The demand for online marketplaces has been steadily growing among individuals and organizations. According to reports, the eCommerce market has been growing by more than 18% annually. P2P marketplace is one of the effective business models and is fast replacing traditional eCommerce websites. In fact the popularity is such that it is expected to touch around $355 billion by 2025. Peer-to-peer marketplace is a great way to start a scalable business. What is a P2P marketplace? P2P marketplace connects people who need products with people selling them. Products or services can be both bought and rented. Basically it handles payments while connecting supply with demand. Though it comes under the eCommerce platform it is different from an ordinary eCommerce website. In a marketplace it is possible for the users also to sell products which is not possible in an eCommerce website. Users can have their own storefront where they can add products, get ratings and can control sales which is not possible through an online store. P2P marketplace business model It is much easier to set up a peer-to-peer website than an online store. Maintaining an online store requires considerable effort and time as you will have to bring the buyers and sellers together, set prices etc. On the other side as a marketplace owner you are not selling anything, you are just providing space for people to exchange goods or services. People need certain goods or services which others can provide. Users can play both roles, a buyer can become a seller and vice versa. The very name peer to peer comes from this. Your role is to make the platform as comfortable as possible. It is easy to create a peer to peer website with the help of web developers from reputed development agencies like SDI thereby creating a lot of value for your platform. Benefits of building a P2P marketplace 1. More convenient and flexible As an owner you can change the niche anytime you want thereby giving you a lot of flexibility. Since you don’t produce goods you need not invest in manufacturing. Visitors attract each other and sellers will start coming to your website as the number of buyers increases. Marketing is much easier compared to an online store. You need to give only the initial push, your visitors will do the rest. Just make the site recognizable. 2. Easier to create and low startup costs As mentioned it is easy to create a P2P marketplace especially when you hire specialists from website development companies like SDI who will know how to create an effective website or app. Investing in inventory is expensive for most industries, but here you don’t have to pay for inventory since the sellers will create it themselves. Startup costs are much less due to this factor. 3. Can cover a wide area An online platform can give you a lot of geographical freedom, as the users are not limited to your place or location. Also you offer only a platform for buyers and sellers to meet, therefore the responsibility of delivering goods doesn’t lie with you. 4. Profit You can earn money with less effort. You don’t need to manufacture, find suppliers or bother about shipping. Your visitors will be both buyers and sellers. You just need to ensure that your platform functions well and is able to attract visitors. How to Create a successful P2P Marketplace Website and an App You need to find unique ways to attract visitors as there is a lot of competition in the market. Here are a few steps for creating a successful peer-to-peer website and a mobile app. 1. Attractive and functional design The design should be both attractive and highly functional. This is imperative to attract and retain visitors. With more and more purchases being done on mobile, tablets etc. the design should be something unique to have an edge over your competitors. 2. Navigation The visitor should find it easy to buy or sell products. It should be easy to navigate else people may start avoiding your platform. The navigation system should be fast and highly effective. 3. User experience Invest in user experience and look at the marketplace through the visitor’s eyes so as to understand their needs and demands properly. It will help you cater to them in the best possible way. UI/UX design should be optimized for both big and small screens and also from the viewpoints of both buyers and sellers. Create a highly user friendly interface and solve problems before they arise. 4. Decide on your development model Take the time to determine your development model. There are three main options, custom development, a ready made platform, and SaaS. Under custom development you are building the platform from scratch which means you have all the freedom to choose your technology, platform etc. This is ideal among all the three. A ready made platform is ideal if you want to make your website fast, but here the uniqueness gets affected as the features and functionalities are not chosen by you. The third one, Saas(Software as a Service), the development is faster and you may not need a technical team but in this model there are serious concerns regarding safety as well as customization. Partner with SDI SDI specializes in P2P marketplace development and have built several scaled platforms that are doing well in several international markets. Our team is highly focused on platform development and we will be very happy to build a highly effective and innovative platform for you. Call us at 408.621.8481 or email us at team@sdi.la to create a highly secure and scalable peer-to-peer marketplace platform.