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This blog is for entrepreneurs, industry experts, and software founders looking to build a marketplace platform.
Building an online marketplace can take different forms, as there isn't a single model that fits every idea. Product marketplaces and service marketplaces operate in distinct ways, offer different user experiences, and have unique technical needs. Understanding these differences is important for anyone looking to start a new business, whether you're an entrepreneur, an industry specialist, or a software founder, so you can pick the right model for your next big idea.
A product marketplace is a site on the Internet where numerous sellers of physical products sell to consumers. Consider such popular examples of Amazon, Etsy, and eBay. Sellers are able to post items like clothes, electronics, home items and other consumer products on these websites, buyers are able to go through these items, compare them and purchase them all under one roof.
Common examples of what you might find:
How it generally works:
Start with one marketplace type product or service then expand to hybrid once you master operations and demand.
A service marketplace links customers with individuals or firms offering intangible services. This enables customers to book and also make arrangements to have services to be carried out. Examples are sites such as Fiverr, Upwork, or UrbanClap.
Typical examples of what you might find:
How it generally works:
Choosing between a product or service marketplace? Match your strengths with market needs—and with Shipturtle, build either or both with speed and flexibility.
It's helpful to see the main distinctions side-by-side:
Product marketplaces are primarily about managing stock and getting items shipped, while service platforms focus on scheduling time, managing provider profiles, and the actual delivery of services.
Before deciding which type of marketplace to build, consider these points:
Understanding these points helps you match your business strengths with what the market needs.
Yes, absolutely! There are also famous platforms such as Amazon or UrbanClap that provide both products and services, mixing the boundaries between them. You will have to back two types of working styles (such as shipping products and booking services), different seller-onboarding means, and various user experiences per type of offering.
Shipturtle provides flexible functions that allow you to launch and grow either (or both) types of marketplaces efficiently:
Regardless of whether you are creating a service marketplace, a product platform, or a combination of those, with the right tools and a clear plan, you can go live in a short time. This also assists in preparing your business to grow in future.
Shipturtle lets you get up and running quickly whether you have a service marketplace or products to sell.
To start with, you will need to create an account at Shipturtle and set up your main store. Shipturtle can be integrated with the platform which you already use in the sphere of e-commerce business, such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento or you can utilize Shipturtle as an independent tool. Install your branding, store preferences, regional settings, currency, tax rules, and other basic requirements that you need to run your market place.
Take advantage of the multi-vendor capability that allows additional sellers or service providers to list and manage their products. Each vendor has its dashboard, to manage listing, prices, orders and fulfillment.
You can choose to invite vendors on your marketplace using links or manually. Merchants have the capability of posting merchandise and supply chain. The service providers are able to determine the nature of service to be offered, cost, when to offer the service and where to offer the services. The onboarding system is also scalable and easy to use.
The vendors are given an opportunity to create and manage their listings directly through their dashboards. Admins may opt to moderate the listings prior to their publication. The product listings contain product title, images, SKUs, pricing, and inventory, and shipping information. The service listings contain descriptions, costs, timelines, service coverage areas, and either in-person or virtual delivery.
Shipturtle is the system that enables smooth management of the product orders and service bookings. Orders of products are automatically divided over several vendors and delivered to the right seller. In the case of services, customers can book appointments or bookings and vendors can manage their availability and confirmation easily.
With physical goods, you may contact shipping carriers or provide a vendor with access to their partners in logistics. You can set shipping zones, shipping rates and shipping methods. In the case of services, establish availability schedulers, appointment booking systems, and preferences, either virtually or physically.
Establish the commission rates to be flexible depending on vendors, product lines, or monetary transactions. Commissions may be fixed or percentage. The payouts, earnings and settlement cycles reporting is detailed and you can handle the payments either manually or automate them according to your choice with Shipturtle.
The experience on the vendor dashboard is market-model customizable. Choose the modules you are willing your vendors to have access to e.g., reports, messaging, order history, or customer feedback. This will assist in delivering a normalised and optimised user experience of your vendor base.
In the case of marketplaces where digital goods or services are sold, Shipturtle enables online shipping by file sharing, video consultation URLs, or encrypted messages. This comes in particularly handy with telemedicine, distance learning, coaching and online service platforms.
Track vendor performance, the most popular products or services, customer activity, and obstacles to operations using Shipturtle analytics tools. Automated alerts and reporting would also be put in place to facilitate easy operations in the market place. As your marketplace expands your marketplace can keep adding new sellers and expanding into new product categories, geographies or services.
$7.4
trillion is the projected size of the global e-commerce services market by 2025.
You choose what kind of marketplace to use product or service marketplace based on your business requirements, the target market and what your business can do. The product market places are associated with tangible goods and as such they require robust logistics and stock keeping. Service marketplaces, nevertheless, are founded on competencies, time convenience, and remote delivery or on-premises execution. The two models come with different opportunities and drawbacks and even some enterprises delight in the convergence of the two.
If you wish to build and run one of the two types of marketplaces in a more efficient way, Shipturtle provides flexibility and tools to support both product-based and service-based models.
Product marketplaces have physical products while service marketplaces have bookable, non-physical services like freelance or home repair work.
Surely, there can be hybrid markets. They need versatile instruments that can assist in the shipping logistics and service scheduling processes.
Product marketplaces often use commission on each sale or listing fees because they match revenue to seller activity.
Service platforms also need to deal with scheduling, communication, live delivery, and in many cases, staged payments or milestone tracking.
Shipturtle offers inventory management, service booking, customizable templates, and easy seller onboarding ideal for hybrid models.
Get advanced shipping, configurable vendor management, payment features, and more. Install Shipturtle today from the Shopify App Store and enjoy a free trial to experience its benefits firsthand.
Want to learn more about how Shipturtle can benefit your business? Book a personalized demo with our sales team.
Experience the power of Shipturtle for free. Start your trial today and discover how it can transform your Shopify multivendor store!
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Articles from Team Shipturtle include contributions across departments—Tech, Marketing, Sales, Finance, HR—to share varied viewpoints and present a holistic picture.
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