Online marketplace definition
An online marketplace is an ecommerce website that brings buyers and sellers together in one place.
An online marketplace is an ecommerce website that connects buyers and sellers together in one place. You can think of the marketplace like a middleman helping buyers and sellers to easily find each other to buy and sell products and services.
Examples of online marketplaces include Airbnb, Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Upwork, Fiver & so on.
What are the three main types of online marketplaces?
There are three main types of online marketplaces. These are:
- Product marketplaces
- Service marketplaces
- Rental marketplaces
A product marketplace is one where the sellers or vendors sell physical, virtual or downloadable products to customers. Examples of product marketplaces include Amazon, eBay and Etsy.
A service marketplace is a website where private individuals, professionals, or companies can offer their services. Examples of service marketplaces included Fiverr, Thumbtack and Upwork.
A rental marketplace is a platform where individuals or companies can rent different types of goods from one another. The best examples of rental marketplaces are Airbnb, Turo or Zillow.
Ecommerce vs marketplaces
All online marketplaces are ecommerce platforms however, not all ecommerce platforms are marketplaces. This is because ecommerce and marketplaces consist of online stores however, ecommerce platforms support only a single seller, the owner of the store, whereas the marketplace enables multiple sellers to offer products through the same storefront. As such, for the final customer who is buying or renting products or services from the marketplace, there will be no practical difference in the shopping experience for ecommerce vs marketplaces.
However, although it is irrelevant to the final buyer, it is the opposite for the actual business owner and in fact, choosing between the different models implies a huge difference in the business operations.
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