Can technology alone make your multi-vendor marketplace a success? What every multi-vendor marketplace needs undeniably, is a steady influx of vendors who will sell via their platform. With the likes of Amazon, SnapDeal, Flipkart, etc., it is quite a challenge to attract vendors to your marketplace. But just like all other challenges, there are strategies that can help you gain a competitive edge over the others. Read on to discover how you can bring in more merchants to sell via your marketplace (seller on-boarding). Read more… Many marketplace founders are unprepared and literally caught off-guard, when faced with the obstacle of getting established vendors to sign up with them and list products on their platform. Attracting qualified sellers is one of the primary steps to establishing a performing marketplace. Simply put, there can’t be a multi-vendor marketplace without multiple vendors. The buyers are the next step. Don’t let that bog you down. The point here is that just like you, merchants also have a number of issues/hurdles/challenges that they have to deal with. You need to understand and evaluate the situation from the merchant’s perspective. Your marketplace would be an ideal option for them if you could hit the sweet spot between mitigating their issues and your own.
Keep in mind that you’re not alone, and a lot of founders have successfully created thriving multi-vendor marketplaces. Here are a few strategies that would most certainly work in your favor:
Target existing marketplaces and focus on the seller’s voice. There’s trouble even in paradise and if your product can solve a hurdle for them, that marks the beginning of an influx.Sellers, who are sitting on omni-marketplace commerce models, always have this one extra feature their favorite marketplace is missing, compared to another. Fill that gap and seller on-boarding becomes easy.
A free and easy signup process is your best bet in on-boarding a seller. If you’re planning on listing fees, ensure that you are confident of driving transactions to them. If not, plan on a commission based pricing model.
Allow your sellers to pursue a healthy buyer-seller relationship. Access to handy features and productivity tools makes their selling experience better and these features sell well during seller on-boarding.
All marketplaces (even yours) have early adopters. Enlist these sellers and drive their success. These early adopters serve as evangelists and their testimonials will certainly usher in a lot of other sellers.
The best and easiest way to convert a visitor, is by using app tours. Consider Shopify or Etsy for instance – a visitor looking to signup has visual cues guiding the visitor and a breadcrumb button list of the next steps. This makes it easy for new users to understand the portal and use it effectively. Video tutorials fail in the face of guided in-application tours. 6. Outsource: Hire the experts! Capricorn Consultants have a proven track record when it comes to seller on-boarding. We’re preferred by most clients owing to the fact that we do not halt at seller on-boarding services, but rather provide enhanced seller hand-holding in order to ensure that the seller understands your portal, its unique features, and appreciates your USP. This ensures your sellers enroll with a long-term commitment. We provide catalog management services to augment seller on-boarding which makes the seller experience an absolute breeze.
Hope we’ve helped you outline your strategic plans to enhanced seller on-boarding. Seller on-boarding is a vital step and beyond it lies the seller experience. Capricorn Consultants ensure end-to-end seller satisfaction while coordinating and aligning our strategies with your imminent and long-term business goals.
Call us @ 0422 421 0404. Questions about seller on-boarding services? We’d love to answer. Connect with us using our contact form here.