12 most essential components to consider prior to starting an online marketplace

Hey! Wait! Are you going to launch your online marketplace? Does your marketplace have all the essential features in it?  Have a look at this article to know more about the major components of an online marketplace.

“Building a marketplace” is not less than an adventure and you will be surprised to know that this adventure lies in setting the right components of the marketplace. Let’s get an idea of these components.

• Convenient On-boarding: Not everyone likes filling long forms during onboarding. Usually, a customer finds it irritating to repeatedly add the same information again and again. So your marketplace should be designed in such a way that it offers smooth onboarding to the customers. Providing easy login options using Facebook, Google, LinkedIn & Email can add to the benefit.

• Easy Navigation: Your main focus should be on making the user journey as simple as possible and this can only be achieved by providing smooth navigation in an app. I am hoping that you know its navigation feature that guides people to find and make most of the advanced features of your application.

• The Search box, Advanced filters, and Effective listing: An app builder should ensure that his customer books his desired service as soon as possible and this can only be attained by the effective listing of the products. The search box and advanced filters will add to the benefit.

• In-App Chat support: Have you ever thought how will a customer elaborate his requirement to the service provider. Suppose he wants to give important information but the booking has been made and the appointment has been scheduled. How will he do this? This is the point where in-apps chat come into play. Hence they are considered as one of the important features of the marketplace.

• Integration with the different payment gateways: Customers feel special when they are given the freedom to choose to select their payment methods. Moreover, with an increase in digitalization the customer find it easy and safe to pay through wallets and cards. Paypal, Stripe are some of the digital wallets that can be easily integrated with the marketplace.

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• Analytical Dashboard: An analytical dashboard will enable the marketplace owner to have a panoramic view of the whole business. It will enable him to manage and monitor his performance from one place.
  
• Delivery & Appointment Management Software: You are all set to launch your services online but have you thought how will your delivery boy or service provider reach the desired location. And as a business owner or a customer how will you track his exact location. To ensure on-time deliveries and appointments and to track in real-time a management software is much needed.
  
• Scheduling Options: Delight your customers by giving them an opportunity to schedule their appointments as per their time of need. Customers will happily board your platform since you have given them full freedom to avail the services whenever it’s required.
  
• Rate & Reviews: Adding rate and review feature to your marketplace will increase its credibility. It develops a certain trust between the customer and service providers. With this feature in place, the customer will get a bigger platform to express his views regarding your services.
  
• Push Notifications: As per the latest research Push notifications have an ability to grab the customer attention in the quickest way. One can make better use of them by including time-sensitive offers like hourly promotions and coupons.
  
• Security: This is one of the biggest concern that customers have in their mind when they prefer online sources over traditional sources. The marketplace builder must ensure that his software complies with encryption practices such as SSL certificates and PCI compliance. They should ensure customers that their data is strictly protected.
  
• CRM Integration: Every business owner wants to retain his customer. Customer retention is the basic requirement for a business to grow. How to do this? Here at this point, CRM comes to your rescue. You can store all your customer information in the CRM software and then can retarget these customers with special offerings and promotions.
  
• Launching a marketplace with all these essential features is easy with ready to build Saas platforms . Designing and hosting of a multi-vendor marketplace can be hugely productive, provided they are done with the right software tools and according to the business needs. Selecting the right marketplace solution that can be customized according to your business model is very crucial for your business success.

Not sure which is the best software/platform to take your business onto marketplaces? We can help!