E Marketplaces and their types

Hello again from cyberspace!


Ever consider all the ways to do business in the Internet? If so, you're in luck, because this post is dedicated to e-marketplaces! We will review the components of an e-marketplace, and it isn't as easy as it looks on the surface.


Put simply, an e-marketplace is an area that brings customers and sellers together to conduct business. The idea of a marketplace is not a new one, only the introduction of the Internet. In order to make an e-marketplace, though, a few non-traditional elements are needed as there are not any fruit stalls or bustling city streets to be had. Once necessity that hasn't change, however, is goods and services. Without goods and services, there's nothing to conduct business over, is there?


But behind that, we need several new elements. The first of which is the electronic infrastructure by which to connect buyer and seller. On a large scale, this infrastructure is the Internet itself, but it also includes computers for the buyer and seller, as well as the people to maintain both. There is also the front end of the marketplace where the customers interact. Much is contained in the front end of a website, and many people are unaware of anything that goes on behind the scenes. But, of course, there is also a back end to the website, which handles the order fulfillment, payment processing, user accounts, catalog updates, and all the other administrative duties involved with running a website. Finally, there are intermediaries which glue the entire process together. They range from ISPs to UPS - the first one allows the Internet to be there for the transaction, and the second plays a major role in moving goods purchased online. There are many other types of intermediaries involved with the e-marketplace, too numerous to list.


Each of these elements are complex, and are indeed industries unto themselves. So the next time you buy something online, stop to appreciate the amount of effort it took to allow to sit in your jammies and buy that salad shooter!