Marketplace style website finished. Next step?

Zander1983

Hi
Im a web developer and I've just recently completed a marketplace style website for Ireland (people can start an online shop, advertise their items, get paid for an item through paypal and post the item to customer).
Im looking for advice on the next step...how to get suppliers and how to get customers...
Also, I have no capital at the moment...
Any advice would be great, thanks.

YouBuyLocal

Whats the niche? What types of buyers sellers are you talking about?

I have two developers working on something like this but we know how to get the buyers/sellers/customers/users/contributors/etc because we are targeting a specific niche and offering a service that nobody else is doing.

Zander1983

Its quite similar to www.etsy.com (I did not know etsy existed until, half way through the project, I met an IT consultant who pointed out the similarities). But in my websites case, the suppliers must be from Ireland...Have you any advice on gaining exposure/suppliers?

YouBuyLocal

Depends upon the niche, what types of sellers you are trying to attract. Is it producers or just any sellers you are targeting?

What did you think of the programming? How comfortable were you? Do you enjoy it and what scale of a project do you envision this to be? You'll have to be crafty about the revenue streams if you want this to be solely an Ireland-based platform in competition with players like Etsy, Ebay, DoneDeal, etc. This is a difficult space and you need an edge on these guys to pul traffic away from them.

iphone999

It is a very hard market to crack. There are not many people in Ireland that actually buy on the internet ( well that is what I have found ).
I run 4 websites ( ecommerce ) and sales in Ireland are always small.
I sell more on EBAY but I hate paying there fcuking fee's
I would be very interested ( greatfull ) in listing the items that I sell on your site
Send me a pm with the website address if you want

Gambler

If I was launching an Etsy site then I'd do something like contact knitting and craft shops around the country and ask them if you can put a poster up in their shops. Ask them what publications are popular among their customers and see if they have any suggestions for good places to advertise your site.

That's assuming that you are looking to get crafts type people to sell their products of course - If you were looking for farmers to sell their produce then I would do the same thing but go through cattle markets and other agricultural businesses.

Basically if you aren't already involved in the industry and don't currently have any major contacts in that area then identify people in the industry that aren't going to see you as potential competition and give them a call and see where they would recommend you advertise and if there's anyone worth talking to. Most people are happy to help someone who's in the start up stage as long as they aren't helping the competition

Zander1983

YouBuyLocal wrote: »

Depends upon the niche, what types of sellers you are trying to attract. Is it producers or just any sellers you are targeting?

What did you think of the programming? How comfortable were you? Do you enjoy it and what scale of a project do you envision this to be? You'll have to be crafty about the revenue streams if you want this to be solely an Ireland-based platform in competition with players like Etsy, Ebay, DoneDeal, etc. This is a difficult space and you need an edge on these guys to pul traffic away from them.

I've actually almost finished the site, took me about 6 months to do. The programming was ok but really it is a 3 or 4 person project, not one. The suppliers would be Irish based (in a study, Ebay and Etsy suppliers lamented the amount of new Asian sellers on those sites selling at very low prices). Also, with only irish suppliers, it gives the site the "irish" brand. The buyers, I would hope, will be mainly international.

Zander1983

Gambler wrote: »

If I was launching an Etsy site then I'd do something like contact knitting and craft shops around the country and ask them if you can put a poster up in their shops. Ask them what publications are popular among their customers and see if they have any suggestions for good places to advertise your site.

That's assuming that you are looking to get crafts type people to sell their products of course - If you were looking for farmers to sell their produce then I would do the same thing but go through cattle markets and other agricultural businesses.

Basically if you aren't already involved in the industry and don't currently have any major contacts in that area then identify people in the industry that aren't going to see you as potential competition and give them a call and see where they would recommend you advertise and if there's anyone worth talking to. Most people are happy to help someone who's in the start up stage as long as they aren't helping the competition

Thanks for this advice, this is what I think I will do

Zander1983

It is a very hard market to crack. There are not many people in Ireland that actually buy on the internet ( well that is what I have found ).
I run 4 websites ( ecommerce ) and sales in Ireland are always small.
I sell more on EBAY but I hate paying there fcuking fee's
I would be very interested ( greatfull ) in listing the items that I sell on your site
Send me a pm with the website address if you want

I've actually done some research and the amount of money been spent by Irish people online is soaring at the moment. Its increased by 30% in each of the last 2 years. Also, I would hope that I wouold have a mix of international and Irish buyers. I'll pm you the site, so let me know what u think

the groutch

after hours answer: go on Dragon's Den

real answer: radio is still one of the strongest forms of advertising

RATM

For getting people who make crafts to sell on the site you need to get a good telesales person to go ringing your target market. Incentives like free fees for the first X amount of sales would help.

But my guess is the bigger problem is your search ranking on Google, Bing, etc.
To get any traction I'd imagine you're going to need someone who is sh1t hot at SEO & PPC and even then success is not guaranteed. The likes of eBay have the buying power to outbid you on keywords so it is a very tough nut to crack. If you cant get page 1 of Google you'll have to look at other inventive ways of getting the word out.

Fries-With-That

Zander1983 wrote: »

Hi
Im a web developer and I've just recently completed a marketplace style website for Ireland (people can start an online shop, advertise their items, get paid for an item through paypal and post the item to customer).
Im looking for advice on the next step...how to get suppliers and how to get customers...
Also, I have no capital at the moment...
Any advice would be great, thanks.

Hi Zander1983,

I'd be interested in seeing your site.

I have been mulling over an online sales idea for the past few months, but I don't have the expertise to actually set up a website.

My idea would put buyers and sellers together in a mutually beneficial way.

Every good website needs a hook, sales websites need something that keeps buyers/sellers and browsers interested.

My idea is the hook, there are lots of sellers out there, many of them would love to have an online marketplace, there are lots of people looking for a bargain, my hook is what brings them together.

My idea involves using what is already established and generates millions of euros in turnover on an annual basis, and if the price is right these established income streams would be prepared to take a fraction of their business online.

The best part of the idea is, the seller wins, the buyer wins and the browser is motivated to return time and again to see whats on offer.

You have a high hit ratio on a daily basis and you charge a small amount for each advert.


If you're interested let me know.

Regards,

Fries.

Zander1983

Hi
Have you got a site up and running? Im actually interviewing people with a business background to partner with before August 4th when I have a pitch to the NDRC. Currently Im on my own. What sort of background are you from? What sort of a market place site are you interested in? Mine is an Etsy.com style site. PM me as I cannot PM anyone since I dont have enough posts - but I can reply
Cheers
Mark

Fries-With-That

You have a P.M.