How to Create An Online Marketplace Like eBay

Creating an online marketplace reminiscent of eBay takes work. It’s great to have such ambitious ideas, but without a proper strategy and a strong development team, this goal would be rather farfetched. 

eBay is an e-commerce giant that connects millions of buyers and sellers worldwide. Retail businesses looking to make a difference online desire a marketplace that resembles eBay’s intuitiveness and responsiveness. 

Started as an auction website in the 90s, eBay attracts over 1.2 billion visitors monthly and has reaped an immense revenue of $10.4 billion in the latest financial year. So, how do you create an online retail platform that has the potential to become the next big thing? Where do you start, and how much money do you pour in?

Cubix has been in the business of developing e-commerce marketplaces for over 12+ years. From niche marketplaces to general-purpose solutions, we have delivered some of the most innovative and successful platforms. If you are thinking of diving into this business but don’t want to get into the guesswork, bookmark this article.

We’ll cover everything from market research and platform architecture to seller onboarding and growth hacking, leaving no stone unturned to help you create an online marketplace that can rival the likes of eBay, Amazon, and Etsy.

Why Should You Get a Marketplace Like an eBay?

Businesses and entrepreneurs looking to stand out in the highly competitive e-commerce space want an expansive online marketplace that displays product listings uniquely and simplifies customer journeys. They have started moving beyond brick-and-mortar storefronts, and rightly so.  

This year, around 21.5% of retail purchases are expected to be made online, and this trend is only going to increase in the years to come. If you’re considering launching your own marketplace aiming to follow the footsteps of platforms like eBay, now is the perfect time to take the plunge. Here’s why: 

• Access to a large buyer base: Having such a massive online retail platform will connect you with users globally and enable sellers to target a huge number of potential customers.
• No inventory needed: You don’t need to own any inventory to start an e-commerce business. Instead, you can connect buyers with third-party sellers like most of the marketplaces do.
• Flexible selling options: An online platform like eBay supports multiple listing types, including auctions, fixed-price sales, and instant purchase options, catering to different seller preferences and product types.
• Low barrier to entry: With advanced technologies at their disposal, launching an online store has become faster and easier than ever before for business owners.
• Comfort & Safety: Providing a secure and convenient online shopping experience encourages buyers to purchase more and bolsters their trust in your business.
• Advance Analytics and Tools: Technology is a huge catalyst of success for modern day ecom players. AI-powered analytics tools allow sellers to manage their listings, track sales, and optimize performance.

Proven Steps to Build a Successful Online Marketplace

Step #1 Find Your E-commerce Niche

The most successful e-commerce businesses, such as eBay and Etsy, always have a unique selling point. You must dive deep into your specific market niche to truly understand what best serves the user’s interests. Determine how your unique idea can help you create a standout value proportion. Some ideas that you may look for include:

• Handmade, artisanal, or vintage goods
• Specialty products (organic, eco-friendly, or luxury items)
• Services like freelancing, tutoring, or home services
• Industry-specific markets such as auto parts, real estate, or B2B supplies

Step #2 Lay a Strong Technical Foundation

Your marketplace’s technical foundation will influence its scalability. Developing the technical infrastructure for an online marketplace is a critical process that requires careful planning and execution. Here’s how you can go about it:

Platform Choice

Will you build your marketplace from scratch, or would you prefer to use an open-source platform? Or maybe you could outsource it for convenience. Well, if you’re looking for the right open-source platform, we recommend options like WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magento. If you choose option three, which is hiring a reliable partner, look for a company with a proven track record in eCommerce development. Cubix may be the best fit here. 

Marketplace Development

Once the foundations are in place, you’ll need a powerful, user-friendly, and scalable site to handle all the marketplace functionality. Here are a couple of things you may want to consider before building an e-commerce site:

• Aim to create a user-friendly web application that will handle all your business functionality, including product listings, search, checkout, order management, etc.
• Choosing an ideal framework, such as React, Angular, or Vue.js, and programming languages, like JavaScript, Python, or Ruby, to meet different requirements. 

Database and Storage

To effectively manage product listings, orders, and user data, you need a solid database and cloud storage solution. There are several available options that you can put into use. As for databases, you may choose from PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MongoDB.

Cloud storage options, including Amazon S3 and Google Cloud Storage, are ideal for storing large media files. Also, remember to get a data backup and disaster recovery plan in place to protect your marketplace data.

Secure Payment System

Your e-commerce platform also needs a secure and reliable PCI payment gateway, such as Stripe, PayPal, or Braintree. It will help you ensure a safe, smooth checkout experience. 

Add Unique Features

Add unique features that enhance the user experience, like personalized recommendations, wish lists, and order tracking. Also, for seller convenience, you can enable inventory management, order fulfillment, and payout processing, which are essential to supporting the marketplace’s growth and success.

E-commerce platform development involves a fair set of challenges, technical expertise, and resources. Opting for a reliable partner e-commerce platform development company can help you get started. At Cubix, we’ve empowered hundreds of business owners to start their digital marketplaces. Our team can do it for you, too. 

Launch and Maintenance

After establishing the core technical foundation for your e-commerce platform, creating a functional marketplace, creating seller and buyer dashboards, and integrating payment gateways, the last step is to prepare it for launch and long-term scalability. This involves:

• Optimizing the platform’s performance and security to handle increasing traffic and transactions.
• Executing scalable architecture, such as microservices or serverless technologies, so that your marketplace can handle growing demands.
• Keeping its performance in check to maintain user-friendly experiences.

Step #3 Promote Your Marketplace

After successfully launching your marketplace, you should promote it using proven marketing techniques. Define what your brand stands for, its core values, and its functionalities. Your goal should be to build a brand rather than cutting the customer acquisition costs rather than catching hype in the short run. 

To onboard sellers, you’ll need to:

• Develop a clear, attractive value proposition
• Streamline the seller registration and listing process
• Provide comprehensive seller tools and resources
• Offer incentives and support to encourage early adopters

To promote the marketplace to buyers, consider strategies like:

• Search engine optimization (SEO) for organic search
• Paid advertising campaigns on platforms like Google, Facebook, and Instagram
• Partnerships with relevant influencers, bloggers, or niche communities
• Email marketing and retargeting to engage potential buyers
• Loyalty programs and referral incentives to build a recurring customer base

Follow up on the monetization tactics above to attract sellers and buyers to your platform. To ensure your online retail business keeps winning, you must stay agile, responsive, and helpful to your customers.

A new platform that focuses on a specific niche provides excellent customer service, builds a strong community, invests in technology, combats fraud, and has the potential to become a leader in e-commerce.

How Cubix Developed a Winning Fitness Marketplace 

Even though e-commerce is a saturated market, creating something unique is possible. Our collaboration with Vision Sports for a next-generation fitness marketplace solution proves this. We created a feature-rich online marketplace that connects customers with verified sellers and offers a wide range of quality fitness products and gear. It has made fitness shopping easy for millions of users. 

The most talked about features of this platform include:

• Simplistic Navigation
• Personalized Recommendations
• Comprehensive Product Details
• Wish List Management
• Community Engagement

Vision Sports received outstanding feedback from its target customers within the first six months of launch. Here are a few numbers that show just how successful our collaboration with Vision Sports was:

• 15,000 new users onboarded monthly on average
• Average time saved per purchase trip over 45 minutes
• Over 10,000 SKUs were uploaded on the app within three months
• App downloads exceeded 20,000 in key markets
• Average monthly active users grew 35% in the first year
• Improved purchase conversions via the wishlist feature
• Valuable buyer insights from 50,000+ community reviews

Ready to Be the Next eBay?

Ecom market is ripe and there couldn’t be any better time to build and launch your own marketplace. No matter how big is your idea, If you’re not tech-savvy, building a high-performance, user-friendly e-commerce platform may be tricky. 

Whether you are a business owner, an entrepreneur, or an enterprise looking for reliable eCommerce platform solutions, Cubix can satisfy all your unique needs. We have a proven track record of delivering 1300+ user-friendly and future-ready e-commerce solutions in an online market. 

With Cubix by your side, launching a successful marketplace is within reach. Contact us now to start your journey to e-commerce success.