Strategies to grow your marketplace business, depending on which stage your marketplace is currently at.

1. Marketplaces Growth Strategies
to break through the critical mass funk
Jaime Ng
Marketer | Growth Accelerator | Entrepreneur

2. Marketer | Growth Accelerator | Entrepreneur
With over 17 years experience across B2B and B2C
businesses in US and Singapore.
Currently as Head of Marketing in RedMart, I am responsible
for all marketing activities including customer acquisition
across all online and offline channels, retention strategy,
branding, partnership and marketing communications.
As a venture investor and active mentor of other startup
founders, working as Entrepreneur in Residence in US-based
weeoi Ventures, I also work regularly with founders in early-
stage team building, business structure for growth and
acceleration.
Who Am I
@jaime_ng https://sg.linkedin.com/in/jaimeng

3. Marketplaces Growth Strategies
Understanding which stage of growth you are in
Strategies for seeding stage (Toddler, finding your footing)
Strategies for growth stage (Teenage, ready to flourish)
Statetgies for scale stage (Adulthood, plan to dominate)

4. Understanding which stage of growth are you
in?
SEED GROWTH SCALE
< $100k - $2M GMV per year >$2m - <$12m GMV per year >$12m GMV per year
1 markets 1-3 markets 1-10 markets
New entrant status One of the market leaders Top 3 market leaders
No process, little data insights Some process, definitely data
insights
Clear process, strong data insights
CAC cost not determined CAC cost determined CAC cost reducing
Other factors that are important to consider includes:
- Size of market (ie. Potential)
- Share of market (vs other players)
- Nature of Marketplace (ie. What products are being sold; P2P, B2C or B2B)
- Scalability

5. Marketplace takes time
PATIENCE

6. Marketplaces Growth Strategies
Understanding which stage of growth you are in
Strategies for seeding stage (Toddler, finding your footing)
Strategies for growth stage (Teenage, ready to flourish)
Statetgies for scale stage (Adulthood, plan to dominate)

7. Seeding Stage
Pure Hustle
Ø Everything is manual
Ø You are your own customer and perhaps seller
Ø Acquire customers quickly (Integration, Cross promotions)
Ø Keep improving the customer and seller experience
Ø Drive WOM adoption through social media integration
Ø Continue to evaluate and re-evaluate your strategy using data

8. Marketplaces Growth Strategies
Understanding which stage of growth you are in
Strategies for seeding stage (Toddler, finding your footing)
Strategies for growth stage (Teenage, ready to flourish)
Statetgies for scale stage (Adulthood, plan to dominate)

9. Growth Stage
Double down on the hotspots
Ø Identify what your winning formula is and double down on it (even if efforts are still
manual)
Ø Consider complimentary services focusing on growth (ie. Referral, Mobile
strategy)
Ø Prevent leakage
Ø Keep improving the customer and seller experience
Ø Continue to evaluate and re-evaluate your strategy using data

10. Marketplaces Growth Strategies
Understanding which stage of growth you are in
Strategies for seeding stage (Toddler, finding your footing)
Strategies for growth stage (Teenage, ready to flourish)
Strategies for scale stage (Adulthood, plan to dominate)

11. Scale Stage
Building an ecosystem
Ø Develop an ecosystem within your domain
Ø Foster and emphasize on trust and safety
Ø Support your power sellers
Ø Keep customer mindshare first and foremost

12. Always be tracking KPI
Growth
Ø # of suppliers
Ø Supplier growth rate
Ø # of listings
Ø Listings Growth Rate
Ø Average Listing Price
Ø GMV
Ø NMV
Ø CAC
Engagement
Ø Cohort Analysis
Ø GMV retention
Ø Concentration (ie. Range, Category etc)
Ø NPS