Manufacturing Better Commerce Experiences with Marketplaces
The digital marketplace model works. This has proven true over the last two decades across geographies and consumer and B2B purchasing scenarios. So, we’re excited about our recently announced strategic partnership between Mirakl and Gorilla Group. When integrated as part of a holistic digital strategy, marketplaces can offer tangible value to a large segment of the diverse brands and businesses that partner with us. In particular, the opportunity this affords the many industrial manufacturers we work with cannot be overlooked.
Marketplaces offer manufacturers a broader opportunity to sell through to their end customers and shift digital commerce from edge case to essential.
When collaborating on overarching strategies and roadmaps, we urge our clients to think in terms of business model, not channel. Channels don’t exist in isolation. As we work to create or enhance the commerce experiences a brand delivers its customers, eCommerce must be factored in as one piece of a larger omnichannel puzzle, within an ongoing process of digital maturation.
For manufacturers, the benefits of a well-crafted, user-centered eCommerce experience can be immediate. Sales organizations are empowered to work faster and smarter. Process efficiencies are gained at scale, as complex workflows are automated. Costly errors and redundancies are reduced. Distributor and wholesaler relationships can be simplified and personalized.
However, when manufacturers seek to sell through directly to end customers, something that’s increasingly critical to stay competitive in the market, a laser-focused eCommerce experience is often not enough. In fact, it can be limiting. That’s where a comprehensive marketplace solution, like that offered by Mirakl, can change what digital commerce means for a business and its customers.
Marketplaces create symbiotic relationships between manufacturers and distributors.
Expanded product selections increase purchasing scenarios for end customers, without adding overhead or operational complexities. For distributors, as well as aligned manufacturing partners, the marketplace extends digital and geographic reach, providing access to customers that would otherwise be beyond their traditional marketing and sales efforts. And, by establishing relationships with end customers manufacturers stand to gain something as important as improved margins and incremental revenue: first-party data.
First-party data is the fuel of the digital economy. Marketplaces can serve as the conduit to extract that information. Gathering demographic, behavioral, and purchasing data about their end-users enables manufacturers to inform how they evolve their product and service offerings, their go-to-market strategies, and the entire customer experience.
Ready to capitalize on all of the benefits of an online marketplace? Contact Gorilla Group or Mirakl to learn more and get started.
