“Marketplace” is an English term, now commonly used in Italian as well, which refers – according to the Cambridge Dictionary – to a place, usually in an open area, where objects are sold, a market. In the digital world, sales travel on 2 tracks, e-commerce and the marketplace, which coexist and represent one extension of the other. The main difference between the two models is that the former supports a single seller, while the latter allows multiple sellers to offer products or services through the same storefront.

Purchase process
For end customers there is no difference in the purchasing process, which always takes place harmoniously within the same website. A marketplace can be imagined as a shopping center where visitors, driving their own trolley, can buy products from several vendors, even very different from each other. The Casaleggio e Associati report shows that European marketplaces reached a value between 120 and 150 billion euros in terms of turnover in 2021, and that Italy is the country most familiar with this type of platform. In fact, in the same year, 98% of online shoppers made at least one purchase from a marketplace. This trend of digital markets pushes many companies that already have an e-commerce site to expand their sales channels by also positioning their offer on one or more marketplaces.

The advantages
A marketplace platform allows you to offer customers a wider and deeper assortment through a single search within a large "container". A positive and well-structured shopping experience allows you to sell multiple products (similar or related) with a single transaction, and at the same time increases the chances of customer loyalty. A bit like when at the shopping center we put a pack of sugar in the trolley, positioned on the shelf a few centimeters from the coffee. There are different types of marketplaces, which differ according to the service or product offered and the type of market they address for the exchange (b2c, b2b and c2c). The marketplaces that deal with a single type of product or a single product sector are called "vertical", while the "horizontal" ones offer various types of products and services. Verticals are, for example, ManoMano (where only DIY products are marketed), and Wine.com (where only wines and other spirits are sold). Examples of horizontal marketplaces, on the other hand, are Amazon, eBay and Etsy.