PROVIDE VALUE TO THE BUYER
Find Where the Value Is within the Marketplace
Analytic data can be aggregated and rolled up based on categories, subcategories, or based on an industry within the marketplace’s offering.
For example, if the marketplace is selling commercial kitchen equipment, there may be a particular set of knives that have a material that is really selling well and getting a lot of interest in search, a lot of people dwelling on the knives and looking at them.
And then all of the sudden, a new seller offers a new type of knife that the marketplace doesn’t even offer yet, but you can see that there are search results where someone is searching for something and they’re not finding the exact item. Since there’s not a good match for their searches, they’re bouncing from the marketplace.
Looking at these aspects is a great way to do market research because what will commonly happen is, if a vendor isn’t available, if their new products aren’t available, then the marketplace is less valuable for the buyer. So really, it's not only possible to do the market research through the marketplace platform, but it's also absolutely critical to do it, because if an item isn't available in one marketplace, then the value shifts to a marketplace where they can purchase from.
Even if they can only purchase directly from the manufacturer, it's really important, where possible, to offer the maximum convenience and value within the marketplace. So this would be an opportunity for a product team to be able to reach out and try to build a relationship with the vendor, who might want to offer their items within the marketplace.