There is no stopping the rise of e-commerce marketplaces. In the past 10 years, online shopping destinations have multiplied and the general public seems to be embracing the change. With that being said, any Marketplace like Mercari or similar platforms has garnered quite the appreciation.
Marketplaces give you an opportunity to connect with a relatable audience and showcase your products and services in an aesthetic way. These marketplaces can be a congregation of buyers and sellers and you can opt to choose the crowd as per your guidelines.
The virtual marketplaces were there existent a decade back but the sudden pandemic crisis has elevated the need for marketplace like Mercari and so more and more businesses are approaching developers for a possible concept curation. What is more interesting is that these marketplace developers are flooded with new ideas to make your business excel.
If you look at the data, many trade and commerce sectors and services have seen the shift to online platforms or simply have welcomed and internalized digitalization for the betterment. With the rise of online e-commerce platforms, there has been a synonymous rise in web development, digital marketing, and other such sectors.
After the Coronavirus pandemic, the importance of online services has also been reinforced and the e-Commerce market is expected to grow in the coming years. This is why building a Marketplace like Mercari does not seem absurd. On the contrary, there are good enough reasons for doing so. Here are a few reasons to build such a marketplace and how it can be quite beneficial.
Innovative Ideas
A Marketplace like Mercari has to always be one step ahead of its competitors with the help of innovative ideas. It is important to keep in mind that, the internet is a space that is constantly evolving. Add features, offers, events, games, and other marketing ideas to increase customer interaction and activity on the platform.
Global Reach
Any online platform almost automatically offers a global reach. However, it needs to be earned. Like basic marketing strategies used for business, digital marketing has opened up a brand new avenue for reaching out to the target audiences worldwide. There is no denying the fact that digital marketing in the correct proportion can really impact the reach of the online marketplace.
Payment Gateway
Since an online Marketplace like Mercari specializes in buying and selling products it must feature a safe and secure payment gateway. The seller and the buyer would both be interested in the safety of financial transactions. Ensuring buyers security to pay as well as security at the end of the seller while receiving his due credit.
There are other reasons to build a marketplace like this. A multi-vendor marketplace has much demand online and audiences genuinely like the online platforms. In today’s busy lives, online marketplaces have provided an opportunity for buyers to find what they are looking for without having to go outside for it. This saves time for the buyer and gives them the chance to skim through different options before investing.
How Does A Marketplace Like Mercari Functions?
To know how a Marketplace like Mercari works you need to understand what Mercari actually is and how its functions.
Mercari is an online marketplace that was created in Japan by a Japanese entrepreneur Shiantro Yamada in the year 2013. It is one of a huge marketplace where a seller can sell almost anything thus making it one of the most versatile eCommerce platforms. Due to this versatile feature, it has garnered quite a popularity in recent times, and the profit margin is also high.
Mercari has launched its app in both android and Ios and has secured the third position as the most downloaded app on the App store. Now let see how does it work. If you are a seller then you can sell almost anything on a Marketplace like Mercari by maintaining the following steps:
- Register yourself by providing all your necessary details
- Take good high-resolution pictures of your products and upload it.
- Give a small yet brief description of your product with the necessary details.
- Enter your brand and zip code.
- Set your price.
- Once a purchase occurs through a platform like this seller will be provided with a shipping label.
- After shipment, the seller will get the payment once the transaction is done by the buyer.
A Marketplace like Mercari is also very useful for sellers are function in a very simple way. Like any online platform, a buyer has to register himself and browse through the wide variety of products and choose the essential. Then by putting correct billing and shipping details a seller can place an order. Payment can be made either online or by COD as per the wish.
The functionality of a Marketplace like Mercari is very simple and friendly for both the seller & buyer so let’s take a look at what features to be considered while making a platform like Mercari.
Essential Features To Look For While Building A Marketplace Like Mercari
Like any marketplace, the following features should be taken into account while building a Marketplace like Mercari.
Registration
Whenever a user(seller or buyer) wants to use the service first he needs to register his business or himself as an individual. A platform like Mercari provides a variety of registration windows like
- Register with Email
- Register with Google account
- Register with Facebook
- Phone number based registration requires an OTP to enter
Profile design
You can provide a variety of store design formats for sellers. As the marketplace is a multi-vendor platform this facility can allow various vendors to provide necessary information according to the nature of the business and to design the store as per the necessity. Various additional information as per the nature of the business can be also added with this feature.
Innovative listing format
To build a Marketplace like Mercari you have to provide multiple categories of listing formats so that a seller can list any of his products under a particular category without being confused. Similarly, a buyer can easily choose his required product from the category.
Widgets & Listing reviews
It helps a user to understand all about the website offering in pictorial formats whenever he lands on the homepage.
Similarly, any marketplace like Mercari must have reviews features that should include ratings, comments, feedback, pictures, and description of any particular product. It lets a user connect more deeply with a brand and helps him to express his opinion. Whereas other users find that particular product or service more reliable to purchase.
Similarly features like replying or deleting a comment, blocking a user, etc must be provided to the seller to customize his account as per necessity.
Home Page Design & Content
The home page or the landing page of a marketplace must feature the content that follows the trend. Considering that the first impression is the last impression, the landing page must be attractive enough to keep the footfall consistency. It must also list products that are having a high re-sale count. You must also add a search bar and a few filters to the home page for adding more accuracy to the searches.
Customer Support & Build-In Chats
Customer care is an integral part of communication between the buyer and the seller. The buyer may have different questions and queries about the product, the seller, or even during the payment process. The customer care executive has the primary responsibility of assisting the customer as much as possible following guidelines. You can also implement build-in chats for better interpersonal communication between customer and seller.
A Marketplace like Mercari can include several features that its peers are currently using. However, it is upon the owner how he chooses to use these features to bring in more sellers and buyers to the platform.
WebRock Media can offer you a feature-enriched platform to develop your business and reach new goals. The developers in our team are saturated with new ideas that can offer you an edge over the other similar business in the domain. So you can reach out to us for a quick quotation!
Conclusion
If you are planning to build an online marketplace, you have landed on the right article. A Marketplace like Mercari covers a vast variety of products, important in our daily lives. To build and manage such a marketplace, you will need to first understand how marketplaces are able to perform in such a manner. Hope this article was helpful.