Top marketplace tips

Blog by Roz Bridges, Head of Business Development

At TymeOnline, we’ve partnered numerous clients along their marketplace journey, helping them to make the most of their launch and ongoing listings. Here, I share some of the top insights and tips we’ve learnt along the way, to help you optimise your Marketplace presence, to capture customer curiosity and convert those into cash-clicks.

Why even use a Marketplace?

Many business first enter the eCommerce space by selling through their own website. Not only is that a sizeable initial investment, but one that continuously drains money and time to keep it noticed in a ever-more crowded retail arena. And it typically has a limited scope in terms of reach and functionality. In contrast, a Marketplace is a multi-vendor ‘collective’ with the resources to continuously invest in promotion, technology and security to give your brand the footfall, visibility and stability your brand needs to succeed.

But it’s not the easy option. You can’t just ‘set up shop’ and ‘let it do the selling for you.’ That’s the sure-fire way to fail. Here are some things you do need to do, to ensure you win at Marketplace selling.

Do your research

This is not the environment for winging it on gut feels alone. Online retail success is powered by algorithms, so your approach needs to be data-driven.

You need to make sure you know which marketplaces are best for your product. Ask questions like: who does it attract, from where? What are their scrolling patterns? What is the conversion rate? And are buyers the people who (would) buy your product?

Crucially, what price-points would you be competing with on that platform? Does it match your margin requirements after taking into account additional fulfilment and production costs that go with online selling? And also the costs and commission structure of the marketplace: make sure you’re very clear on how they will impact your cashflow and your profits.

Also question: would you be just one of many like-products on the platform, or do you stand out – and does one of those matter more in terms of sales performance? Will one amplify a sale based on features, another on ethos or another on cost – and which works best for your brand?

Finally, ask how much advice and technical support that platform team is able and willing to give you – and what that may cost. Does it match your knowledge and resource level?

Optimise key words

Optimise, optimise, optimise. I can’t emphasise it enough! Once you’ve found the Marketplace that’s attracting the buyers you want, you need to do everything you can to attract them to ‘stop at your door’.

The Marketplace search algorithms work off certain fields on your listings – but there’s no one size fits all. You need to know exactly which ones work best for your chosen Marketplace. Start by checking out what your competitors are using. Make sure you use as many keywords in your titles as possible and always fill in as many of the item specifics as you can in proven search terms.

However, with the rise of AI, increasingly the usability, usefulness and originality of a listing will trump keyword overload in search rankings. So, as a general rule of thumb, provide all the information buyers will be looking for.

Make sure your longer descriptions are written clearly, in layman’s terms (or at least with the terminology that’s most familiar to your least knowledgeable target buyer). This not only enhances product visibility but how the buyer perceives you. Typically, more details will equate to the appearance of being more trustworthy, more knowledgeable and better quality.

Pull all the marketing levers

Every Marketplace has a different suite of levers tools and features designed to help you attract ready buyers to your product listings, and then convert them to the sales process. Make sure you know all of the ones available on your chosen Marketplace – perhaps sponsored listings, price promotions, multibuy deals, banner ads and newsletters.

Learn how to use all of them; experiment with what works for your brand. Then establish a proactive schedule for continuously working each of them, to make sure your listings not only stand out – but keep flying the flag to attract the attention of busy prospective buyers, especially in a scrolling second!

Test your images

This retail environment is visual selling at its most intense. There’s no way to capture your customers’ attention with touch, taste, smell – so you need to wow them with your imagery.

But not ‘any imagery’: and it may not be the sort of images that have worked for you in print.

To work for online selling, it must work hard, saying to your prospective customer at a glance ‘we know what you need, and we can give it to you.’ So, first of all, understand what matters to your desired customer in that purchasing stage: whether that’s the dream, the experience or the ease and outcome of using your product. It usually comes down to giving them a gut feel – but is an emotional connection or a functional one best what your customer is looking for?

For example, we find that lifestyle shots work the best for furniture/home accessories and product shots on a white background for technical products.

Beta test both if you are not sure what will work for your products.

Monitor the market

Even when you’ve made your decision, and your Marketplace store is performing well, never take your eye off the ball. This is a very dynamic environment, and things change very quickly. That makes it very exciting – but also very time-consuming.

It’s time worth spending, though. Just remember: knowledge is power. So, get the right resources in place, be diligent in watching competitors’ offerings and pricing – make sure you are in line, or offer something unique to justify a customer giving you the sale (which can be a product, packaging or bundle, or simply the way in which you present the spec or back story).

By staying on top of the market trends and economic events, you can adapt quickly to ensure you appeal to more potential buyers, and remain relevant to existing customers.

And if you’re not sure about any of this, give me a call and I would be happy to talk you through it.

Or simply have a look at some of the managed services we provide, and clients we provide them for.

Ready to take your first Marketplace step?  Contact roz@tymeonline.co.uk  today, and let’s get started!