{"id":10467,"date":"2022-01-13T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cs-cart.com\/blog\/?p=10467"},"modified":"2025-07-24T12:34:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T08:34:47","slug":"how-to-build-supply-for-your-ecommerce-multi-vendor-marketplace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cs-cart.com\/blog\/how-to-build-supply-for-your-ecommerce-multi-vendor-marketplace\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketplace Seller Management: How to Build Supply for Your eCommerce Marketplace"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tweaking your supply growing strategy to the best-match providers’ characteristics and needs<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Quality supply is a winning point in going from a “catch-22” problem of new virtual multi seller marketplaces (suppliers don’t join an eCommerce platform with no consumers, customers don’t come if there are no sellers), to a positive feedback loop (a high number of quality suppliers attract customers, while more consumers encourage sellers to join).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

eCommerce marketplace platforms<\/a> are trying to build supply using various approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Country Culture<\/a> is finding the best artisans in distant corners of the country offline, OpenTable<\/a> is engaging suppliers to the online marketplace store by offering them a great standalone software to cover their business needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To acquire the best vendors, both, approaches that work for all sellers, and those that are suitable for a particular shopping mall type, should be taken into account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/span>1. Tips and Tricks to Build Initial Supply<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1.1 Finding sellers\u2014the important points to consider<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Besides the detailed guidelines in our How to attract sellers on your marketplace article, there are few other important points to bear in mind when building initial supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Focus on local market-by-market strategy<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When you create a marketplace<\/a> and start searching for sellers, define from the outset what kind of supply network your eCommerce mall represents, whether it\u2019s a blockchain marketplace<\/a> facilitating decentralized transactions or a traditional multi-vendor platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As considered in our article about The most common challenges with creating an online marketplace<\/a>, there are two types of suppliers’ network. The global type, like Airbnb, grows naturally, and all virtual multi seller marketplace<\/a> clients win from a new supplier that is joined from any geo since clients can travel anywhere on the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if a virtual mall network is the root density type, like Uber (more suppliers-drivers that are joining a multi vendor platform<\/a>, are enhancing only a certain geo where they join), then it would be better to build supply starting from a certain geo niche.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This helps to avoid losing supply that was initially built successfully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Corey Quinn, the founder of\u00a0MyTherapistMatch.com<\/a>, an online marketplace store to find therapists,\u00a0describes\u00a0it as a “mistake of launching nationally.” Even though the suppliers were joining actively, the eCommerce shopping mall platform<\/a> was launched on the national level, and, while the locally-targeted ad was the most effective to attract customers, driving leads for all therapists over the country, especially in tricky geos, was too costly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, it was impossible to ensure demand for all the suppliers, to motivate them to stay on the eCommerce marketplace platform<\/a>. If the eCommerce mall embraced its local market first, it would be able to build a solid supply at one geo, and then move into the next largest market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Find a source where you can gain both customers and suppliers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

While building an online marketplace<\/a> store requires taking care of two sides\u2014customers and sellers, it would be possible to win both sides simultaneously if you define places like online forums, social network groups, and offline conferences, where both can be found.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It helps to solve the catch-22 or the chicken and egg problem (sellers don’t join a virtual multi seller marketplace with no demand, customers don’t come if there is no supply) in one fell swoop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is possible when suppliers themselves are the early adopters as customers, like in Fril<\/a>, the online flea marketplace store (now acquired by Rakuten), where women are selling their clothes to each other, enabling supply and demand at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Etsy enabled supply by attracting a huge community of artisans, which were actively buying from each other as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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1.2 The arguments to persuade suppliers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are particular steps to run successful negotiations and convince sellers to join an eCommerce multi vendor marketplace:<\/p>\n\n\n\n