Hard Brexit vs. Soft Brexit
The British government has held a referendum wherein the majority of British citizens voted to leave the European Union. This phenomenon has been popularly named “Brexit” by the media. The fact that Britain will leave the European Union is certain. However, there is still a lot of uncertainty regarding the terms on which Britain will […]
The War on Cash
Governments all over the world are fighting a war on cash. It is a known fact that the governments do not like cash. However, what is not clearly known is the reason behind it. What is it that makes governments all over the world unanimously abhor cash and pass legislation to control or even curb […]
Debt to Equity Conversions
Debt to equity conversions is one of the most commonly used tools in the bankruptcy universe. These transactions allow companies to convert their long outstanding debt into equity shares within the company. These transactions enable companies to better manage their cash flow during the bankruptcy process. The details about debt to equity conversions have been […]
Uber’s New Businesses
Uber is already a well-known brand across the world. Technically, the company is still a startup. However, Uber has a valuation of close to $70 billion. Also, the company is planning for an aggressive IPO. It is estimated that Uber’s post IPO valuation will be close to $120 billion. This is phenomenal given the fact […]
Hindsight Bias
There are several cognitive biases that affect our ability to think clearly about financial investments. One such bias is called the hindsight bias. Over the years, the effect of hindsight bias on the value of investor portfolios has been significant. This is the reason that we will have a closer look at what this bias […]
In the previous articles, we have already studied the aggregator as well as the marketplace business models. These two types of business models have taken the start-up community by storm in recent years. Many start-ups which have become successful and have gone on to become unicorns are using some variants of this model in different industries.
From a student’s point of view, it is very important to understand the difference between these two models as well. They may appear to be quite similar to the average person. However, there are some subtle differences that make these models markedly distinct from each other. These important distinctions have been explained in the article below:
An online marketplace can be considered to be a representation of a real-life marketplace. Hence, just like a real-life marketplace, there are lots of brands that sell their products on the website. Even if the marketplace is a vertical marketplace i.e. it deals with only one category of goods, the marketplace will generally provide multiple brand options to the customer. It has been observed that aggregator websites generally specialize in a single industry whereas on the other hand marketplaces sell goods and services which cut across several industries.
By definition, the marketplace provides different types of sellers to sell products on the site. Hence, the quality levels maintained by each of these sellers can be quite different. Customers are aware of the fact that the product quality can vary drastically if they choose to buy different products from the same website.
For instance, if a customer books a cab from Uber, they expect the terms and conditions to be seen regardless of which individual cab driver provides the service to them.
On the other hand, if the customer deals with a marketplace, they know that different types of sellers are selling products on the marketplace. Hence, the terms and conditions can be very different.
For example, the terms and conditions for sale may be different when the customer purchases a laptop from Amazon than when the same customer purchases a book from Amazon. In some cases, the terms can conditions can vary even if the customer chooses different brands.
The aggregator is the one that sets the price in an aggregator model. The prices set are binding upon the service providers in case they want to provide the service.
On the other hand, marketplaces allow the service providers to select their prices within a certain price range. For instance, if a person wants to buy a laptop from Amazon, they could get multiple price quotes from different sellers for the same product. They can then choose a service provider depending upon other factors.
However, in the case of an online marketplace, the marketplace may charge a listing fee to the seller. Once the seller posts the product on the website, the marketplace may charge a commission. This commission is generally a fixed percentage of the selling price. The service provider has complete freedom to choose their selling price. However, they have to pay a commission based on that selling price.
The bottom line is that even though both online marketplaces and aggregators appear to be quite similar, the business models are very different. The key factors which make an online aggregator successful are very different from the ones which make an online marketplace more successful.
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