What is Online Marketplace?
An online marketplace is a website or app where many sellers list products and customers buy from them, with the platform handling the storefront and often payment and delivery.
Updated
Meaning
English
An online marketplace is a website or app where many sellers list products and customers buy from them, with the platform handling the storefront and often payment and delivery.
Roman Urdu
Online marketplace woh website ya app hai jahan bohat se seller apne products lagate hain aur gahak un se khareedte hain; platform dukaan, aur aksar payment aur delivery sambhalta hai.
Also called marketplace, e-commerce platform, online bazaar.
Example
A shoe shop in Lahore lists 80 styles on a marketplace as well as selling at its counter. Every online order must come out of the same stock, so a pair sold at the counter is not also sold online.
How it works
Marketplaces bring customers a shop could not reach on its own, but they charge commission and fees, set the rules on pricing and returns, and own the customer relationship. Many Pakistani sellers use them alongside a counter, a social media page and their own website.
The main operational risk is stock. Selling the same items in several places from separate stock counts leads to cancelled orders, which marketplaces penalise. One stock across all channels, updated as each sale happens, prevents it. Compare channels by profit after fees and returns, not by sales.
In Nafaa
Nafaa brings online orders into the same account as the shop, so they take stock from the same shelf as counter sales; the channels connected are listed under Settings, Sales channels.
Related terms
- GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)
GMV is the total value of goods sold through a platform before fees, returns and discounts are taken off.
- COD (Cash on Delivery)
Cash on delivery means the customer pays when the order is delivered, not when it is placed.
- Escrow
Escrow is when a neutral party holds a payment until both buyer and seller have done their part.