Marketplace development: features, best platforms, tech stack, and benefits

Marketplace development: features, best platforms, tech stack, and benefits

Types of marketplaces we build

Itransition delivers feature-rich marketplaces to connect retailers, manufacturers, or suppliers with their customers and help increase incoming traffic, boost conversions, and streamline sales for every business model.

B2C marketplaces

We develop B2C solutions that allow sellers to offer their products directly to the target audience and ensure convenience for customers with various delivery and payment options.

B2B marketplaces

Itransition builds business-to-business marketplaces that streamline procurement processes and order management and enable buyers and suppliers to track their transactions.

P2P marketplaces

We develop secure peer-to-peer marketplaces that work as mediators between individuals who sell products or services and people who buy them, bringing regular profit from sales and listing fees to the site owner.

Multi-vendor marketplaces

Multi-vendor marketplaces built by Itransition can host multiple storefronts where established brands can sell products, manage their accounts, and interact with customers.

Crowdfunding platforms

We create crowdfunding solutions that enable individuals and organizations to raise money for specific initiatives and projects from people on the internet.

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Why choose Itransition

20+ years of experience in ecommerce development

Enterprise-wide Ecommerce Center of Excellence

Certified Adobe and SAP Commerce developers and consultants

Listed as a Top Ecommerce Developer 2022 by Clutch

Recognized in the IAOP’s Excellence in Strategic Partnerships program

Acknowledged as a Modern Application Development service provider by Forrester

Client spotlight

Product feed creation system

+25%

sales growth

Itransition built an SAP Commerce-based feed generation system for promoting products on marketplaces. The system doubled the feed creation speed for a multi-category online store selling products across 10,000+ categories.

Internal talent marketplace

2x increase

in internal recruitment

Our AI-powered internal talent marketplace provides a 360-degree view of the company’s talent pool. The solution helped our HR team to cut the mean lead time for an opportunity by 15% and reduce onboarding resources by 5x.

Patent management platform

Lower

transaction costs

We delivered a blockchain-driven patent management solution with advanced search tools and AI-based analytics. It enabled our client to automate monetization processes and bring transparency to the intellectual property market.

Product feed creation system

+25%

sales growth

Itransition built an SAP Commerce-based feed generation system for promoting products on marketplaces. The system doubled the feed creation speed for a multi-category online store selling products across 10,000+ categories.

Internal talent marketplace

2x increase

in internal recruitment

Our AI-powered internal talent marketplace provides a 360-degree view of the company’s talent pool. The solution helped our HR team to cut the mean lead time for an opportunity by 15% and reduce onboarding resources by 5x.

Patent management platform

Lower

transaction costs

We delivered a blockchain-driven patent management solution with advanced search tools and AI-based analytics. It enabled our client to automate monetization processes and bring transparency to the intellectual property market.

Product feed creation system

+25%

sales growth

Itransition built an SAP Commerce-based feed generation system for promoting products on marketplaces. The system doubled the feed creation speed for a multi-category online store selling products across 10,000+ categories.

Internal talent marketplace

2x increase

in internal recruitment

Our AI-powered internal talent marketplace provides a 360-degree view of the company’s talent pool. The solution helped our HR team to cut the mean lead time for an opportunity by 15% and reduce onboarding resources by 5x.

Patent management platform

Lower

transaction costs

We delivered a blockchain-driven patent management solution with advanced search tools and AI-based analytics. It enabled our client to automate monetization processes and bring transparency to the intellectual property market.

Key marketplace features

We equip our marketplaces with essential functionality and add advanced features on demand to help businesses attract customers and vendors globally and reach their growth and development goals.

Marketplace administration
We equip marketplaces with comprehensive features that allow owners to effectively manage all aspects of the platform on their own.
User and account management Content management SEO tools
Marketplace analytics Website performance monitoring Security
Multi-vendor management
We build solutions that give you complete control over vendor relationships and help you meet their needs.
User onboarding Vendor administration
Personalized commissions and fees Automated billing management
Multiple revenue models
Depending on your requirements, we can integrate multiple monetization models to give retailers more options and diversify the ways your marketplace generates profits.
Subscriptions Commissions Sign-up fees
Publishing, listing, and transaction fees Freemium A mixed model

Essential characteristics of marketplaces

Itransition follows industry standards and trends to deliver high-quality marketplaces that meet the expectations of both businesses and customers.

SEO-friendliness

We create a clear site structure and ensure fast page loading to optimize marketplaces for search engines, helping our clients increase organic traffic and improve their search rankings.

Stable performance

We make sure our marketplaces perform all their functions consistently, load fast on all devices, and handle sudden traffic spikes during peak shopping seasons.

Our developers implement security mechanisms on multiple layers of the marketplace to prevent cyber attacks, protect data, and ensure safe online transactions.

Scalability

We make our marketplaces flexible to easily handle the growing number of users and expanding operations volume, enabling the software to adapt to your changing business needs.

Responsiveness

We create responsive, mobile-optimized marketplaces that automatically adjust the content to the screen size and deliver consistent user experiences regardless of the devices used.

User-centricity

We design visually appealing and intuitive websites that provide seamless journeys for all marketplace users.

Our marketplace solutions for different industries

We build vertical marketplaces tailored to the specific needs of different industries or niches, helping businesses reach out to their target audience more effectively.

marketplace solutions for different industries

Retail

Our ecommerce development specialists can create high-performing platforms for selling and buying products, promoting brands, and reaching new customer segments.

Travel

Our travel marketplaces connect travel agencies and customers, showcase different sightseeing tours and holiday packages, and offer additional trip-related services.

  • Search filters by location, date, price, or tour category
  • Listing pages with tour or lodging thumbnails
  • Popular destinations or recommended tours sections
  • Tour or lodging page with integrated maps
  • Various registration options
  • Communication through message bots or live chats
  • Reviews and ratings for tours, agencies, and places
  • Secure online payments

Elearning

With our online learning marketplaces, students and teachers can get specialized tools for organizing an effective educational process.

  • Simple user registration and authorization
  • Student profiles with personal data, purchased courses, points earned, and certificates
  • Dashboard for student progress analytics
  • Course page with detailed descriptions and introductory videos
  • Course-building and editing tools
  • Admin panel
  • Reporting
  • Email or message notifications
  • Gamification features, such as badges, points, and ratings

Logistics

We develop transportation marketplaces that remove friction in finding, buying, and selling freight shipping services and building customer trust.

  • Easy onboarding for carriers
  • Convenient comparison of several transportation options for shippers
  • Instant quote generation
  • Automated in-platform feedback loops
  • Fintech solutions for flexible driver payouts and tax payments
  • Real-time shipment tracking
  • Ratings and reviews for carriers

We build reliable healthcare marketplaces where users can sell and buy pharmaceuticals and medical equipment and get services from health consultants, health insurance firms, as well as healthcare and telemedicine service providers.

  • Orders and reservations placement and automated processing
  • Product comparison capabilities
  • Product information including FDA and other certifications
  • Store locator and product availability information
  • Video and audio conferencing and live chats
  • Online appointment booking
  • Compliance with GDPR and HIPAA

Real estate

Itransition delivers accommodation rental marketplaces that connect homeowners offering their property for rent and potential tenants.

  • Advanced search filters by property type, pricing, availability dates, facilities, and number of rooms
  • Guest and host pages
  • Map integrations
  • Messaging system with multi-language and translation support
  • Relevant accommodation recommendations
  • Reviews for real estate owners and tenants
  • A secure payment system with multiple payment options

Finance

We provide secure financial solutions that connect borrowers and investors and can handle high transaction volumes.

  • Admin panel with data and user management tools
  • Integrations for document management and funds processing
  • Fundraiser’s dashboard for viewing transactions, making repayments, monitoring payout schedules, and managing offerings

Build an online marketplace for your domain with Itransition

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Platform-based vs. custom marketplace development

Our developers can build custom marketplaces from scratch as well as set them up using the world's most trusted platforms. Regardless of your choice, our experts will support you throughout the development process and foster the long-term growth of your marketplace.

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

Time to market

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

6 to 12 months.

Starting from several weeks.

Cost

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

The cost of solutions built from scratch is higher due to the expertise, time, and labor required.

Out-of-the-box solutions are more cost-effective and have a lower total cost of ownership.

Features available

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

Bespoke marketplaces can have a custom feature set tailored exactly to your business model, industry, and requirements.

Platform-based solutions have ready-made templates and features covering basic business needs.

Customization opportunities

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

Custom development enables businesses to create fully-customizable marketplaces.

Platform-based development provides limited customization options because of the ready-made templates. However, we can expand the solution’s capabilities by installing additional plugins or API integrations.

Integrations

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

While custom marketplaces don’t come with pre-built connectors, they are commonly developed using open-source or widely-used tech stacks, which means software developers can create bespoke integrations with most third-party software. 

Marketplace platforms typically come with essential out-of-the-box integrations, such as payment gateways, a search engine, and analytical tools. If there are no pre-built connectors, platform-based marketplaces can also be integrated with third-party systems through custom development.

Scalability

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

Marketplaces can be built with flexible architectures, allowing owners to add numerous components and integrations to the website to better align it with the business’s growing needs.

Scalability depends on the platform’s capacity. Generally, vendors offer additional storage space, features, and integration options to accommodate companies’ increasing demands.

Regulatory compliance

Custom marketplaces

Platform-based marketplaces

When building custom marketplaces, technology partners should implement relevant mechanisms that protect user data and ensure compliance with international and local security standards and niche market guidelines.

Usually, vendors of out-of-the-box marketplace platforms take measures to ensure compliance with the major payment and data security regulations and provide tools that help merchants meet security requirements in their industry.

Top 6 marketplace platforms

Although all leading marketplace development platforms offer a wide range of customizable templates, built-in features, and integrations for a quick store setup, they have distinctive capabilities and limitations that companies should consider when choosing a marketplace provider.

A flexible and scalable platform that can be used for setting up fully-functional B2B, B2C, and multi-vendor marketplaces.
Key features
  • A free Magento Open Source and premium Adobe Commerce editions
    Individual custom branding, account, and storefront for every vendor
    Admin dashboard and vendor management tools
    Assisted inventory and order management for individual sellers 
    Powerful search across different vendors and faceted navigation
    Commission management tools
  • Adobe Sensei AI-powered product recommendations for customers
    Numerous extensions and plugins for adding required functionality
    Ability to respond to customer feedback
    Order management tool for orders from different sellers
    Social media integration
    Multi-lingual support and regional extensions
    Amazon sales channel
Limitations
API-based customization calls for vendor-sponsored developers A steep learning curve
Target companies
Medium B2B and B2C merchants Large-scale B2B and B2C merchants
Pricing
Custom pricing on demand

Marketplace development tech stack

After analyzing your project requirements, the future solution’s complexity, and your growth plans, we select best-in-class technologies to build fast-loading, secure, and scalable marketplaces with the necessary features and modules.

Hosting platforms

DigitalOcean GoDaddy

AWS Cloudflare (CDN)

Shopify On-premises hosting

Front-end technologies

CSS

JavaScript (Angular, React)

HTML

Back-end technologies

JavaScript (Node.js) PHP

Python Java

.NET

Databases

MySQL

MongoDB

Firebase

Modules for Adobe Commerce

Checkout, payment, and shipping

OneStepCheckout for faster checkout Abandoned cart emails Shipping rules Subscriptions and recurring payments Various modules for payment and shipping methods

Social media

Social login for faster registration

UI

Layered navigation with advanced filters Mega menus GDPR compliant UX

Admin

Admin actions log for several users in the admin panel irrespective of their roles Advanced reporting tools

Extensions

SMTP extension SEO extensions

Optimization

Google Page speed optimizer Cache Warmer Lazy Load Other extensions based on the product quantities, content volumes, etc.

Module for SAP Commerce

SAP Commerce Marketplace Management by Mirakl

Custom marketplace development

We select technologies based on the project requirements

Marketplace development roadmap

1

Research

Idea validation Niche, competitor, and target audience analysis Budget planning
  • Business analysts Project managers

2

Planning

Requirements analysis Feature set selection Defining architecture, tech stack, and integrations Team selection
  • Business analyst Project manager

3

Design

Hands-on prototyping
Specification review
Technical sketching
UX/UI design

  • Tech team:
    Architect
    Tech lead
    Project manager
  • UX/UI design:
    Analyst
    UX/UI expert
    Graphic designer
    Project manager

4

Development

Coding  MVP development Integration with other systems
  • Architect Tech lead Front-end developers Backend developers Project manager

5

Quality assurance

End-to-end acceptance testing and expert supervision
  • Analyst QA engineers Project manager

6

Deployment and support

Deploying the final project Post-release testing On-demand support
  • DevOps engineer Tech lead Support engineers

Online marketplace development cost

The cost of marketplace development services ranges from $100,000 for platforms with basic functionalities to $250,000+ for solutions with advanced feature sets, multiple integrations, and embedded advanced technologies.

Marketplace development cost factors

Sourcing model
in-house team, local development agency, freelancers, outsourcing development agency

Type of marketplace by participants
B2C, B2B, P2P, crowdfunding, NFT

Type and quantity of software integrations
CRM, ERP, inventory management, analytics, accounting, PIM, SEO, marketing automation, live chat

Scalability and data storage size

Custom or platform-based development

Number of user roles
admins, managers, vendors, customers, guests

Marketplace type by industry
ecommerce, travel, healthcare, e-learning, rental, logistics, finance

Number and complexity of features

Benefits of building a marketplace

For owners

No personal risks or expenses related to product manufacturing, inventory management, or order fulfillment Large-scale operation and high revenue due to the involvement of multiple vendors  High user acquisition rates due to the growing site traffic and extensive sales opportunities

For vendors

No expenses on building and maintaining an ecommerce website Streamlined sales due to process automation Higher profit margins ensured by constant customer flow Improved brand awareness with better search engine visibility Lower marketing costs with the marketplace’s effective promotion campaigns

For customers

Best deals available from various vendors Easy comparison of products, prices, and vendors Trust towards the established platform Convenience due to buying everything you need in one place

Learn how a digital marketplace can drive your business growth

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FAQs about marketplaces

Why are online marketplaces important?

What is an example of a marketplace?

How to choose the perfect marketplace development platform?

What are the common challenges of online marketplaces?