How to create a marketplace of goods

We consider the process of creating a product platform based on our Falcon Space platform. At the end of the article - a link to the demo solution.

In this article, we will demonstrate the process of creating your own product platform based on our Falcon Space platform. After reading this article to the end, you will clearly understand the main milestones of creating such a product, as well as see our implementation of the product marketplace. 

Key idea of the product marketplace

What is a marketplace? This is a platform that unites suppliers and buyers of goods in a particular industry. 

it is important for the customer to find the best offer from a reliable, trusted product supplier.it is important for a supplier to be able to easily place their products on the site, as well as to have inexpensive access to their products for the target audience.

The customer is looking for the supplier's product

The customer finds what they need through a catalog with flexible filters, adds it to the shopping cart, and places an order.

The supplier receives the order through their personal account on the site and then processes it (either off-site, or directly through the site interacting with the buyer).  

Main blocks of the marketplace

Catalog with categories and filters

Serves to navigate the buyer through the General catalog of products from all suppliers represented on the site. 

Multicorzine

The customer finds the products they need through the catalog and puts them in a single basket. 

Orders

The Customer places an order. They can place an order with a specific supplier, or immediately place an order for everything in the shopping cart. 

Supplier's account

The supplier uses it to add new products, as well as track and process orders on the site. 

Customer's Office

Allows you to keep an order history and interact with the supplier on your orders. 

Administrative roles of the system

These are operators, moderators, site Manager, developers - i.e. people who ensure the site's work on various issues.

What the process of working on the marketplace looks like

The process may differ in detail from one site to another. And it depends on the specifics of the industry (wholesale, non-wholesale, delivery, warehouse, payment, unified nomenclature or not).

You need to make this process so convenient that you can link either Suppliers or Buyers to the service. One of the parties should be as interested as possible in working through the site.this Is especially true for B2B.

Our demo on the site of services

The Demo can be viewed heremarketplace.web-automation.ru

Do not rush to go and watch - I suggest that we walk together here, and then you will be able to click on the demo buttons on your own. 

Marketplace catalog

In the catalog, the user can either enter nested categories, or use the filters on the left to find the products they need. 

By default, the folder has two types of display: a tile and a list. 

Filters are linked to product attributes. Each category can have its own attributes and filters, and filters are inherited from the parent categories. 

The catalog allows you to flexibly configure the layout of products, as well as determine the composition of the output: display the price or not, put the add to cart button or not, etc.

Product page

Output data about a specific product. The layout can be made for the project. 

Output of a gallery of images with the ability to increase, output of product attributes, the ability to view all product offers from various suppliers for this product. 

Shopping cart and checkout

Displaying the user's shopping cart, managing shopping cart items, and the order form. The order form can be changed for the project and contain additional business logic in accordance with the project requirements. 

Supplier's account - Dashboard

Supplier's account - managing the catalog

Supplier's account - profile

In the supplier's account, the user specifies their data. You can change the contents of fields and add your own business logic.

Supplier's account-orders

Managing incoming orders. When creating an order for the supplier's products, the supplier receives a notification via the site. You can also get notifications via the telegram bot or email. 

Buyer's account

The Buyer also has similar elements: they can change their profile, view their order history, and interact with the supplier on the order. 

We will not give screenshots of the customer's office here. You can view the pages on a live demo. To do this, you need to log out of the Supplier's account and register in the system as a buyer (the link is in the Demo's basement).

Admin's account

There is also an admin dashboard where you can manage your product range and track key metrics in the marketplace. 

You can also upload products in bulk via Excel in your merchant profile. Moreover, each category will have its own upload format in accordance with the composition of attributes in this category. 

Note.

• You can set up your own page familiarization wizard for each page. This is very important if the page interface involves many elements, and it is difficult for a person to understand it at once.
• For promo pages (including the main page), you can make a separate landing page that is made up and embedded in the engine. It is important that the landing page is made adaptively and on the Bootstrap 4 layout. In this case, it will be easier to adapt it and later change it in the project.
• The functionality and appearance of pages can be significantly changed. we have created a solution so that it can be adapted to the project and developed to meet the changing business realities. 

Possible changes and deep customization of the solution are the main distinctive feature of the Falcon Space platform

What is included in the Product marketplace solution

The main parts of the solution we offer: 

• The Falcon Space box itself. Falcon space is more of a platform for creating business applications, rather than a specific solution for a business task.
• The solution of the auction. This is an add-on for basic auction functions with the ability to develop them to suit your needs. This is a very important point. The solution can be further developed and adapted to your needs.
• Configured hosting (or VPS server), domain, SSL. We can configure the application on your Windows Server, or host it (for example, Reg.ru tariff win 0 - this is more than enough).

Product platform expansion points

We believe that any boxed solution can and should be customized.

We implement the basic solution and Refine the solution to the desired state through project work.

Any solution on Falcon Space contains multiple expansion points: 

• you can create new accounting objects (new tables in the database).
• you can create new pages with forms and tables.
• you can change the business logic of existing pages.
• you can change the appearance of pages and customize the project's styling. 
• you can integrate with external systems via the universal API.

All this allows us to say with confidence that you can implement almost anything on the Falcon Space solution. In extreme cases, JS components are created for the project.

I like everything. Let's get started!

No need to rush. Creating a product marketplace is a risky business with a lot of pitfalls. 

It is necessary to work out the project's business risks to the maximum. Determine the composition of the first version. This determines the initial budget and timing of the system implementation project. 

The most important thing is to determine the consumer and what is important to them

90% of projects are done without taking into account feedback from the consumer. And as a result, after the launch, no one needs them, and there are no people who are willing to pay and spend time on the product.

First work out the marketing to the maximum, and only then take up the implementation - based on our Falcon Space auction solution.

Cost of developing the marketplace

'I want to make an analog of Wildberries, but for Kazakhstan. How much can it cost?' Don't be like these characters. This shows your complete incompetence and superficial approach to such a complex project.

At the beginning of the project, there is a lot of uncertainty, and implementation details are not spelled out. There is not all the necessary information for a more or less accurate assessment.the Cost is determined based on a specific volume (i.e. a detailed list of all system features). 

What can I do to make a preliminary estimate of the project budget and timing? 

1. Define the structure of all pages (divide them into offices/roles, and assign a list of pages for each role)
2. Define features for each page
3. Specify all necessary integrations with external systems
 

Such a document will already allow you to get a more or less accurate estimate (with a spread of +/-30%) for the budget and deadlines.& nbsp; for the cost of the auction box of services, you can find information on the page Ready-made solutions Product platform.

About the prices for the platform itself, you can see here.

What does the workflow look like?

Working on a web project

What else should you consider in your project?

Design

If a unique design is critical for your product marketplace, then it makes sense to create a front page: the main page, promo pages to attract an audience.in General, our system already has a good concise design by default. You can customize it for yourself-colors, sizes, font, etc.

The layout of the catalog and the location of elements can be changed for yourself. There are restrictions, of course, but these restrictions allow you to quickly create the folder you need for your needs. 

Marketplace promotion strategy

Think about promotion from the very beginning of the project. This will reduce the number of possible reworkings of existing functionality. Involve the promoter in the project at the earliest stage.the Falcon Space System has many SEO features by default, and you just need to use them correctly in your project.

Filling

Consider this expense item. At the beginning of operation, you will need to fill in the site catalog. This can be manually filling the folder, or filling the folder from an external source - via Excel or the API. In any case, this requires additional costs, which are better to immediately take into account in the project budget.

Volume 

The smaller the first version of the product platform is in terms of functionality for implementation, the smaller the budget, the faster the project will be implemented, and the faster you will get feedback from the consumer.

Try to remove everything secondary from the first version of your product

What we do and don't do

• We are the developers of the Falcon Space platform. We regularly improve the platform, add integrations, solve problems, Polish each component and create various business solutions on it.
• We provide all the technical side of the project: support the project, configure hosting, server, create new functionality for the project.
• We don't do design.
• We don't do promotion.
• We do not write texts for client projects. We are not translators.
• We realize your project vision in the form of a web application.

What about the mobile app?

If we talk about native mobile apps (those that are installed via the AppStore and Google Play) - we do not make them.Our platform is fully responsive to mobile devices. 

Falcon Space also supports the PWAtechnology. This blurs the difference between a mobile app and a website: you can create an icon on your phone screen, send push notifications and launch it as an app, there are geolocation functions, camera access, and some other functions.

Advantages of PWA

• This is significantly cheaper than making three separate apps: a website, IOS, and Android. The budget is reduced at times.
• You can make changes faster. In a native app, the update requires the user to reinstall the app on their phone. On PWA, changes will be applied instantly to all users, since data is requested from the server.
• There Is no unnecessary padding in the AppStore form. Long moderation, the possibility of refusing to publish.
• PWA is easier to install on your phone. Just a click on the button (on IOS it is a little more difficult-Share/Add to my homescreen)-it is difficult to force the user to install something on the phone. For security reasons, the amount of space you use on your phone.

Product market place Demo

Please follow the demo link to view our product platform solutionmarketplace.web-automation.ru

If you have any questions, please email us at Whatsapp

The Falcon Marketplace Solution is constantly evolving and new features are being added

We also recommend viewing the article about creating a service platform for the auction type.