The eCommerce platforms are ruling the world with giants like eBay, Amazon and other such platforms having such humongous valuations and customer base.
But did you know that Amazon, eBay and other such platforms don’t trade their own products but invite other vendors and manufacturers to sell their products on the eCommerce platforms? These platforms don’t have their own product but they rather invite different brands on their platforms and earn from each trade.
Technically speaking, these eCommerce platforms where one can invite both sellers and buyers to sell and buy products are called marketplaces.
Since the advent of the marketplaces, the concept has evolved tremendously and there have been many different adaptations of the concept over time.
One such adaptation of the concept is the niche marketplaces where the marketplace is developed, personalized and dedicated to a certain industry or set of categories. One such marketplace concept that has been highly adapted is a photo book marketplace!
What is a photobook marketplace?
A photo book marketplace is a B2C eCommerce platform where photographers and photo book designers can sell their own creations to their customers. Right from wildlife photographers to graphic designers and storytellers, anyone can create their own photobook and sell it on the marketplace.
To help you understand different approaches of photo book marketplaces, below are the types of business offerings that one can make on a photo book marketplace:
Reseller market:
One of the most common photobook marketplace approaches is inviting different vendors, sellers, photographers and designers to sell their creations on the marketplace.
Exclusive photo book collections:
In this approach, the photo book marketplace is used as a platform where customers can buy exclusive photo book collections from renowned photographers and designers. In this approach, the platform collaborates with the designers and photographers and asks them to create exclusive photo books for their platforms using an online photo book software.
Customized and personalized photo book marketplace:
In this approach, the customers can hire the photographers, designers and creators on the platform to create a personalized photo book for them using the photo book storefront solution of the marketplace.
To help you better understand such approaches, we have created a list of platforms that have successfully applied one or more of these concepts and are disrupting the photo book business marketplace Industry.
- AbeBooks:
One of the trading platforms that deal in photo books from different renowned photographers with advanced search and filter options. Not only can you search for sellers and buy their collection but you can also register as a seller on the platform.
- Gelato:
For those who wish to design, print and sell their photo books to their customers from one single platform, Gelato is one such successful print-on-demand service provider that lets creators design their own customized photo books and also empowers them to sell them to their customers with Shopify and Etsy.
- Photobook Collective:
This platform is photo book exclusive where users can buy, sell and trade photo books. Right from promotions and discounts with membership appreciation programs to the “Want to Buy” section for advanced search and wish list features; this is a perfect marketplace example for modern-day digital photo book trade.
How to create your own Photobook marketplace:
- Niche Personalized Multivendor website platform:
To invite designers and photographers to your platform, you need a personalized business photo book marketplace. Since your target audience and your target market are defined, you must ensure that the website modules and business processes are designed keeping in mind the photographers, designers and buyers of photo books. Have niche-specific modules such as a gallery, promotions, memberships and other such features to attract the right audience for your platform.
- Online photo book design software:
Photographers, designers are creative artists who require their collection to be personalized and presented in the best way possible. To ensure that they can have ample customization capabilities and that they can design their own photo books without any external help, you must have online photo book design software integrated into your marketplace.
Get an ideal photo book design tool that comes with a huge template library and other such photobook specific modules and features to attract an audience to your platform. With this tool, you can also inspire photographers and designers to design their own exclusive photo books for the platform and sell them to their audience using your marketplace.
- Print-on-demand module:
To mitigate the risk of dead stock and to ensure that your business is optimized to run on minimal resources, having a print-on-demand business model is essential for your business. Let photographers and designers create virtual designs of their photo books that they can directly upload on your platform without the need for physical print and once your end customers place an order, you can send the print-ready file of the photo book to your printer and get it shipped without creating any inventory.
- Niche-specific features and personalized user experiences:
Just like other art collectable items, photo books are also rare collections and they can generate a greater yield when preserved for a long time. Thus, make sure that you create detailed follow-up and marketing automation modules for optimum profitability and lead conversion ratio. Have exclusive collection and membership advantages for your audience to create a sense of exclusivity around your customers or you can also provide discounts to your valued customers. All this can be done with a marketplace that has ample user-personalization modules integrated on its platform.
Selling art is also a work of art:
Photobooks and other art collectables are considered to be luxurious trades and such trades require attention to every aspect of the business. Create a delightful user experience that can ensure positive word of mouth for your platform and help you create a brand that is trusted in the photobook market.