Building an online marketplace is a necessity, more than just shifting your business online. Before we discuss how much it costs to develop a B2B marketplace, let’s explore other aspects of building a B2B marketplace website.
Let’s make it simple for you!
Businesses are shifting online in huge numbers, not because they want to mark their online business’s presence but because customers are preferring purchases through online channels to offline ones. According to a report, 2.64 billion people, a significant percentage of the global population, shopped online.
A number of reasons are there that are influencing people to make online purchases. Cost-effectiveness, variety of choices, convenience, privacy, offers and discounts are the primary motivations of this online shift. Moreover, fast and doorstep delivery is one of the few reasons to attract customers to shop online.
Especially, if we talk about B2B buyers, they are finding online trade more convenient. According to Digital Commerce 360, 7 out of 10 B2B buyers prefer to make purchases online when ready to buy. Resulting, B2B marketplaces have shown 100 percent growth in online purchases over the years.
If you are one of the entrepreneurs or business owners who want to build a B2B marketplace and want to know the development cost of building a B2B marketplace in 2025, this informative blog will guide you through all the necessary steps and information. Let’s read the entire blog carefully and make an informed decision:
A marketplace works as an intermediary between buyers and sellers that connects them on an online platform in order to buy or sell products or services online.
However, there are different types of marketplaces and are categorized according to their business model, category, niche, participants and more. Let’s explore different types of marketing below:
Example: Etsy and Uber are well-known examples of vertical marketplaces that target specific niches and audiences.
Example: Amazon and Alibaba are popular examples of horizontal marketplaces where buyers can find anything they need.
Examples: Amazon and Walmart
Examples: Amazon Business and Alibaba
Examples: Etsy and Poshmark
Examples: Nike and Casper
Examples: Upwork and Fiverr
Examples: Etsy and eBay
Online B2B marketplaces are gaining popularity these days. Especially, the way they are offering the ease of doing business online with the help of their B2B-specific features and functionalities.
There are a number of marketplaces that are positioning themselves in the B2B industries. Amazon Business, Alibaba, AliExpress, eWorldTrade and eBay are the leaders in the B2B industry well-known for their amazing B2B-specific features and functionalities.
Let’s explore the key features of B2B marketplaces that can help you lead the industry by delivering ease of B2B Trade.
1. RFQ Module:
Generally, B2B transactions are big compared to any other type of business transaction. Therefore, businesses need to negotiate in order to get the best possible pricing.
However, price negotiation is an integral part of any business. Especially, in the B2B industry, it plays a significant role where a small amount can have a big impact.
In B2B marketplaces, the RFQ (Request for Quote) module is the solution to the price negotiation. It helps both parties to negotiate on pricing.
RFQ module allows buyers (Businesses who want to buy) on the platform to request a quote for products and for sellers (Businesses who want to sell), it gives an option to reply to the request. These requests can be set for a limited number of times or can continue till the buyer does not grab the best deal.
2. Custom Invoicing:
The B2B orders are complex in nature. Each transaction has its unique needs that require customization. It may involve flexible payments, tax management according to the specific product categories, order quantity and more.
A customizable invoicing feature allows businesses to customize invoices tailored to their specific businesses and transactional needs.
3. Hide Pricing:
Hide pricing is another important feature for an online B2B Marketplace website. It allows the owner or administrator of a B2B marketplace to enable or disable the hide pricing feature.
However, it is advisable to compare both options in order to choose the most suitable one that best suits your marketplace.
Talking about the requirements of hide pricing in the B2B marketplace website, prices on the B2B platform may vary for the same product depending on quantity, quality and more.
At the initial stage, these price differences may disappoint buyers on the platform. Therefore, hide pricing provides an option to hide prices on the platform. On the other hand, it also allows businesses to discuss pricing while considering all the factors that may cause price differences.
4. Part Payment Option:
B2B order values are often high in numbers and may take a longer duration to deliver the final consignment due to customs requirements, larger quantities and several other reasons.
Meanwhile, initiating the final payment at the time of placing an order can disrupt the buyer’s business flow. On the other hand, processing orders without getting payment or payment after delivery may also cause inconvenience to the seller.
This is why, a part payment option is needed on the online B2B marketplaces. It provides an option to transfer a partial order amount decided mutually. Businesses can mutually discuss the repayment of the remaining amount in installments depending on order fulfillment.
This is how the part payment option lets businesses initiate payment in multiple phases as they often do in offline business deals without disrupting business flow.
5. Minimum Order Quantity:
Large volume orders are the core of B2B businesses. They also separate a B2B marketplace from a B2C marketplace.
The minimum order quantity feature allows sellers to restrict buyers from placing orders less than the minimum order quantity set by them. This feature helps sellers achieve their business objectives.
On B2B marketplaces, product pricing is decided considering various factors and business strategies such as order quantity and order value. Getting orders in less quantity may cause them loss to their business.
Let’s make the concept of restricting order on minimum quantity more clear through an example:
Suppose, you are a business that manufactures T-shirts and you have received a custom order for 20 T-shirts. Now you know that to fulfill this custom requirement, you need a lot of time, resources, materials, change in operations and many more such requirements which may lead to additional expenses higher than the order value.
In this case, you will have to bear the loss because the order quantity is less. However, more such scenarios can be there that can explain the need for a minimum order quantity restriction feature in an online marketplace.
6. Bulk Order Discounts:
Pricing transparency is always an important factor. At the same time, discounts, buying incentives and rewards are key considerations. These offerings attract buyers and encourage them to make purchases.
Likely, bulk order discount is the core feature of an online marketplace. It helps sellers to attract and engage buyers on the platform. In addition, bulk order discounts also encourage buyers to make purchases in the maximum possible quantities.
It benefits all the parties involved, buyers, sellers and marketplace owners. Buyers get value-for-money products, sellers accumulate more sales, and a marketplace generates more revenue.
Undoubtedly, marketplaces are helping businesses generate more revenue by providing them the opportunity to reach a wider customer base to sell products online.
Today, building an online marketplace is a strategy for businesses that can drive growth. These eCommerce marketplaces are not just helping businesses to sell their products online but are letting them expand their reach and so on. Below are a few key advantages of building an online marketplace. Let’s explore:
Broader audience reach is the biggest advantage of an eCommerce marketplace. It attracts millions of visitors regularly. Unlike an offline physical store, an online marketplace breaks all the geographical barriers allowing it to reach a wider audience. Visitors at physical stores are limited due to their area, but with an online marketplace, businesses can reach out to the global audience effortlessly.
One can run ad campaigns and showcase your products worldwide in order to boost your sales. The online marketplace lets you sell products overseas. The opportunity to reach a wide audience not only lets you generate more revenue but also helps you earn a loyal customer base along with earning brand recognition.
The eCommerce marketplace lets you generate more revenue than the brick-and-mortar store. On the other hand, it also helps you reduce your costs and increase profits. An online marketplace attracts visitors through multiple sources. Also, there is a wide variety of tools and resources that help a marketplace owner to get potential leads contributing to revenue generation.
Building an online store is always more cost-saving than managing a physical store. It requires less investment compared to a physical store.
Unlike a physical store, an online marketplace owner does not need to pay store rent. Also, there is no need to pay for store design, maintenance, workforce, inventory stock and more.
Scalability is another significant advantage of an online eCommerce marketplace. It allows you to expand your platform according to the business’s requirements.
Unlike a traditional physical storefront, it does not require physical presence, construction and infrastructure, movement of inventory, managing staff, relocating your business from one location to another and much more.
An online marketplace also saves time and effort when scaling your business. More importantly, an online marketplace has the ability to handle increased demand transactions on the platform without significant performance degradation.
You can simply scale your marketplace platform with the help of tech experts. In addition, compared to a physical storefront, scaling your marketplace platform is cost-saving and convenient.
Monetization is a crucial part of any business. An online eCommerce marketplace lets you generate revenue through multiple channels. A marketplace can charge listing fees for listing products on the platform. Others can charge a commission on each sale or can choose both revenue models.
Accordingly, marketplace owners can generate revenue through commissions, subscriptions, value-added services, transaction fees, product listing fees, advertising and more.
However, people often get confused between the business model and the revenue model. Let’s make it clear.
A business model refers to products or services that serve customers. On the other hand, the revenue model is the way to generate revenue for the business.
Undoubtedly, two companies may have similar business models, but the revenue model can differ depending on their preferences and business strategy.
Automation and streamlined operations are the key advantages of building an online eCommerce marketplace. Online marketplaces offer various tools and resources that help in managing marketplace operations effortlessly.
From automating order processing to initiating payments and managing inventory to completing final shipment. These marketplaces manage all the operations automatically.
However, online eCommerce marketplaces also allow third-party app integration to automate and streamline marketplace operations. There are many such operations that can be otherwise impossible to manage manually if a marketplace has a good number of transactions.
In addition, automation in the marketplace not only streamlines operations but also reduces the chances of errors and improves efficiency.
Another major advantage of building an online eCommerce marketplace is that it increases trust, visibility and credibility. Buyers feel more comfortable and secure when making purchases on a trusted online marketplace.
This sense of security and trust, on the other hand, helps a marketplace establish a loyal customer base contributing to repeat sales and referrals for the business.
Let’s understand the enhanced visibility of an online marketplace through an example:
Suppose you are running an offline store.
What do you think about how many people can see your brand or to what max you can reach out? limited customer base, right?
On the other hand, an online marketplace lets you target millions of customers worldwide contributing to enhanced visibility.
The cost of building a B2B marketplace website depends on various factors. Let’s explore the aspects that may influence the cost of developing a B2B marketplace.
1. Development Approach You Choose to Build a Marketplace:
The selection of development approach highly influences the marketplace development cost. Primarily, there are two types of development approaches entrepreneurs often choose from.
However, some choose SaaS-based marketplace solutions. These solutions are software-as-a-service that allows you to launch your platform and charge monthly or yearly recurring fees. Charges may vary depending on features and functionalities.
Another consideration that may influence your marketplace development cost is the type of marketplace you need to develop. Below are the different types of marketplaces:
Based on the Business Model:
Based on Participants/Target:
Based on Offerings:
However, all the types of marketplaces are explained above in detail with their examples.
3. UI/UX Design for an Enhanced User Experience:
UX/UI design is another aspect of developing a marketplace that also affects the marketplace development cost. However, UX/UI design helps marketplace owners set their marketplace tone and influence the marketplace adoption rate. An easy and enhanced UX/UI engages visitors contributing to an increased conversion rate.
Creating a UX/UI design that reflects your brand’s style and tone may cost up to $10000 and more.
4. Key Features and Functionalities Required in an Online Marketplace:
Deciding on all the features and functionalities initially can be challenging. However, you can decide the costs of essential features and functionalities depending on your marketplace type. Typically, the average cost to develop essential marketplace features may cost $20000 to $50000 or even more depending on the complexity of your requirements.
Essential Features Required for a Marketplace:
5. Technology Stack to Develop an Online eCommerce Platform:
The technology stack and marketing tools, you will be using while developing a B2B marketplace website can also greatly impact the development cost. These are the fundamentals of your marketplace, responsible for your overall marketplace performance, features, functionalities, scalability options and much more. Always choose technologies that are future-proof, reliable and trusted. Also, flexible and compatible with customization, scalability, integrations, etc. However, the cost may vary depending on your selection.
Marketplace Development Requirements
Popular Tech Stack in the Industry: LAMP
LAMP is one of the popular and reliable technology stacks that is time-tested and easily accessible. Most importantly, most of the developers are likely to be familiar with this tech stack.
LAMP Tech Stack Includes:
Apart from the above cost factors, some other factors are also there that may cause additional expenses. They are legal and regulatory costs, licensing fees, hosting fees, charges for third-party tools integration and more. In addition, later you also need to spend money on scaling, data storage and backup, maintenance and support, etc.
The cost of building a B2B marketplace may depend upon the above-discussed top factors. It may also vary depending on your marketplace type, requirements, complexity, add-ons, third-party integrations and more.
Regardless, the estimated cost of building a simple B2B multi-vendor marketplace can range anywhere between $30000 to $100000 and the required timeline is between 4 to 6 months.
In addition, developing an advanced feature-rich B2B marketplace website can cost between $100000 to $200000 or even more. Also, the duration of building such a marketplace requires 6 to 12 months and a few more months.
In case, you also want to develop your marketplace mobile app for Android and iOS, it will cost you extra up to $50000 exclusive other additional expenses on maintenance, updates and upgrades.
Yo!Kart B2B is readymade eCommerce software that allows you to launch your B2B marketplace starting at $1499. This marketplace software offers a lifetime license at a one-time payment. It doesn’t cost recurring or any additional charges.
Yo!Kart B2B also provides an opportunity to get the source code ownership that allows you to gain complete control over the software. It provides access to the source code and lets you add and modify features and functionalities through coding according to your marketplace requirements.
By launching your B2B multi-vendor marketplace with Yo!Kart B2B, you get access to feature-rich eCommerce software that comes with all the essential B2B-specific features to tackle your diverse business needs.
B2B features that you get with the Yo!kart B2B include an RFQ module, part payment option, hide pricing, custom invoicing, minimum order quantity, bulk order placement, bulk order discount, quick order process, direct buyer-seller communication and much more.
Apart from being a feature-rich readymade marketplace solution, Yo!Kart has a lot more that attracts entrepreneurs and business owners to build and launch their marketplace with it. Let’s explore a few advantages of choosing Yo!Kart as your marketplace software:
Explore Yo!Kart’s Portfolio
Marketplace development is a challenging process that requires a number of resources and a handsome sum of money. The cost of developing a B2B marketplace is influenced by various factors. Yet, proper research and planning can help you get the right direction for building a B2B marketplace in a cost-effective manner.
However, you can manage hidden costs and prevent overcosting by implementing cost-cutting measures. Otherwise, you can save costs by launching your marketplace with a readymade solution.
Yo!kart B2B can be one of the best marketplace software that can help you launch your platform. This marketplace software has served several niches worldwide successfully. If you are an entrepreneur who wants to build and launch a marketplace without spending much money, Yo!Kart can be an ideal selection for you to get a kick-start.
Q 1. How much does it cost to build a B2B marketplace website?
Ans. Building a b2b marketplace from scratch can cost between $50000 to $200000 or even more depending on the marketplace requirements.
However with Yo!Kart, you can build and launch your B2B marketplace starting at $1499.
Q 2. How much does it cost to develop a marketplace mobile app?
Ans. The cost of developing a marketplace mobile app can range anywhere from $20000 to $50000. It may also vary depending on the requirements.
Q 3. What are the key factors to determine the costs of developing a marketplace?
Ans. The cost of developing a marketplace depends on the following key factors:
Connect with Yo!Kart team to know more about the cost of launching a B2B marketplace. Click Here
Q 4. Does Yo!Kart provides an option to launch a global marketplace?
Ans. Yes, Yo!Kart has empowered 5K+ clients worldwide. You can also launch your global marketplace with Yo!Kart.
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Vishal Tiwari is a writer with a passion for crafting engaging and informative content on diverse topics. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, he brings a unique perspective and expertise to adapt his writing style to suit various audiences and industries.
