When you talk about marketplaces you definitely hear words like B2B or peer-to-peer. What are they and what do they mean? These are the types which classify marketplaces. And for now we want to tell you about these existing types of online marketplaces.
Let’s go through available types of marketplaces and find their meaning. Here the 8 types of online marketplaces:
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B2B – platform for transaction of products or services between businesses
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mCommerce – platform for buying or selling of goods and services through wireless handheld devices
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Crowdfunding – platform lets people post their projects and raise money for their execution through fundraising campaigns.
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C2C – platform for transaction of products or services between customers
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eCommerce – platform for two parties, e.g. seller – shopper, startup owner – investor etc.
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B2C – platform for transaction of products or services from business to customers
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peer-to-peer – platform which brings together users, who offer products through offline services
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auction platforms – platform where a seller lists a product and sets a deadline; buyer with the highest bid gets the item
For instance, you can find such Marketplaces as BlaBlaCar, OLX, Etsy and Couchserfing among C2C (customer-to-customer). AliExpress, Booking.com and Amazon – are the B2C (business-to-customer) Marketplaces. And you can refer Alibaba.com primarly to B2B (business-to-business) type of Marketplaces.
Additionally, Marketplaces also differ by type of a platform: horizontal and vertical.
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Horizontal platforms: they facilitate exchanges in multiple different categories, like jobs, ridesharing, services, buying and selling stuff, renting apartments and so on
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Vertical platforms: they focus on one problem / thing. For example, for Airbnb – this is finding temporary accommodation
The vertical platforms have an advantage. Since they focus on only one thing, they are often able to do it extremely well. They can build their platform solely around the one problem their users have, and thus provide a great experience.
You can find the most complete information about developing online marketplaces on our site. Also find examples of marketplaces among Syndicode projects and don’t hesitate to contact us.