It only takes a day to build your marketplace with District—But there are six steps that marketplace founders need to take between concept formation and launch day.

1. Create the concept
Decide what products or services or will be sold, who your target buyers and sellers are, and how you’ll attract them to your marketplace. Make sure to do research on the current market so you have a clear picture of the unique value proposition you can provide to the community.

2. Map out the user experience
Determine the feature set and product needs for your marketplace: listing tools, discovery feeds, live selling shows, user profiles, payment systems, customer support, shipping solutions. Map out the end-to-end user experience and determine how you want your community to engage with each other.

3. Define the business model
A marketplace’s business model, or way of generating revenue, usually includes one or more of the following: seller commission fees, listing fees, seller subscriptions, and membership subscriptions. It’s critical for your marketplace’s business model to align with what and how your products are being sold.

4. Build the marketplace
You can choose to build your platform from scratch by hiring a development team or work with us to have your marketplace launch-ready today. There are several considerations including budget, timeline, feature set, technical capabilities, user support plan, and more.

5. Populate with listings
Before launch, you’ll want active, ready-to-purchase listings on your marketplace. Reach out to sellers in your product category who may be a good fit. Or if you’re a seller yourself, create your own listings to get started.

6. Launch your marketplace
Create a go-to-market plan for launching your marketplace. Invite a trusted group of users as a soft launch to refine the experience. Make an announcement and marketing push to attract more buyers and sellers. The goal is to generate network effects in your marketplace so the user experience gets better as you grow.

These are some of the key considerations when starting your own marketplace. If you’re interested in starting your own, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Community team.