A Complete eCommerce Pricing Guide – Cost Factors to Start & Run an Online Marketplace Startups

What is the cost for launching an eCommerce marketplace is the million-dollar question that arises in the mind of any entrepreneur who plans to sell products online. Developing an eCommerce marketplace can be done either by building them from scratch or going for a readymade software solution. For any start-up or a medium-sized business, it is highly recommended to go for readymade solutions. In each stage of development, there are various cost defining factors involved that will define the building a marketplace website. Let us analyze each cost of eCommerce marketplace factor in detail.

What is an Online Marketplace?

An online marketplace is a medium that helps every entrepreneur to expand their business across the globe. The platform connects the seller with buyers with multiple features and assures better conversion. Buyers can get a wide range of products and can pay online through the platform and buy products. The admin will have multiple revenue sources that will generate better income.

Types of Cost Factors Involved in Starting an Online Marketplace Platform

After the completion of eCommerce marketplace development, we will be getting the final product that will be ready to use. But this development will undergo several processes that will streamline the eCommerce website. Each process will have its own costing that will have an impact on the multi vendor marketplace platform price. Let us have a deep look at each element.

Setup Costs:

The Setup Process Includes Various Tasks as Listed Below.

• Registering the business along with the brand is the initial step that has to be carried out while setting up the ecommerce marketplace platform. The brand name you set will be recognized till the end of your business cycle.
• Getting a domain name that suits your brand name is another major task. You need to check the availability of the domain name and then should purchase it.
• Installing the software in your system is the final stage in the setup process. After finalizing and purchasing the domain, you need to install the software in your system and the software will be available in your domain name.

These steps are orderly followed and executed with utter care. The cost of an ecommerce marketplace is determined on how successfully you fulfill the above-mentioned setup process.

Platform Costs:

Platform is the base for any marketplace website and it determines the multi vendor ecommerce website price. Before selecting the platform you need to make sure the platform covers all the below-mentioned functionalities.

• The platform should support PCI compliance and should have fraud protection that will ensure the security of user’s data.
• The platform should facilitate easy checkout and provide multiple payment options for grabbing the attention of users.
• qaccept customization and should be scalable for any business and should support the growth of the ecommerce marketplace.

You need to check all the aspects and then should finalize the platform. The platform that supports all essential factors will differ in price.

Hosting Costs:

Hosting service is the main aspect where all data is stored. You can spend more in developing a perfect and an awesome ecommerce marketplace but the hosting server decides the smooth functioning and the performance of your platform.

• The hosting server can be a dedicated hosting server or a cloud hosting server. If you are at enterprise or corporate level then it is recommended to go for a dedicated hosting server else you can prefer cloud server.
• The hosting server should have email hosting and should provide sufficient numbers of addresses mainly to support internal communication within the organization.
• The hosting server should provide high speed that will have a major impact on your store performance. The speed of loading pages is the fundamental aspect for search engine marketing.

Finalizing the perfect hosting server that will enhance your ecommerce store will have a direct impact on the cost of ecommerce marketplace.

Design Costs:

The design you have for your ecommerce marketplace will determine the website traffic.

• If you have an attractive design then you can get more visitors to your ecommerce marketplace platform else people will not be attracted by your design and may not visit your page. There are several free themes available and none of them are quite impressive so you need to go for paid themes
• The design should be mobile responsive. Only responsive designs will gain the attention of mobile users. So obviously this will have a major impact on the multi vendor eCommerce website price.

The design you have for your eCommerce marketplace will decide your success rate. So be more specific in your design and let it suit your business.

Implementation Costs:

This is the major task that has to be properly carried out while developing an ecommerce marketplace.

• In this phase you will implement all images and logos in the web page and the content will be properly aligned.
• The web content will be synchronized with the domain and the data will be stored in the cloud.
• The appearance of the webpage should correlate well with features and should support the SEO process

The cost of ecommerce marketplace depends on the number of pages the implementation process requires.

Maintenance Cost:

To ensure the smooth functioning of the ecommerce marketplace   you need to periodically maintain the platform.

• The multi vendor marketplace website should get updated then and there. You may need to remove or add new vendors to your platform.
• New technologies should be implemented to give a better shopping experience to your customers.

So you need to separately allot an amount for maintenance of the marketplace. This cost is inevitable and this will have a major impact in calculating the cost of an ecommerce marketplace.

Workforce Costs:

Workforce cost is a default expense that any entrepreneur needs to face.

• Many skilled experts will be involved in the development process and also you need people to keep monitoring the changes and updates that are happening within the marketplace platform
• Experts support you in the marketing and promotion of your platform and you need to spend more in this area.
• Technical people will keep a track of the performance of your eCommerce marketplace and this will help you to understand your business progress easily.

The multi vendor eCommerce website price will be affected by involving a huge workforce in your project.

Marketing Costs:

After developing a perfect ecommerce marketplace you need to launch it properly and should give enough awareness to the people about the platform. You can get good business only when your brand is recognized by the public.

• Need to run paid campaigns on all social media platforms that will gain you enough brand visibility and get greater reach.
• You need to focus on Google ads that have a greater responsibility and you can easily and instantly increase your eCommerce website traffic.
• Spend more on affiliates who can be your brand ambassadors and you can expect some good returns from their end.

There are several digital marketing strategies that can maximize your ROI. You properly invest in the plan and this will have a major impact on the cost of ecommerce marketplace.

How to Start & Run Online Marketplace Successfully

Deeper market understanding is very essential before you start building your own multi-vendor eCommerce store. The marketplace startup cost varies as per your individual business requirement. Let us discuss some tips that will help in building our eCommerce platform.

• Research your target audience. This will help you in finalizing the features and functionalities of your marketplace. You should have enough knowledge about both vendors and buyers. Only then you can pitch the perfect business model and expect better reach and conversion.
• Have a perfect marketplace pricing strategy that will help you reach your customers and make them buy your products without hesitation. Keep in mind that customers will always compare prices with other platforms. So, have affordable pricing for your products.
• Plan your vendor capabilities and features that will delight them. Retaining vendors is one of the keys to success. So, focus more on the vendor-centric features that will benefit them and make them stay on your platform.
• Design and launch a multi-vendor marketplace website that will facilitate buyers, sellers, and the admin of the platform. Make it more mobile-friendly and also SEO-friendly.
• Have a brilliant marketing strategy and promote your marketplace platform. Invest wisely on paid campaigns and reach your customers and gain better brand recognition.

ZielCommerce Helps You Start your Online eCommerce Marketplace Platform Easily

Zielcommerce multi vendor marketplace platform is one-time payment software that covers all the above-mentioned cost defining factors. Zielcommerce is the perfect cost-effective choice for any entrepreneur who needs to invest less and get more returns through their multivendor marketplace platform. Zielcommerce has the best UI & UX that will get you more visitors and the platform is fully customizable and scalable. You can make the software fit into your business with simple modifications.

The complete setup process will be taken care of by the Zielcommerce team and the technical expert will support you on regular updates free of cost for a period of time. The software is in-built with all marketing tools that will support your brand to get recognized easily when promoted online. Since the software holds all the extensive features you can be free from the hassle of developing multi vendor e-commerce website. The cost of an eCommerce marketplace will be unbelievably less when you go for Zielcommerce.

Core Features for Ecommerce Marketplace Solutions

A digital user experience is a key factor that contributes to the success of any marketplace platform. To enhance the user experience, one needs to put more effort into framing the features for the platform. Let us have a detailed analysis on all must-have features of a multi-vendor marketplace platform

• Customization and scalability are the key features that cannot be avoided while building a multi-vendor eCommerce platform.
• Secured payment options are essential to facilitate customers to have payment transactions without any hesitation.
• Responsive web design is one of the key tools that will attract more audiences to your platform. The device-compatible user interface will gain the attention of visitors and assure high traffic.
• Buyer-seller communication will reduce the return and refund process. Your platform should support multiple communication channels that will all buyers to communicate directly with sellers and clarify their doubts about the product before purchasing them.
• The push notification feature is compulsory as on each stage of order processing the platform needs to send automated message confirmation to sellers and also to buyers.
• Reviews and rating options are a must-have feature that will allow customers to have their opinion be registered on the platform. This will enhance the performance of the marketplace.

Conclusion

Always prefer a cost effective method to launch an eCommerce marketplace platform. Keep in track of the expense you spend in owning a marketplace platform and make sure you get better ROI by following perfect marketing strategies.