By reading the previous blogs, you may come up with a marketplace idea along with a business plan. As a next step, you need to validate your idea before launching the software marketplace.
The best way to validate your marketplace idea is to build an MVP – the first version of your B2B multi vendor marketplace platform.
Generally, MVP stands for Minimum Viable Product. In our case, it stands for Minimum Viable Platform.
Confusing Isn’t!
This chapter mainly focuses on the platform rather than the product. So, hereafter MVP denotes Minimum Viable Platform.
But, How do you build a Minimum Viable platform? A good question. Building a successful software marketplace needs an MVP, which is essential. You also learn how to create your own minimally viable platform today. Before that know,
What is an MVP Marketplace?
MVP simply includes the essential elements of your marketplace business model. The program is then evaluated to determine whether it can succeed and receive user feedback.
Amazon, which Jeff Bezos founded as a platform for the online sale of books, is a great example of MVP. He made sure that he would only proceed when the idea looked unstoppable and the orders began to flow.
And after that, Jeff was motivated to improve, and the rest is history. He merely started with the one function of selling books (Minimum + Product) on a quick, searchable, viable, and scalable website.
Do you believe Amazon would have been successful if Jeff had launched all of its features from the start?
The terms “Minimum Viable Platform” and “Minimum Marketable Platform” have significant differences as well. Although these concepts are diametrically opposed, they are sometimes combined.
The Minimum Viable Platform, as we previously indicated, is still in the development stage; revisions would be necessary since, quite honestly, it was created to adapt to user market concepts.
Nevertheless, the Minimum Marketable Platform is a finished software marketplace and already contains the extra functionalities that the platform needs to have. It is, in essence, prepared for sale.
Don’t mistake MVP for MMP the next time you’re unsure.
Why do you need an MVP?
So why is a Minimum Viable Platform important in creating a marketplace platform? This section gives you the details of the needs of minimum viable platform development.
Getting feedback from users
When creating a marketplace MVP, user feedback is essential. According to Failure statistics, 123,300 companies throughout the world fail every day, or around 85 every minute.
The majority of the time, according to experts, this is caused by inadequate feedback and bad market research at the beginning of Minimum Viable Platform development.
It is beneficial to see how people are responding to the platform, which is one of the key benefits of using a Minimum Viable Platform. It makes it easier to determine whether or not the project is relevant to the market.
You may obtain feedback in a variety of ways:
- Interviews with potential clients.
- A/B testing.
- Landing pages for pre-orders.
- Single-purpose MVPs
Negative reactions can help you avoid making the same mistakes again.
Idea Testing
An assumption is how you see the Platform. You may either validate this idea, disprove it, or learn that it needs to be revised, which is one of the advantages of using MVP.
Founders of startups frequently invest years in creating a platform, only to discover later that their initial idea was incorrect. According to a CB Insights survey, a lack of market demand accounts for 42% of new project failures.
An MVP assists in quickly changing an unprofitable idea and ensuring that there is a market for a platform. Your most important company theories and concepts should be put to the test with actual customers. And carry it out as fast and affordably as you can.
Quick Launch
The best approach for new ideas is to create a minimum viable platform because the market is always changing. The platform will be launched sooner since an MVP needs less work to build.
You may test the market right now and gain an advantage over rivals by using fast release. Having the chance to confirm that your concept will actually be in demand, also helps you prevent any expensive failures.
Saving resources is one advantage of MVP. Making the MVP and subsequently improving it will take a lot less time than starting from scratch to develop a platform.
The quicker a platform is released onto the market, the quicker it will begin to make money. Additionally, you can do better than rivals that have comparable startup concepts.
The platform and the concept itself might suffer from a lengthy development process. The creation of an MVP typically takes a few months, at its very best.
How do you build a Software Marketplace MVP?
Now you know why you need an MVP. But how do you create one in the fastest and simplest way possible?
There are two routes you can take:
You have two options: either construct it from scratch or utilize a no-code marketplace from a marketplace builder. That is, Building your own marketplace vs using a marketplace SaaS.
If you want a Quick Launch, I would suggest you go for marketplace SaaS. But whatever the choice is you need to follow the following steps,
Step 1: Market Research
Ideas may fail to meet market demands. Make sure a concept satisfies the needs of the intended audience before moving forward with it. Surveys should be conducted since the more information you have, the better your chances of success. Don’t forget to keep an eye on what your rivals are selling as well as how you may make your concept stand out from theirs.
Step 2: Express Your Idea
How valuable is your platform to its customers? How can this help them? Why would people choose to buy your offering? It’s crucial to keep these in mind so that you can communicate your concept more effectively.
The key estimations of your platform should also be understood by everybody. Introduce value to the people by outlining their needs first, then design your MVP based on those needs. This is what the MVP suggests.
Step 3: Consider the Design Process & User Flow
Consider how consumers will utilize the platform while designing it. Starting with launching the platform and ending with the final procedure, such as ordering or receiving a delivery, you must view the platform from the user’s point of view. Furthermore, user flow is a crucial component since it guarantees you don’t overlook anything while keeping the future platform’s success and the needs of its users in mind.
The phases of the process must be defined before you can describe your user flow, and to do so, you must outline the actions required to accomplish the primary goal.
More important than features like locating and purchasing the goods, handling orders, and getting them, your attention should be on fundamental operations.
These are the objectives that the users of your platform will have. Once every step of the technique has been outlined properly, it is time to describe the characteristics of each stage.
Step 4: List the Project Features
Before you begin developing the MVP, make a list of every feature you want to include in it. Once the development process is complete, compare the list to ensure everything is as it should be.
The features must then be prioritized after you have a list of features for each stage. Consider the needs of your users and if you are providing them with anything useful when deciding which features to prioritize.
After that, group the remaining features into three priority categories: high priority, medium priority, and low priority. Once all the features have been grouped, you can determine their scope for the initial platform release and begin developing an MVP. You may also make an MVP prototype if you want to preview how your future platform will appear.
Step 5: Build your MVP
You may start building your MVP once you’ve chosen the key features and discovered what the market demands are.
Remember that a prototype must still satisfy the demands of your consumer and is not of inferior quality to a finished platform. As a result, it must be simple to use, interesting, and appropriate for your users.
Build, Measure, and Learn,
Everything happens as part of a process; when the work’s scope is established, the platform moves on to the development phase. The platform has to be tested when platform development is finished.
The initial testing phase is carried out by quality assurance engineers who work to enhance the platform’s quality (even if the platform is not yet released).
After releasing the MVP, go through everything carefully and gather feedback from your clients. With the help of their input, you can ascertain whether the platform is suitable for the market, whether it competes with other platforms there, and so on.
It’s crucial to understand that users let us know what the platform needs and what features are unnecessary. Once you have gathered user feedback, you should start working on improving your platform.
After that, you should test it out, learn from it, assess its quality, and then test it again.
Remember!
- Never ignore user feedback.
- You create platforms for the benefit of users.
- Don’t be afraid to ask your users what they need.
To make your MVP more Successful,
The following are some strategic steps to consider while creating a marketplace MVP:
Check that your business goals and the proposed MVP are compatible
Making sure the platform will align with your team’s or company’s strategic goals is the first step in creating your MVP before deciding which features to build.
Which goals are they? In the upcoming months, do you have a target revenue in mind? Do you only have a few resources? These queries could have an impact on whether it’s even appropriate to begin creating a new MVP right now.
Additionally, find out what function this minimum viable platform will serve. This MVP plan might be strategically sound if one of your current business goals is to achieve that.
But if your company’s current top priority is to keep concentrating on your core markets, you might need to shelve this idea and give your attention to, for example, an MVP designed to provide new functionality for your current customers.
Begin by identifying particular issues you wish to address or enhancements you wish to implement for your user persona
You may start considering the precise solutions your platform will provide customers once you’ve established that your MVP plans are in line with your company’s goals.
These answers, which you may describe in user stories, epics, or features, are merely parts of the platform’s larger vision. Keep in mind that your MVP can only have a certain amount of functionality.
The limited functionality you choose to include in your MVP will require careful consideration. These choices can be based on a variety of elements, such as:
- How quickly you’ll be able to incorporate user feedback into certain types of functionality
- The varying user stories or epics’ relative implementation costs
Translate your MVP functionality into a plan of development action
It’s time to integrate this into a development action plan now that you’ve considered the strategic factors mentioned above and decided on the restricted functionality you want for your MVP.
The V in MVP—the need that the platform is viable—must always be kept in mind. This implies that it must offer a top-notch user experience while enabling your consumers to finish a job or project in its entirety.
A user interface with several incomplete tools and functionalities is not acceptable for an MVP. It must be a functional platform that your business can sell.
How do you measure the success of your MVP?
Before measuring your marketplace MVP success, you must specify your presumptions and the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for your marketplace firm.
- What factors will decide whether or not your MVP is successful?
- What presumptions are you looking to support?
To reliably forecast a platform’s future success, there are numerous methods. Here are some of the most popular, reliable, and practical metrics for gauging an MVP’s success:
The MVP is all about testing your concept, determining the best way to target your audience, and making sure that the product satisfies their needs. It will be much simpler to finish the platform and market it later if everything has been done correctly.
By now you got the idea for building your minimum viable platform. So, I guess your next question may be “How to do Onboard Users in Your Two-Sided Marketplace?”
I’ll answer this question in the next chapter!
