Last Updated on January 21, 2022

An ecommerce marketplace is a web application or mobile which facilitates online shopping from many different vendors or brands. On an ecommerce marketplace, you can find products of different brands coming from different shops, vendors, or persons showcased on the same platform. An ecommerce marketplace administration is held responsible for attracting customers and manages the underlying activities from order confirmation to payment, and delivery. A marketplace streamlines the selling process through one simple platform, where the vendors or manufacturers sell their products directly to the end-users or consumers, hence eliminating the middle-men profits which were responsible for high prices.As they have offered a real convenience to consumers, over the last decade the number of ecommerce marketplaces has been exploded. Companies like Amazon, eBay, and Flipkart (India) have experienced massive success in the eCommerce marketplace business model. Consumers don’t like using apps from single retailers. They are much more likely to download an app that offers product ranges broader than one store can offer. That’s one of the major appeals of a marketplace.

“Business to Business” marketplace or B2B marketplace is a platform that connects wholesale suppliers, manufacturers, or large distributors with bulk buyers, MSMEs or small-scale industries of different domains. The B2B marketplace aims to automate the selling and buying process in the B2B field, improving customer experience and makes the whole process easy and transparent.B2B companies have an entirely different target audience: They offer the raw materials, finished parts, services or consultation that other businesses need to operate, grow and profit. An example of the traditional B2B industry is automobile manufacturing. In every truck and car of the automobile company, there are dozens of products of other companies, such as tires, hoses, batteries, electronics that are essential for the final consumer product. The manufacturer purchases these products from its various suppliers and incorporates them into the final product. These purchasing comes under the B2B industry transactions.

“Business to Customers” or the B2C marketplace differs by involving business. On B2C marketplace entrepreneurs and customers interact with each other. In this marketplace model, the seller its products & services directly to its consumers. Unlike B2B, in which the products are of the same niche, in B2C, there is a wide variety of products from a single seller. B2C marketplace has immense benefits especially for small businesses that can even get a global reach by this model. B2C is more like shopping on the mall, or eating out at restaurants, where the buyer gets all the details of the products, get delivered to your address, and can also avail refund or replacement if the product is not up to your expectation.

Also Read: Key Differences Between B2B & B2C eCommerce Marketplace

Top marketplaces businesses across the globe:

1. B2B Textile Marketplace:

In 2019, the global textile marketplace was valued at USD 961.5 billion and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 4.3% from 2020 to 2027 owing to the increased demand for apparels, especially in developing countries such as China, India, Mexico, and Bangladesh. Textile is a flexible material that is formed by numerous processes such as weaving, knitting, crocheting, or felting. These textiles are used in the manufacturing of a wide range of finished products like clothing accessories, apparel, handbags, bedding, construction, medical, kitchen, upholstery, and medical.

2. B2B Electronic Marketplace:

The electronics marketplace is divided into 3 segments, consumer electronics, electric utilities, and general electronics. As per the “Global Electronic Components Market 2019 Research Report,” the global market for electronic components is predicted to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 5.6% from 2019 to 2024.” The leading country in the electronics marketplace is China, followed by the US and Japan. India lies in the 8th position in the Electronic marketplace valuation. The electronics market in India is projected to reach the US $ 228 bn by 2020 from over $ 100 bn in 2016-17.

3. B2B Furniture Marketplace:

The furniture marketplace encompasses the sales of furniture for offices, hotels, homes, schools, and businesses. It also includes pieces of furniture, like upholstery, mattresses, and furnishings. In 2017, the global furniture market size was valued at USD 480.7 billion and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 5.1% from 2018 to 2025. The industry has seen growth by numerous factors such as rising disposable incomes, real-estate growth, hospitality industries, and the rising demand for luxury and premium furniture.

4. B2B Healthcare Marketplace:

The healthcare marketplaces include the buying & selling of medical devices, clinical trials, outsourcing, telemedicine, medical tourism, health insurance, and medical equipment. By 2020 end, the healthcare marketplace is expected to reach $1 billion valuations in India alone. With global health care spending expected to rise at a CAGR of 5 percent in 2019-23, it will likely present many opportunities for the sector.

5. B2B Global Marketplace:

The Global B2B marketplace worth has reached nearly 4,000 billion USD in 2019 and is expected to reach nearly 5,000 billion dollars by 2021. In India only, the Indian ecommerce market is expected to grow to US$ 200 billion by 2026 from US$ 38.5 billion in 2017.

Best eCommerce platforms for starting Marketplace:

The best ecommerce platforms for starting B2B B2C marketplace are:

  • 1. Magento B2B Marketplace
  • 2. B2B Marketplace Shopify
  • 3. WooCommerce B2B Marketplace
  • 4. B2B Marketplace OpenCart

How to develop B2B B2C Marketplace in ecommerce CMS?

  • Are you looking for a multi vendor B2B Ecommerce Marketplace solution suitable for startups?
  • Do you want to create B2C Marketplace?
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  • Do you want to build a B2B Marketplace, How should you start?
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An ecommerce CMS can help you in easily developing the B2B B2C Marketplace. It paces up the process of development and provides better solutions. In this article, we will discuss how we can use the below-mentioned platforms for developing a B2B B2C marketplace.

1. Magento 2 Marketplace Webkul:

magento marketplace

The multivendor module of Magento Marketplace can convert your Magento Shopping cart into an online marketplace with a separate vendor product collection and a separate seller with feedback support and rating. The module supports various add-ons such as auction, payment splitting, shipping management, and eBay shop connection. The module is available for both community (free) and the enterprise version of Magento.

The main features of the module are:

  • B2B Bulk Order Management: You can place bulk orders & suppliers and can manage large SKUs.
  • Approving Orders: The supplier can’t see orders if the admin has set an order approval option as ‘Yes’.
  • Reviews & Ratings: This feature allow only authorized buyers to place review & rating to the suppliers.
  • Restriction of the product type: The admin can select the type of product that will be available to the suppliers.
  • Inventory Management Notification: The admin can set the feature of a low stock quantity of the supplier so that the seller will get notify for low stock.
  • Quotation Management: Customers can ask for a quote for any quantity of products to the suppliers.

2. Shopware Multi-Vendor Marketplace:

Shopware marketplace

The multi-vendor or multi-seller marketplace of the Shopware can completely transform your Shopware store into a marketplace. By integrating this module, even a customer can become a seller to sell its products. However, the customer must be already registered at the store for applying the seller ship. As a seller, you can manage the profile, products, and orders. You can also check the products of other sellers and their information. The seller can add product and product variants with this module.

The main features of the Shopware marketplace are:

  • A customer can become a seller
  • The admin can set the option to auto-approve the seller, its products and can check product information
  • Percentage commission can be set by the admin
  • Approval and disapproval of the seller and its products
  • The seller can create simple and variant products
  • Open-source code for easy customization

3. Woocommerce with WCFM Marketplace:

woocommerce marketplace

The WCFM module or WooCommerce Multivendor Marketplace is amongst the best free multi-vendor marketplace plugin of WordPress, powered by WooCommerce. It has quite powerful features such as Flexible Commission, Refund Request, Reverse Withdrawal & Withdrawal, Single product multi-vendor, Review & ratings, Stripe Split Pay, and others. These features can take your ecommerce site to a new level marketplace. The other main features of this marketplace are:

  • Powerful commission system (Fixed, percentage-wise, vendor wise, product wise, etc.)
  • Flexible shipping management (by zone, country, weight, zip code, etc.)
  • Versatile withdrawal options (by order status, manually, or scheduled)
  • Extensive payment options (Stripe, Paypal, Skrill, Bank Transfer, Cash Pay, etc.)

4. Shopify with Webkul extension:

Shopify marketplace

The multi-vendor marketplace tool of Shopify is a great extension that can convert your traditional ecommerce into a fully functioning marketplace. Using this tool, you can add sellers, and keep track of their sales. Thereafter, the sellers can create their shop by including a variety of products. There is a commission feature that can be easily setup by admin. The main features are:

  • Several shipping options
  • Seller membership feature (Create plans and seller needs to subscribe to the plan)
  • Social network tabs (Enabling seller to connect their profile pages)
  • Stock management (Enabling admin to manage the product stock from the seller)
  • Offer creation

5. Opencart B2B Multi-Vendor Marketplace:

opencart marketplace

By using the OpenCart B2B multi-vendor marketplace tool you can convert your ecommerce application into a B2B marketplace like Alibaba, Indiamart, etc.
The admin, as well as seller, can take leverage of this module for all marketplace features in addition to, functionalities like quotation requests by customers for new as well as existing products. Both admin & sellers can upload multiple products in a single click by using CSV, XML, XLS files, and both the parties can answer for the arising queries related to products.

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Developing B2B B2C Marketplace from scratch:

While developing a marketplace from scratch, you need to first develop the overall architecture, analyze all the essential features, implementing user captivating UI & UX, integrating 3rd Party APIs, and integration of best practices and implementation tips.

You will be required a highly professional team who should have expertise in each & every required functionality. The overall development from scratch will take a lot of time which will eventually raise the cost. Developing from scratch is best when you are independent and in control of your project, when you require a highly custom and scalable solution, and a custom UI/UX.

However, developing through by using a CMS solution will not only decrease the costs but also give you more flexibility in terms of logic and UI customization. You can easily find and hire ecommerce developers who are familiar with this specific CMS or at least the tech stack on which it is built. It provides good opportunities for UI and business logic customization. While having this flexibility, a marketplace builder can still rely on the vendor in terms of hosting, deployment, backups, etc. in most cases.

At Emizentech, we are having a dedicated team to develop a b2b marketplace website catering to all your requirements. We can develop as per your i.e. either by using CMS or from scratch. Tell us your requirements and we will turn them into reality.

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Author

CTO at Emizentech and a member of the Forbes technology council, Amit Samsukha, is acknowledged by the Indian tech world as an innovator and community builder. He has a well-established vocation with 12+ years of progressive experience in the technology industry. He directs all product initiatives, worldwide sales and marketing, and business enablement. He has spearheaded the journey in the e-commerce landscape for various businesses in India and the U.S.