eCommerce ― the one significant development that has transformed the retail industry since the turn of the century, continues to reshape consumer buying preferences ― fostered by accelerated digitization.
In this 13 trillion dollar industry, the first-mover advantage has been grabbed by industry pioneers such as Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, and the like. Marketplaces like Lazada started late but found opportunities in less explored regions.
While the eCommerce industry is still dominated by these market leaders which also continue to take up the majority of the market share and more importantly gain consumer traction. Niche-based marketplaces allow entrepreneurs to narrow down the target audience and cater to their needs with a specialized and purpose-built platform. Specialized services help them to create a unique brand identity and carve a space for themselves in the competitive online retail industry.
And amongst popular niches, consumer electronics holds definitive sustained promise, as evident from the success of Newegg. The progression of technology continues to spur the demand for digital products ― making the eCommerce niche promising for marketplaces offering these products.
In this blog let’s understand how to build a marketplace like Newegg, by analyzing the key drivers, features, and business practices that have propelled the success of the marketplace for Consumer Electronics.
Table Of Contents
Success Journey of Newegg
Newegg Commerce Inc. is a marketplace for consumer electronics. It has its headquarters in California and serves the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia Pacific region. A success story that is highlighted by purpose-driven strategies, Newegg’s journey exemplifies the marketplace opportunity ― scale and acquire multiple revenue generation sources.
Newegg was launched in 2001 by Fred Chang during a time when the eCommerce industry was reeling under the dot-com crash. In fact, the name “Newegg” was used to symbolize the immense potential of an egg, that leads to the birth of life ― signifying the potential of the business during testing times.
Newegg started as an online retailer for customers considering to build DIY PCs. The marketplace gradually established itself as a preferred website for sourcing information technology, gaming, and consumer electronics products.
Despite operating in a niche market, the company achieved high success ― rising significantly in the eCommerce industry macrocosm. By 2009, it grew to the second spot for internet-only retailers.
With a growing reputation and brand, Newegg saw potential in scaling its operations further.
So, in 2011, Newegg adopted the marketplace model ― inviting third-party sellers on its platform.
“eCommerce is about so much more than offering low prices and shipping orders quickly. Now more than ever, services are at the core of the eCommerce value proposition. This is why we’ve invested so heavily in our expansive portfolio of services,” – Anthony Chow global CEO of Newegg in an interview on pymnts.com
The marketplace model opens up further opportunities. The same has been true for Newegg.
In a significant shift in 2019, the marketplace announced its services as a direct-to-consumer or D2C support channel for brands. As discussed in detail in the next section, this initiative along with others like the Newegg bridge underpins the evolution of Newegg from an online retailer in 2001 to a significant eCommerce player that offers services to brands.
In the second quarter of 2021, the company announced its decision to go public and evolved its name from Newegg Inc to Newegg Commerce Inc.
In the present times, the marketplace has scaled to offer a wide range of tech products and consumer electronics for their B2C customers while also catering to the B2B customer base of primarily SMBs, enterprises, and the public sector.
The success journey of Newegg is a fine example of getting eCommerce strategies right. Similarly, though, the eCommerce space is conducive to new launches. The digital shift is still gaining traction and is expected to grow further.
In order to build a marketplace like Newegg, let’s analyze its strategies, operative models, value propositions for all participants, and key features that have propelled its growth.
Business model analysis of Newegg
Newegg operates primarily in the consumer electronics space. Due to the marketplace’s early days as a retail store for computer hardware, accessories, and electronic items ― the target audience has been narrowed down, making the brand synonymous with such products.
The Newegg ecosystem
Source: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
In this space, Newegg conducts its business following a hybrid business model. It has both B2C and B2B operations via mutually exclusive websites.
B2C operations:
Newegg conducts its B2C operations via Newegg.com, Newegg.ca, and Newegg global. Customers can sign up and buy from these websites. On a broader level, Newegg is a B2B2C multivendor marketplace ― It provides a platform for vendors to sell to the established customer base of the platform. It manages eCommerce operations of the marketplace while sellers manage inventory and sell products.
Apart from third-party sellers, Newegg also continues to offer products via direct sales. According to the marketplace, in the first quarter of 2021, approximately one in ninety out of the gross 37 million products were from Newegg itself.
B2B operations
Newegg also caters to the B2B clients in its niche. The electronics marketplace conducts its B2B operations via Neweggbusiness.com. The B2B channel provides office and IT equipment to businesses of multiple industries.
The marketplace also provides e-procurement partners for businesses with specific needs.
Suggested Read: B2B business models possible in eCommerce marketplaces.
D2C channel support
A significant advantage of marketplace business is that it can scale expeditiously ― and greater volumes bring in more business opportunities.
Newegg has leveraged this advantage to offer its services to businesses. This can help them to enhance their capabilities and add a Direct to Consumer or D2C channel effectively. The services are as follows:
| Shipping Fulfillment: Shipped by Newegg offers storing, shipping, and return management. 3PL logistics is also provided. Moreover, Newegg leverages its global operations to offer global shipping services as well. | Customer Services: Newegg’s efficient customer services have been instrumental to its success. The same is offered for other roles as well. For instance, contact centers, on-site staffing, and more. | |
| Marketing services: Newegg offers its established channels and a loyal customer base to the sellers. The products can be marketed on the Newegg platform, social media channels, and more. Moreover, to achieve the requisite results, the marketplace employs its proven content marketing and video studio support. | ||
| Staffing: The marketplace also offers staffing services to clients, which also includes temporary staffing. | Analytics: A data-driven extensive analytical support to fine-tune branding and business strategies. | |
Value proposition of Newegg
Newegg has successfully added value to all participants of the marketplace ― the customers, sellers, and brand partners.
Key value proposition for the customers:
- Niche-focused products
- Content-driven marketing strategy
- Expansive tech-savvy community of peers.
- Competitive prices
Key value proposition for the sellers:
- An extensive customer base for a specific niche
- Data-driven analytics
- eCommerce services ― API-enabled portal, shipping, marketing, and more.
- Low commission rates.
- Support for effective selling
Key value proposition for the brand partners:
- Cost-effective distribution channel with a global reach
- Data insights to fuel business strategies
- Access to an expansive tech-focused customer base via a leading eCommerce brand.
- Flexible partnership options
Value propositions for all participants have translated into success for the marketplace. Moreover, its success is also underpinned by these key values:
- Robust platform to conduct eCommerce seamlessly
- Human-centric buyer and supplier relationships
- Efficient supply chain to support the brand
Minimize recurring overheads to get a competitive advantage
Revenue channels of Newegg
Newegg’s evolution from online retail to an eCommerce marketplace opened up multiple revenue channels ― typical advantages of a multi-seller business. The following revenue channels are available with Newegg:
- Revenue from direct sales
- Revenue from commissions charged on third-party sales
- Revenue generated from services and solutions offered.
Features that have made Newegg successful
A robust, purpose-developed platform is at the heart of eCommerce success. Newegg is no different, intuitive eCommerce websites are the engine that drives the growth of the leading marketplace.
Newegg has separate websites for their B2C and B2B operations with some mutually exclusive features ― integral to the respective domains.
Let’s analyze some of these quintessential features:
Essential features common to B2C and B2B websites
At its core, eCommerce allows business to be conducted over a digital platform. Some features
are common to both B2C and B2B websites ― that lay the groundwork for all participants in the business to achieve their objectives. Key features amongst them are as follows:
Intuitive buying experience: The Newegg website has been built with a focus on the buyer journey ― to provide a frictionless buying experience fostered with features like one-click checkout, and more.
Robust performance: Considering the figure of 37 million products mentioned in this blog before, and the fact that marketplaces do tend to scale quickly makes good performance a key factor ensuring the success of Newegg.
Effective blogging: At the core of Newegg’s marketing is an effective content-first strategy. It has helped the marketplace immensely in creating a brand that is synonymous with tech products. A community of tech-focused peers has been built around the marketplace ―catalyzing the brand’s success in building success in the targeted niche.
API-driven ecosystem: Newegg offers multiple tools to sellers to streamline selling. All these tools can be integrated with the help of APIs.
Competitive Prices: As eCommerce is increasingly growing in competition, an effective pricing strategy is key for growth. A self-owned platform for Newegg ensures fewer overheads ― allowing the marketplace to transfer the benefit to the customers and sellers.
B2C-specific features
Buyers in a B2C marketplace are end customers. Features in Newegg’s B2C platforms foster typical emotion-driven buyer journeys.
Embedded videos: Establishing a connection with the target audience has been instrumental in Newegg’s defining its brand identity. Embedded videos from influencers and product descriptions have allowed for effective marketing in the marketplace.
Effective marketing campaigns: Multiple marketing strategies like Loyalty Schemes and shopping festivals allow for greater revenue generation and enhance the appeal of the marketplace.
B2B-specific features
Features that facilitate key B2B requirements of high value and high volume purchases,
Flexible payment options: This feature aids high-value transactions by allowing the buyers to pay in part-payments. The payment can be split into 4 interest-free installments.
Request Quote (RFQ): B2B sellers follow a complex pricing strategy based on multiple parameters. RFQ helps them to stay open to negotiations.
Bulk order discounts: To allow sellers to promote bulk purchases, there is a provision to offer discounts on bulk purchases from the platform.
Witness comprehensive result-driven features in our contemporary solutions
How To create a marketplace like Newegg
As discussed above, Newegg, at its core is a hybrid business with mutually exclusive B2C and B2B online marketplaces to manage the respective operations. This segregation has helped them to serve the customer according to their needs ― on purpose-built platforms.
Entrepreneurs considering to create a marketplace like Newegg can consider this successful strategy adopted by the marketplace. If the objective of the marketplaces is defined from the start, each platform will have an exclusive brand identity ― setting a course to achieve long-term business goals.
Moreover, Newegg operates in the retail sector and accordingly, offers features likewise. Some key features have been mentioned in the section above. But many more essential eCommerce features remain instrumental in its success.
There are two popular approaches to building a website like Newegg:
Develop from Scratch
eCommerce websites can be built by hiring a team. A process that requires resources and time. Moreover, identifying an ideal team to partner with requires research and – ideally, some development knowledge.
Use Turnkey software
Alternatively, turnkey software can be used that would require fewer resources and significantly less go-to-market time.
Turnkey marketplace solutions are readymade software that allows one to create a marketplace, and launch it, without having to code.
While many eCommerce store solutions can also be turned into multi-seller platforms with the help of Plugins, marketplace software can power an eCommerce marketplace right off the bat.
How can team Yo!Kart help
Team Yo!Kart offers versatile turnkey marketplace solutions and end-to-end customization services. Since the launch of the B2C turnkey marketplace software – Yo!Kart, in 2015, the team successfully delivered eCommerce solutions and services for over 5000+ online marketplaces around the world.
With the launch of the B2B version ― Yo!Kart B2B, the team now has turnkey solutions for marketplaces on all business models in the online retail multi-seller industry. Both solutions have been developed from the ground up following extensive research and accumulative experience in the eCommerce space.
Yo!Kart
Yo!Kart is a customizable and versatile turnkey marketplace solution that has been developed by analyzing the growth drivers of established eCommerce platforms like Amazon. The solution has result-driven features for the Admin to manage efficiently, vendors to sell effectively, and buyers to experience eCommerce intuitively.
Furthermore, the versatile solution has been tailored by an in-house team to find application in a range of marketplaces from startups to enterprise-grade marketplaces for Fortune 500 firms.
Yo!Kart comes pre-integrated with multiple business APIs and 23+payment gateways out of the box. It is also self-hosted and comes with complete source code ownership with a one-time payment. There are no sign-up, transactional, or any hidden charges thereafter.
Apart from the aforementioned points, there are multiple other key points that make Yo!Kart favorable to build a marketplace like Newegg. Some such key highlights of Yo!Kart are:
- Multiple features and modules built-in
- Supports downloadable digital along with physical products
- Tested scalability: Can support unlimited products.
- Inbuilt Blogging module and multiple other marketing features
- Versatile architecture – compatible with most third-party APIs and software.
- Extensive customization and after-sales support by an Agile team.
- Low overheads for businesses.
Learn all features offered by Yo!Kart
Yo!Kart B2B
Developed on the same lines as its B2C sibling, Yo!Kart B2B shares the same DNA. It, therefore, offers the same Agility of customizability, scalability, and maximized ROI.
The development of this solution has been underpinned by years of accumulative experience ― acquired via customization services offered to B2B companies. The result is a solution with multiple B2B-specific features.
The B2B solution can be ideal for building a marketplace like Neweggbusiness. It provides a platform for manufacturers, distributors, service providers, and other businesses to conduct online B2B commerce seamlessly.
Some key elements that are offered built-in with Yo!Kart B2B, and integral for B2B marketplaces like Neweggbusiness are:
- RFQ module with extensive features to host 2-way negotiations
- Bulk – order discounts and Minimum Order Quantity
- Part payment option for buyers
- Option to sell services with products – (AMCs, maintenance contracts, installation, and other similar services can be offered alongside consumer electronics)
- Direct communication between sellers and buyers
Learn more about the Yo!Kart B2B advantage
Customization services
Both Yo!Kart and Yo!Kart B2B come with efficient extensive customization services.
This can help businesses to plan a tailored solution in the market, meeting requirements effectively ― with a solution that is purpose-built to drive their strategies.
Moreover, integrations and customizations can be done to cater to the specific needs of the target audience. For instance, for overseas operations, region-specific payment gateways can be integrated for more traction with the customers.
The need for customizations can be at the launch of the business, but importantly, there can be requirements down the line, after the business has been operating in the market ― viz. enhancements based on user feedback.
eCommerce customization services – Tailor the launch, scale, or pivot with complete control
Final Thoughts
Newegg has done well to identify a niche and consistently focus on it. Its effective marketing strategy has allowed building a connection with the target audience, fostering a community, and establishing a brand that buyers identify with, especially in relation with the products on offer.
Furthermore, the marketplace has had success by continuously evolving itself and offer more to its target audience.
While both Yo!Kart and Yo!Kart B2B have been enriched with features that make the building of marketplaces like Newegg easy and cost-effective.
Versatility and support from an in-house team make them ideal for businesses to navigate the evolving eCommerce industry scenarios.
Moreover, hybrid business models can be supported with exclusive turnkey solutions ― right at the start or over a period of time. Powering your entire eCommerce business with a singular source can help to achieve harmony across platforms, fostering a positive brand identity.
