One of the most common misconceptions about creating a third-party Marketplace is the fear that the catalog and/or quality of service will suffer as a result of this new business model. Because Marketplace products are supplied, and serviced, by third parties, there is a tendency to worry about the goods they provide and the quality of service they deliver to customers. 

 

This fear is not entirely unfounded! After all, the old saying goes, “one bad apple can spoil the bunch.”

A recent study found that if a customer has a negative experience with your company, 95% will tell at least one other person about it, while 54% said they will share it with at least 5 other people.

If this unhappy customer is posting online about their experience, it leads to more trouble, as 88% of respondents have been influenced by an online review when making a buying decision.

 

A Marketplace is a regulated ecosystem

Keep in mind, however, that a Marketplace is a highly regulated ecosystem, one that is part of a virtuous cycle when executed correctly. You are providing a platform for your third-party sellers, and the success of the platform as a whole depends on each seller playing their role and helping to keep quality levels strong.

In addition, marketplace operators can monitor, and control, both the catalog and the quality of service.

For example, through Mirakl Quality Control, you can track 3rd party sellers’ performance and manage them to ensure they comply with your quality of service standards. By ensuring that your seller respects the guidelines that you define, you can significantly enhance the customer experience, offer more products at the best price, all without compromising your quality of service.

 

Allow the bad apples to weed themselves out

There are metrics designed to track sellers (and the buying experience overall) on the Marketplace, such as:

  • shipping lead-time
  • incident rates
  • seller rating

Marketplace operators should set up thresholds on each of these indicators to automatically suspend a seller if the threshold is not met.

As the number of sellers grows, the quality of service grows with it thanks to the competitive environment of the Marketplace, provided there is a strong technical platform for enforcement of quality thresholds.

In fact, the more sellers a Marketplace has, to better the customer service as sellers compete to be successful. Naturally, sellers with good ratings will flourish while the bad apples will, eventually, weed themselves out.



The Mirakl Marketplace Model is sweeping through retail right now.  Learn why Forrester Research Named Mirakl one of the twenty tech startups every eBusiness executive should know.


 

Barry Murphy

Written by Barry Murphy

Barry Murphy is the Director of Content and Product Marketing at Mirakl. In this role, Barry leads the alignment of Mirakl's offerings to market needs for the next generation of online commerce. Barry previously ran product marketing organizations for X1 and Mimosa Systems (now part of HPE). Barry also had a highly successful stint as Principal Analyst at Forrester Research. Barry received a B.S. from the State University of New York at Binghamton and an M.B.A from the University of Notre Dame.

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