Recap of Our Webinar ‘Getting Into Marketplaces?'

Viewer Ratings: 5/5

‘Excellent insights into a way of thinking from a B2B marketplace owner point of view. Raises some good points on how you approve sellers’,feedback from a webinar participant.

High attendance shows significant interest from B2B companies in marketplace strategies!

High number of signups for our webinar ‘Getting into Marketplaces?’, staring Director of Commerce Strategy, Karie Daudt, Perficient and our own Sr. Product Manager, Aaron Pickrell, HCL Commerce, showed us in advance of our session that Marketplaces is a hot topic that many in the ecommerce field focus on – and maybe also struggle a little bit with?

Our webinar was meant to create that initial understanding on what a marketplace is and why you as a B2B company should consider adding a marketplace to your ecommerce strategy. Ratings and feedback from our attendees show that we managed to deliver the answers that helped our participants proceed on their journey.

If you did not attend the webinar, you can watch the talk at any time here.

Three key take aways – and an invitation to join a marketplace round table!

Here are three high level take aways from the webinar.

1.Strategy first – technology as a driver

Technology is only the enabler. The foundational elements such as knowing what your strategy is and what business problem you are looking to solve should be at the center of your attention. No one should start by thinking: ‘We need a marketplace’. Instead, identify the problem, i.e. ‘we need to get closer to our customer and understand more about the customer’ and work from there to identify the technology that will help you succeed. And the answer could easily be to activate the marketplace capabilities in your ecommerce platform.

2.It’s your brand, it’s your marketplace: Seller governance should be your top priority

When you decide that your business challenge can be solved through a marketplace, consider how you approach the operational side such as onboarding sellers. Remember that when you allow partners to sell through your marketplace their behavior, fulfilment speed, return policy etc. reflect back on you and your brand. Diligent seller qualification, onboarding and monitoring are key elements along with a granulated governance policy that allow for diversified levels of control.

And how about competitor products? Should you include them on your marketplace? Karie Daudt has some very interesting insights into that here.

3.Personalization is key in B2B

You want to sell to the moment of interest and therefore, two key factors should be on the top of your list when you implement a marketplace: Onsite search and personalization. It all starts with understanding your data and catering to the needs of your buyers by making relevant products and services easily available. Products themselves are often difficult to differentiate on. It is the accessibility, the understanding of your customers’ needs and the seamless experience they get on your new ‘one-stop-shop’ platform that makes all the difference. To them and to your sales success.

The first individual demos of our HCL Commerce Marketplace capabilities were requested immediately after the webinar. Considering the massive interest, we are now planning a series of industry specific round tables. If you would like to join, reach out to me today to get your name on the list.