DIGITAL INTERACTIVE SERVICES

How to choose the right marketplace management services?

eCommerce or online shopping is no longer a novel idea but a necessity to survive and thrive in the post-pandemic world. The choice is between a single-vendor marketplace (or a standalone website) or a multi-vendor marketplace (or an online e-commerce marketplace). And with advantages such as lower financial investments, better customer service, multi-vendor inventory management, improved quality standards and efficient logistics, a multi-vendor marketplace seems the obvious choice. But with many solutions available in the market, how can you choose the marketplace management service best suited for your business?

Things to consider before choosing a multi-vendor marketplace

There are four significant factors that you need to consider before selecting a multi-vendor marketplace platform:

• Your customers
• Your vendors
• Marketplace platform operator
• Third-party service providers

Your target audience, business model, the availability of resources, and long-term strategy play a significant role when selecting a multi-vendor marketplace platform. And if your business relies on multiple vendors — to optimise risk or diversify your product offerings — selecting the right vendor management solution is also crucial for success across an online e-commerce marketplace. Centralised vendor information, tools for performance and risk management, effective document management, workflow automation, and effective integration and reporting are some of the building blocks for your success in a multi-vendor marketplace.

Selecting the best multi-vendor marketplace

Now, with over 100 multi-vendor marketplace platforms available in the market, selecting the best marketplace management service can seem like a challenge. Although each platform has a variety of features and functionalities, the following fundamentals should be taken into consideration when choosing the best multi-vendor marketplace platform:

• The ability to integrate with existing systems: This is one of the, if not the most critical, considerations in selecting a vendor marketplace platform. You should be able to easily integrate your existing systems — inventory and vendor management, billing, etc. — with the marketplace platform for a quick and cost-effective launch.
• Billing platform suitable for digital marketplaces: The vendor marketplace billing platform must be able to handle all types of payment scenarios, including subscriptions, pay-per-use, trials, and many more. Moreover, you must have the control on changing prices and adding third-party monetisation to suit the market trends.
• Effective inventory management: Inventory management can be challenging, especially in an online e-commerce marketplace. Having marketplace solutions ready to sell out of the box can make it easier for you to accelerate time to market.
• Product roadmap demonstrating value: The vendor marketplace must offer value to both you and your customers. And with the ever-changing digital economy, an innovative roadmap of the upcoming features can help you determine whether those fit in your vision of digital transformation.
• Easy onboarding for new applications: In addition to having a catalogue of relevant applications (or features), the vendor marketplace should also make it easy to add new extensions, features, and add-ons that optimise the marketplace performance. This makes sure that the marketplace platform stays current and relevant in the evolving digital economy and can continue to help your business grow.
• Tools for easy control: You should have as much control as possible in the vendor marketplace. The admin panel should allow you access and control over functions such as orders, vendors, marketplace design, income, and payouts to manage and control your marketplace operations effectively.

And even beyond these points, the vendor marketplace should align with your business goals and allow for significant growth for it to be the best suited for your business.

For organisations on the digital transformation journey, agility is key in responding to a rapidly changing technology and business landscape. Now more than ever, it is crucial to deliver and exceed organisational expectations with a robust digital mindset backed by innovation. Enabling businesses to sense, learn, respond, and evolve like living organisms will be imperative for business excellence. A comprehensive yet modular suite of services is doing precisely that. Equipping organisations with intuitive decision-making automatically at scale, actionable insights based on real-time solutions, anytime/anywhere experience, and in-depth data visibility across functions leading to hyper-productivity, Live Enterprise is building connected organisations that are innovating collaboratively for the future.

How can Infosys BPM Help?

Infosys BPM Marketplace Management Services can help you overcome the complexities of online e-commerce marketplaces and effectively manage the entire marketplace ecosystem.