How can a marketplace support your community?

The success of any online community depends on member engagement and the incentives put in place to help them become more active.

Think about the participation ladder and how members' behaviour is rewarded with the likes of:

• Exclusive access to content

• Acknowledgement of contributions

• Profile badges or status signifiers 

Each incentive is relative to the level of engagement and encourages members to continue investing their time in your community.

For many community leaders, integrating an online marketplace can be a fantastic way to get members more involved and allow them to benefit financially.

While a marketplace can open new doors for your online community, it’s important to recognise that it can also bring its own set of challenges. 

The purpose of an online marketplace is to facilitate a transaction between a buyer and a seller. Creating a smooth payment flow is therefore crucial for a good buyer experience and to ensure the buyer completes the transaction when they reach the checkout. 

In this article, we’ll cover the benefits of a marketplace for your online community, why payment flows matter, and how Stripe Connect could be the answer.

What is a marketplace?

A marketplace is a popular type of e-commerce platform that allows for the trade of goods or service between a buyer and a seller. In fact, third-party sales through marketplaces are predicted to be the largest and fastest-growing retail channel by 2027. 

There are many reasons why people are drawn to online marketplaces, whether it's buyers looking to support smaller businesses or sellers hoping to benefit from the reach and credibility of your platform. 

But what’s this got to do with community?

Community is all about connection, and online marketplaces are no different. The very essence of a marketplace is to connect two types of people in one space.

Some very well known marketplaces that aim to match the right seller with the right buyer include:

• Rental opportunities with Airbnb

• Finding local drivers through Uber

• Products from unique businesses on Etsy

• Freelance services via Fiverr

Integrating a marketplace into your community

Adding a marketplace to your online community provides an extra level of ‘stickiness’ to your platform. That’s because a marketplace naturally makes the community more rewarding for its members. 

Let's say you have a rug-making community.

Part of your community offering might be a membership for online classes or in-person workshops to help members perfect their skill. 

If you decide to introduce a marketplace to your community, established members could sell their rugs after completing your classes. This not only encourages members to take part in the workshops and share their creations, but it also provides the mechanisms for them to earn money.

What are the benefits of a marketplace for your community?

Introducing a marketplace to your online community can lead to:

Better engagement

Members are more likely to stay active and contribute when the value exchange is transparent and fair. This engagement isn’t just about making money, but also contributing valuable content and participating in community activities. 

Organic growth

Sellers promote the marketplace for you, helping to drive new traffic and potential members. If we go back to the rug-making marketplace, some buyers may be interested in taking your membership workshops as a result of seeing what others have been able to create. 

Loyalty

When your community members are also your marketplace sellers, they become advocates for your platform. This loyalty is driven by the benefits that members receive from their active participation and contribution to the marketplace.

Does your marketplace payment gateway matter?

Yes - for the buyer, for the seller, and for the success of your marketplace! 

Everyone who uses an online marketplace wants the payment processing to be simple, efficient, trusted, and secure. 

For a seller, one of the main advantages of a marketplace is that the platform handles the payment gateway and payment flows. This allows the seller to focus on their craft or service, instead of worrying about how the money exchange works.

Buyers want reassurance that their money is safe and will reach the buyer with no delay or complications. They also want an easy-to-use system that keeps customer satisfaction high.

The marketplace payment gateway you choose can be the difference between a buyer completing their order and giving up during the checkout process.

A staggering 70% of online shoppers abandon their cart, with some of the main reasons being tied to payment issues: 

• Too long/complicated checkout process (22%)

• There weren’t enough payment methods (13%)

Your payment gateway should enhance the user’s positive experience, and reinforce your community’s reliability and reputation.

What is Stripe Connect?

If you’ve made an online payment before, the chances are at least one of your transactions has gone through Stripe. 1% of all money spent globally in 2023 went through Stripe - equating to $1 trillion in transactions!

Over the years, we’ve helped many companies build marketplaces, and we highly recommend and trust Stripe Connect for payment processing. 

Stripe Connect is the market leader for marketplace payments, is easy to integrate, and allows you to handle transactions between multiple parties and route funds accordingly. 

Stripe offers different configurations of the Connect product to suit various needs: 

• Stripe Connect Standard

• Stripe Connect Express

• Stripe Connect Custom

Depending on the size of your marketplace, where your buyers/sellers are based, and your preferred levels of customisation, will depend on what type of Connect account is best for you.

Setting up your Stripe Connect payment flows

Payment flows involve the movement of money from buyers to sellers, sometimes with an intermediary. In marketplaces, such as Etsy and Uber, the platform takes a commission before passing the remaining funds to the seller. 

Stripe Connect automates these processes by handling both the pay-in (buyer to platform) and payout (platform to seller).

Stripe Connect’s payment flows can be confusing to understand at first, which is why you’ll be referred to one of Stripe’s partners to help you through the process. 

We have plenty of experience integrating Stripe Connect into community marketplaces and would be happy to help you through this process. We’re also on track to become the UK’s first approved Stripe Connect partner!

Streamline money movement for your community's marketplace

At Steadfast Collective, we build custom Stripe Connect integrations for web applications, including marketplaces. If you’re looking to set up a tailored payment flow that works for you and your marketplace sellers, let’s talk! 

Our development team routinely works with community leaders to get their marketplaces up and running quickly and smoothly.