The Online Marketplace Advantage

Revolutionize your business with the power of marketplaces

In today’s digital-first economy, marketplaces are growing at twice the rate of overall eCommerce - and proving that traditional eCommerce is no longer enough. With The Online Marketplace Advantage: Sell More, Scale Faster, and Create a World-Class Digital Customer Experience, the duo behind more than 300 of the world’s most successful marketplaces reveals the strategies every enterprise needs to take the lead.

Through dozens of case studies, real-word examples, and proprietary marketplace research you’ll learn:

• How to turn the marketplace model into your business’ competitive advantage
• The make-or-break decisions for launching an industry-leading enterprise marketplace fast
• The best practices to achieve marketplace scale, and the most common pitfalls that separate the winners from the losers

With The Online Marketplace Advantage, discover the complete playbook you need to break through with a successful, scalable marketplace strategy that puts your business on a path to unprecedented growth – permanently.

Introduction: The Marketplace Imperative ix

Chapter 1 Our Marketplace Discovery 1

Chapter 2 Defining the Marketplace Opportunity for Retail 19

Chapter 3 The Marketplace Revolution Comes to B2B 37

Chapter 4 Designing Your Marketplace Strategy for Maximum Impact 59

Chapter 5 Make-or-Break Marketplace Best Practices at Launch and Beyond 95

Chapter 6 Feeding the Flywheel -- Scaling Your Marketplace 117

Conclusion: The Marketplace Revolution Rolls On 167

Acknowledgments 177

Author Bios 181

Index 185

PHILIPPE CORROT is the co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl, the industry’s first and most advanced enterprise marketplace SaaS platform. A self-taught business leader, he is a three-time founder who launched his first company at the age of 20.

ADRIEN NUSSENBAUM is the co-founder and co-CEO of Mirakl. He has over 14 years of entrepreneurial experience, both as a company founder and as an advisor to retailers in the throes of company transformations.

eCommerce has permanently reshaped the way business is done across the world. But traditional eCommerce business models are no longer sufficient amidst the rise of online marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba, which are growing at more than twice the rate of digital commerce overall. Despite this momentous shift, most enterprises are unprepared to adapt to the new business reality.

In The Online Marketplace Advantage: Sell More, Scale Faster, and Create a World-Class Digital Customer Experience, Philippe Corrot and Adrien Nussenbaum, lifelong digital entrepreneurs and co-founders of the world’s leading marketplace platform, deliver a seminal exploration of the online marketplace strategies that businesses need to thrive today.

Featuring case studies from dozens of leading organizations and data-backed insights from hundreds of the world’s most successful marketplaces, The Online Marketplace Advantage proves that digital giants do not own the marketplace model. The book brilliantly pulls back the curtain, showing readers what it takes to capture the profitable hypergrowth of this powerful new wave of commerce.

Your personal blueprint to becoming a leader in the new digital landscape, The Online Marketplace Advantage maps out how the eCommerce environment—and the expectations of customers across B2B and B2C industries—has evolved. The authors demonstrate the immediate and long-term benefits of marketplace scale as they detail the steps each company must take, describe the challenges they’ll face, and highlight the successes within their reach.

The Online Marketplace Advantage offers you a step-by-step guide to launch and scale your own marketplace, fast. It’s an indispensable resource for aspiring and current eCommerce business owners, managers, and leaders written by the global leader in enterprise marketplace creation and design.

Praise for THE ONLINE MARKETPLACE ADVANTAGE

“Philippe Corrot and Adrien Nussenbaum, founders of Mirakl, realized very early on the power and potential of the marketplace business model. To capitalize on this opportunity, they built the industry-leading enterprise marketplace technology company from the ground up. Mirakl has successfully helped numerous companies, including Macy’s, develop marketplace strategies, build the technology and operations, launch the platform, and grow their business. The Online Marketplace Advantage is a must-read for anyone who has considered the potential a marketplace can bring to their business model.”
—JEFF GENNETTE, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Macy’s, Inc.

Revolutionize your business with the power of marketplaces

In today’s digital-first economy, marketplaces are growing at twice the rate of overall eCommerce, and proving that traditional eCommerce is no longer enough. With The Online Marketplace Advantage: Sell More, Scale Faster, and Create a World-Class Digital Customer Experience, the duo behind more than 350 of the world’s most successful marketplaces reveals the strategies every enterprise needs to take the lead.

Through dozens of case studies, real-world examples, and proprietary marketplace research you’ll learn:

• How to turn the marketplace model into a competitive advantage for your business
• The make-or-break decisions for launching an industry-leading enterprise marketplace fast
• The best practices to achieve marketplace scale, and the most common pitfalls that separate the winners from the losers

With The Online Marketplace Advantage, discover the complete playbook you need to break through with a successful, scalable marketplace strategy that puts your business on a path to unprecedented growth—permanently.