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Online E Commerce Marketplace : The Primary Type Of Multichannel Ecommerce Essay

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An online marketplace (or online e-commerce marketplace) is a type of e-commerce site where product and inventory information is provided by multiple third parties, whereas transactions are processed by the marketplace operator. Online marketplaces are the primary type of multichannel ecommerce. In an online marketplace, consumer transactions are processed by the marketplace operator and then delivered and fulfilled by the participating retailers or wholesalers (often called drop shipping). In general, because marketplaces aggregate products from a wide array of providers, selection is usually wider, availability is higher, and prices are more competitive than in vendor-specific online retail stores. The shift towards ‘marketplaces’ is taking place as companies try to find a new balance between the following priorities:  Maximizing capital efficiency  Maximizing customer delight (selection, post purchase experience etc), and  Minimizing logistical complexity (which helps to maximize scalability) The need to find a new balance is triggered by scarcity of capital. As long as capital was freely available, most ecommerce companies focused heavily on the customer experience, which was best served by an inventory model. As capital tightens, these companies must now balance the need to delight customers with the need to build a viable business. These are platforms that enable a large, fragmented base of buyers and sellers to discover price and transact with one another

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