E-commerce and Marketplace in UX Design

In this article, we’ll learn how a marketplace differs from an e-commerce store. We’ll explore how they differ in their functioning and why a UI UX designer should know about this.

What is the difference between an e-commerce and marketplace?

A marketplace is where many sellers offer products and services in a single location. A vegetable market, a flower bazaar and a shopping mall are all examples of marketplaces. Likewise, we have online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. Here, many sellers / businesses make their products available.

When a seller / business opens their own online store to sell their own products, it is an e-commerce store. In real-world, it is just like a standalone shop we encounter every day in our neighbourhood. Take a kirana store, a garment shop or a footwear store near you.

Two of the more popular e-commerce stores in India are Nykaa and Bigbasket. E-commerce stores buy their products, store them and sell on their online stores.

Why learn about this difference?

Why should a UX designer learn how a marketplace and e-commerce store differ? In what ways do they differ? Let’s find out.

Ecommerce stores target only one or two product categories. There might be many subcategories though. But, at the topmost level, they offer products only in a couple of categories.

Let’s consider Nykaa – it offers products in Makeup and Beauty Care categories. Only women use the website. Even within the women users, only those in a specific age group visit the website. Once you understand this, you know how to design (for them).

Contrast this to a marketplace. It has dozens of categories and many more subcategories under each. The marketplace will also used by people in a wide range of user demographics.

To design a marketplace, adopt a different strategy and use relevant techniques.

For example, consider Amazon.com. Each category has many sub-categories and sub-sub-categories. Amazon’s users belong to many age groups, geographic locations, and psychographics.

How will you design for marketplaces?

Your approach and design strategies will be very different.

Keep in mind: always keep your users in mind when designing. That will inform most of your design decisions.

YouTube video in Tamil: E-com Store, Marketplace Explain & UX Designers should know the difference

E-commerce and Marketplace in UX Design