How To Structure A Marketplace

techcrunch.com

20 pointskevinwdavid3 comments

The title is a bit misleading - it is more of a very basic explanation of how marketplaces work. As someone who runs a marketplace, I don't agree with him on most of his points about "liquidity" (and it's the first time I've seen this term used in this context). 30-60% conversion is also unheard of, I'm wondering if he's also using it differently than the normal meaning for the word.

I think he means 30-60% of the items listed sell, not 30-60% of the visitors sign up. Not sure how you count this when you expect repeated transactions - perhaps for AirBnb it means properties are booked 30-60% of the time. Liquidity is also about the sellers at the marketplace, not it's owners successfully exiting.

I found the point about (de)centralization of different aspects of the marketplace interesting, can you point me to more advanced resources about marketplaces?

Check out http://platformed.info/ the author has some great articles about marketplaces

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