
5. Once you're up and running with your marketplace, it's very important to think about promoting it. Contact the local press, get involved in social media and put up signs in the shops that are involved. With the right digital marketing, you can also reach even more customers, such as visitors to the city who are passing through. If you need help with, for example, search engine optimization of the marketplace, we are here for you.

Your Marketplace is constantly improving

Your Marketplace is our latest addition here at Abicart and was launched in the fall of 2020. Today we have about ten marketplaces up and running and we are constantly working to make the platform as easy to use and functional as possible. We listen to our customers to meet their needs. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns!

What are others doing?
The first to launch a marketplace with us was Torsby. At the time of writing, a dozen stores have joined their platform. Customers can easily see the full range, sort by product or store and shop from the stores online. A great example of why Din Marknadsplats really makes a difference was recently when a traveling party wanted a coffee, found the local pastry shop via the marketplace, ordered and paid online and picked up the coffee shortly afterwards. How easy would it have been for the pastry shop to reach out to the potential customer without the marketplace?
Please visit Handla i Torsby and take a look!

Three quick tips to get started with your marketplace

If you are thinking about starting your own digital marketplace, here is a list of the three most important things to consider:

1. Keep it simple, start small. It's better to start small and then scale up than to start too big and not be able to handle the whole thing!
2. Have a driven person/actor, preferably with an understanding of e-commerce, who can drive the project and coordinate.
3. Honk and drive! Dare to take the plunge - and when you have done so, spread the word about your new marketplace. Promote it!