Last updated - January 9, 2024
During the global pandemic, e-commerce is experiencing an unprecedented boom, which affects the number of buyers on many popular platforms. For example, the popular Etsy platform had over 90 million active customers in the first quarter of 2021. And this site is not yet the most popular in America.
Amid this surge in popularity, many entrepreneurs also want a piece of this pie and many wonder about the cost of building a marketplace website. In this guide, we have collected all the information you need to get ready to build your own website. So without further ado, let’s get started.
What Type of Websites Are There?
Before discussing development costs, it’s worth starting from scratch. All marketplaces are divided into several types that you should know about.
Type #1. Vertical Marketplaces
The main feature of such websites is that many sellers trade on such platforms, but the types of goods are always the same. Let’s take the Zillow website for clarity. On this platform, anyone can place an advertisement for the sale or lease of real estate. As a result, we get a website with many offers, but they are all limited to only one topic.
Type #2. Horizontal Marketplaces
Horizontal websites differ from vertical websites in that they list products for sale in many categories, but they all have something in common. For example, Etsy only sells handmade products, but there are eight categories. DogVacay has a wide range of services to suit pet shoppers. I think you get the point.
Type #3. Global Marketplaces
Global e-commerce websites are the most popular in the marketplace as they provide a huge variety of products from thousands of different sellers. All broths are distributed in dozens of categories ranging from toys to building materials. The main goal of such marketplaces is to provide fast and high-quality service at the lowest price. The most popular platforms of this type are Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress.
In addition, platforms can be divided by target audience:
- B2B (business-to-business) – such sites provide their services and goods only to other enterprises and are mainly wholesale supplies.
- B2C (business-to-customer) – this type of website allows either one or many businesses to provide their goods and services to ordinary customers. This is mainly retail.
- C2C (customer-to-customer) – such sites offer individuals to provide their services or goods to other individuals.
Needed Technologies to Build Marketplace Website
Marketplace websites are quite complex mechanisms that cannot be created without a certain technology stack. We have compiled a list of essential technical tools that can help you implement your own solution. All web development technologies are divided into two types of backend and frontend.
Frontend
Generally speaking, this is all that you see when you interact with the site. Various animations, buttons, menus, and other elements with which you can interact. The following technologies are used to create them:
- Angular
- JavaScript
- WebStorm
Backend
In the meantime, the backend is behind the scenes of websites and is responsible for making sure buttons, forms and other interactive elements work as intended. For example, without a backend, the login form will be a simple field to fill out, which does not lead anywhere. The main technologies for backend implementation are:
- Node.js
- EC2
- MySQL
- Swagger
- Express 4
- Sequelize
Integrations
This category includes additional tools that help to implement additional features. The main integrations for this kind of website are:
- S3
- PayPal
- Stripe
- Amazon SES
- Twilio
Main Features of Marketplace Websites
In order to make a useful layout place, it is worth including the main features about which we will now talk in more detail. A website and its features can be divided into two categories: customer features and seller features.
Features for Customers
Registration
This is an extremely important feature that allows users to use all the functions of the website and edit their profile. Often, the registration process is done through standard logs and a password, as well as through popular services such as Google, Facebook and Twitter.
User Profile
A personal profile allows users to make purchases more conveniently, track their status, communicate directly with sellers and support services, and also leave reviews about products.
Homepage
Landing page is the face of any marketplace that should immediately show what products the store sells, what promotions are currently in progress, and much more. The main task of a landing page is to hook customers and thereby push them to make a purchase.
Filters
A must-have feature for implementation, as it greatly simplifies users’ search for the necessary goods in a large assortment, using the necessary criteria.
Product Page
This page should contain detailed information about the product, its photos, reviews about it, as well as an intuitive ability to add a product to the cart.
Chat
Users will be happy if they will be able to contact the seller or supplier directly in order to get answers to their questions.
Shopping сart
Users should be able to add several products to the cart in order to go from it to the checkout process, where it will already be possible to work with various promotional codes, discounts and payment options for the purchase.
Features for Sellers
Registration
This process is similar to how regular buyers register, but sellers need to enter additional information such as company name, reviews, contact details, and so on.
Listing management
With the help of this feature, the seller can display the product, describing in detail its characteristics, setting the price and product photos
Chat
This feature is similar to what customers have and is aimed at communicating with customers.
Payments
The marketplace should enable sellers to control their income and change the methods of payment for goods.
Reviews
This section is needed to view product reviews and the ability to respond to them.
Сost to Make Marketplace
So, let’s take a look at the approximate cost of e-commerce website development with such functionality. We took an average Eastern European rate of $50 per hour as a basis.
| Feature | Approx time (hours) | Approx cost ($) |
| Sign up | 11 | $550 |
| Sign in | 27 | $1350 |
| Help screen | 26 | $1300 |
| User profile | 60 | $3000 |
| Homepage | 89 | $4450 |
| Shopping cart | 134 | $6700 |
| Add listings | 165 | $8250 |
| Product details | 41 | $2050 |
| Payouts | 25 | $1250 |
| Change account type | 60 | $3000 |
| Seller subscription | 50 | $2500 |
| Admin panel | 136 | $6800 |
| Total | 824 | $41,200 |
Development Cost
Also, do not forget that your approach to development affects the price of development. You have three options for how to develop your own marketplace:
Hire freelancers (cheap, but unreliable and not suitable for long-term partnerships)
Build your own in-house team (very expensive and time-consuming, but you have full control over the development process)
Turn to outsourcers (reasonable pricing policy, guaranteed good results)
In addition, each region differs in its average rate, which will also affect the overall price tag of marketplace development. For example:
- Eastern Europe – $41,200 ($5 /h)
- Central and Western Europe – $82,400 ($100/h)
- USA – $123,600 ($150/h)
- Australia – $82,400 ($100/h)
Choose a region and a development method based on your own financial capabilities and preferences.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, developing your own marketplace is a rather expensive process that requires clear planning and knowledge of what kind of website you want. However, all investments will pay off rather quickly, since the niche is experiencing an unprecedented growth in popularity and entry into it carries minimal risks.
