Part 2 of 3 of an article about Standalone Web Stores vs. Multiple Vendor Marketplaces by our guest author Nicolas Fincher.
Competitive Environment
You shouldn’t rely on getting high profits in a short period of time. Online business is a cruel environment with its own specific rules, where plenty of ferocious and sophisticated merchants will stand on your way to success. As I can see, most of the ecommerce start-ups are stillborn, as website owners can’t survive in strong embrace of the ecommerce competition. In this regard, growing an online business under the roof of a multiple marketplace looks more efficiently. With the help of multiple vendor marketplaces, you can not only save your business from the competition, but also provide yourself with constant sales, as customers prefer to see a wide range of products and shop in a single place, than look for required items, visiting thousand of web stores scattered over the Internet.
On the other hand, if you want to become a well-known vendor or build and promote your own brand, a standalone web store is right what you are looking for, as it puts all required tools at your disposal. As for multiple vendor marketplaces, they mainly pay attention to products than sellers, so having overpassed the competition and joined them, a retailer seriously risks to lose the identity of his shop and melt in the crowd of local vendors.
Customer -Vendor Relationships
One of the main aspects of a successful online venture is a well-organized interaction between a vendor and a customer. I want to mention that a simple web store possesses more functions, including communication services, so customers can phone a vendor or send a letter any moment if they face with a problem or need to specify information, given on the website. Some standalone web stores provide end users even with more narrow and sophisticated support tools, such as online chats, help desk ticket systems, allowing to solve the most difficult inquiries.
Launching an ecommerce project in a multiple marketplace, you totally surrender all the initiative to the main market policy. In this case, a multiple marketplace plays the role of an agent and undertakes all ecommerce transactions, including distribution funds between vendors. This is very convenient and helps avoid plenty of misunderstandings, but don’t expect that your online shop will be known and customers will thank you.
Read in part 3 next week: Reputation Management and Business Growth Limitations
Nicolas Fincher is a community and PR manager of cs-cart.com, an established company, offering one of the best software solutions for ecommerce and online businesses of any size.
