The Pros and Cons of Selling on Marketplaces Versus Personal Dairy E-commerce Websites

In this digital era, businesses have caught up to the idea of having a prominent online presence. It’s not a question of whether or not you should sell online, but more about exploring the different options of selling online. Let’s understand the diffrence between selling on marketplaces versus personal e-commerce websites.

The Pros and Cons of Selling on Marketplaces

After working on many e-commerce projects, I have realized some of the top pros and cons of selling on marketplace websites vs personal e-commerce websites. Pros of Selling on Marketplace Websites Faster Up Time. Marketplace sites such as Amazon, Awesome Dairy, and Shopify provide better customer service. This is because these sites have a faster response rate, a large amount of optimization work done for the user experience. You will have a wider variety of products to choose from so customers are more tend to select from the marketplaces. You can choose from a wide range of areas and much more benefits of platforms. Cons of Selling on Marketplace Websites Price Friction with other sellers. Selling on online marketplaces has high prices because they are usually so large.

The Pros and Cons of Selling on Personal Dairy E-commerce Websites

Selling on personal e-commerce websites is appealing for a number of reasons. The platform is so welcoming and inclusive, with features and a cost structure that is affordable. Selling on marketplace websites is very different, however. While it’s easy to reach a broad range of consumers, you have to provide a professional level experience and service to your customers. Many marketplace websites have personal homepages with just a few buttons, a little research, and products. From there, you’re on your own. You don’t even get to “promote” your business through attractive campaigns or marketing with ads. You have to do all that on your own and to set up your own marketing would be an additional piece of work in your plate then. The advantage to marketplace websites is that they are usually free for business owners and have a vast inventory.

What are the benefits of selling on marketplaces?

1. Marketplaces are affordable When considering how to sell on marketplaces, there are many potential benefits. This is because the cost of selling on a marketplace is significantly less than a personal e-commerce website. The cost of selling on the marketplace ranges from $2 – $50, whereas it takes about $1,000-2,000 to set up a personal website with the best user experience. On top of that, you have to deal with lower SEO rankings and a smaller amount of traffic. If you want to have a website that garners a lot of traffic and adds a lot of revenue, marketplaces may not be the best option for you.
2. It’s easy to choose the right products to sell When you sell on marketplaces, your products need to fulfill a certain set of requirements. So, you need to find items that have a high demand but are easy to sell.

What are the benefits of selling on e-commerce websites?

1. Easy to Manufacture Multiple Products One of the major advantages of selling on e-commerce websites is the ability to manufacture multiple products. While you will still need to have a brick-and-mortar storefront, you can also supply products to various websites. You’ll be able to service other buyers across your serviceable area, providing them with an opportunity to purchase unique products from your catalog of goods.
2. Unique Selling Proposition Another advantage of selling on e-commerce websites is the ability to leverage your unique selling proposition. In business, this refers to a company’s unique value proposition – the reason why you are different from other businesses.

What are the drawbacks of selling on marketplaces?

Cons There are a few drawbacks when selling on marketplaces. The seller on these marketplaces needs to be adaptive to the platforms, as platforms are changing day by day with technologies, sellers need to go through the documentation and do the necessary changes as required.. As a seller, your customers’ needs are the least important. And your customers are at the top of your priority list. With some online marketplaces, you have to market yourself to get sales. It’s not as easy as just listing an item on a marketplace, because this is where buyers are going to spend their money. With that being said, your buyers are more apt to buy items that are unique, eye-catching, and well-priced. That’s not easy when your audience is using platforms such as Amazon and Awesome Dairy etc. You have to go where your customers are. This is also why selling on marketplaces can be a challenge for some sellers.

What are the drawbacks of selling on e-commerce websites?

Marketplaces are great for businesses that are looking for mass reach without focusing on profitability. But, there are some drawbacks of selling on personal Dairy e-commerce websites. First and foremost, you must take into account how much you are willing to pay for the development. It’s also more expensive to set up a personal site with the best backed dedicated web hosting resources. Another thing is that you have control over the advertising portion of the website so that you can get traffic to your online store.

Conclusion

In some aspects, the choice is clear. Having a more visible and recognized brand via an online platform is advantageous. There is also the fact that marketplaces such as Awesome Dairy offer an array of additional features including discounts, promotions, and making your own Dairy Mobile App. Do you have any experience selling on a marketplace? How do you determine which solution best suits your needs? This post is part of our contributor series. The views expressed are the author’s own and not necessarily shared by ASD.

About the Author

Amol Ghodke is one of the requested consultants in the dairy industry, Since the last 15 years, he has been actively involved in different facets of the dairy business such as rendering training, effective branding, potential sales, marketing, etc, for top organizations such as Topfoods-(S.A), Marmum Dairy Farm (Dubai), Awesome Dairy (Mumbai), Sri Surabhi Dairy, etc to name a few.