What Is an Online Marketplace? A Guide for B2B Teams

An online marketplace is a platform where various third-party sellers offer their products or services to buyers. Unlike standard eCommerce stores, marketplaces don't own the inventory; instead, they create conditions for transactions and take a commission or subscription fee. There are three main parties involved in a marketplace: the platform operator, the seller (vendor), and the buyer.

The marketplace model comes in many formats depending on the nature of the buyers, the products being sold, and how the platform earns money. The most common type is the B2C marketplace, such as Amazon or Allegro, where multiple third-party sellers offer products to individual consumers. On the B2B side, marketplaces include procurement hubs, wholesale platforms, and industry-specific supply networks. These platforms often have longer purchase cycles, invoice-based payments, and approval workflows before orders are placed.

When a B2B team considers adopting the marketplace model, it's essential to understand the differences from standard eCommerce stores, the specific needs it addresses, and the operational and architectural changes required. Marketplaces require a multi-tenant data model, with each vendor having their own product catalog, order stream, and payout account, which is fundamentally different from the architecture of single-vendor eCommerce platforms.

A B2B marketplace can be a suitable option for companies with an existing supplier network, a wide and diverse catalog that's too large to manage individually, or a desire to become the central point in their industry's supply chain. However, standard eCommerce platforms are not designed to handle the complexities of a marketplace, such as vendor onboarding, commission structures, order splitting, and settlement layers.

Implementing a marketplace model typically requires building a second platform alongside the existing one.