In last week’s article, I offered some ideas that seem simple on the surface but have the potential to become high revenue marketplaces. The main takeaway being that simpler is often better when it comes to creating a marketplace -- with the right idea, you could be sailing on a steady income flow. This week, I would like to follow up on this notion of launching a marketplace, but with some specific steps on how to go about it.

Decide what your marketplace will do now and what functions you might want to add in the future

If you had asked me nine months ago what a marketplace was, I would have given you a vague answer such as, “A marketplace is a venue where people come together to buy and sell products or services.” This is partly true, but when it comes to building a marketplace for customers, there is a much more complex process that I didn’t know about. While working at Near Me, I have gained a greater understanding and appreciation for this process -- for the engineers that build the platform, the designers who make it look seamless and the account managers who work with our customers.

The process reminds me of building a house. After looking at the floor plans, construction workers build a foundation on which the house will stand. You need to set the foundation first and I like to think of a marketplace’s features as its foundation. It’s a good idea to figure out which features you want now, but also, brainstorm possible additions in the future. Like a foundation for a house, features need to be decided at the beginning to set the framework for future plans.

Grow your vendor base

We recently got a visit from Joel Cesare, co-founder of one of our clients, StokeShare. Their business model is a bit different from typical buy/sell marketplaces.  Their main objective is to serve underprivileged youth by giving them access to things like surfboards and other outdoor equipment. The problem they’ve run into is how to attract people to list their items to share with their community. Here are some ideas we came up with when we sat down with Joel:

• Join groups or associations within the outdoor sports community
• Approach sporting goods stores with the opportunity to list their used equipment on the site
• Spread the word  through social media and network at related events

We love how StokeShare uses our platform to connect people within a community and help kids get outdoors who might not be able to otherwise.

Grow your customer base

In this sense, an online marketplace is like the one I imagined before working here. Basically, you create an online platform where people can buy or sell their products and services. The question is, how do you drive people towards your site once it’s up? Spacer, one of our clients based in Australia, has been very successful and recently raised a million dollars in funding. Who would have thought that something as simple as space would become a million dollar marketplace? Stay tuned for more details on how they grew to become this success.

Whatever your business, marketing will certainly help. Other team members and myself have written extensively on how to drive more customers to your business, either through social media, creating a blog or jumping in on the booming sharing economy. Here are my top five picks to help guide you:

The 10 Laws of Marketplaces to Optimize for Success

The Importance of Social Media for Growing Your Marketplace

Is Your Marketplace Social Media Strategy Working?

10 Tips to Promote Your Ecommerce Store

Is the Sharing Economy a New Form of Capitalism?

Keep your customers happy

At the end of the day, business owners want something to show for all the time and effort spent on creating a marketplace. That time and effort, however, doesn’t end once a marketplace is live. Like a real life business, an online marketplace requires attention to make sure it is getting the traffic it deserves.

Keeping customers happy is key. By making your current customers happy, your business will benefit in the long run because customers will tell their friends, referring more people to you. Newsletters, surveys, podcasts and blogs are all great ways to connect with your customers while creating a community. Listen to what your customers are saying -- they are your bread and butter. 

As you can see, building a marketplace takes time, planning and the drive to put something out there you can be proud of. In this day and age, technology is opening up doors for just about anyone with a good idea to create a marketplace. But technology is just one side of the coin. I hope that the above tips bring you one step closer to realizing your goals. With the right idea and the right tools, anything is possible in this digital age.