Marketplace Lessons Learned
An interview with Adrien Nussenbaum, Mirakl Co-Founder and CEO
Hello
This week, we had the opportunity to sit down with Adrien Nussenbaum, Co-founder and CEO of Mirakl. With over 400 marketplaces powered by its technology and surpassing $6 billion in gross merchandise volume, Nussenbaum is an invaluable resource into the industry's trajectory and the future it holds.
From humble beginnings in 2012, Mirakl has become a driving force behind the B2B marketplace revolution. The company empowers businesses to create and operate their own online marketplaces, connecting buyers and sellers on a global scale. Mirakl has also launched additional product offerings around related value added services like financing, advertising, finding suppliers, seller operations, and product data (more on these below).
In this interview:
Has there been an uptick in B2B marketplaces over B2C? 🏗
The #1 deal breaker that causes new marketplaces to fail. 🔎
How many third-party sellers on Mirakl powered marketplaces come from Mirakl Connect? 🌐
Evolution of the platform economy: The Two-Step Marketplace. 🔗
Extending the marketplace competitive advantage: The value added services Mirakl is paying attention to. 👀
Is a logistics offering on Mirakl’s roadmap? 🚚
and more!
Nussenbaum’s new book, The Online Marketplace Advantage, is a comprehensive guide to launching, operating, and scaling online marketplaces in today's dynamic eCommerce landscape. The book explores factors driving the exponential growth of online marketplaces and offers insights from 30+ leading brands that have successfully transformed their businesses.
Have B2B Marketplaces Overtaken B2C?
“5 years ago, B2B was less than 5% of our business, now we're close to 30%”
Anyone working around B2B distribution or manufacturing has been hearing the marketplace spiel for years now (probably a lot of it from us). I asked Adrien about where he thinks we are on the B2B marketplace adoption curve. Is it too late for B2B distributors to take advantage of the network effect driven benefits of marketplaces?
Adrien talked about a shift he’s seeing in B2B customer behavior where they’ve come to expect anything, anytime, anywhere. Most B2B distributors have come around to having at least a basic website and many even have linear eCommerce capabilities. That basic distributor website and eCommerce gets the customer access anytime and anywhere, but a marketplace is the only way to meet the buyers need for anything.
Nussenbaum also commented on how this shift is indicative of the diverse range of B2B situations, including digitizing internal transactions, creating comprehensive industry platforms, and streamlining dealer networks.
The #1 B2B Marketplace Deal Breaker
If you want to go marketplace, you have to go all in! I asked Nussenbaum about deal breakers he’s seen when working with companies to build a marketplace. One of the crucial aspects he highlights is the need for full integration of the marketplace into the core customer experience. This means no separate baskets, sites, or tabs. While there may be temptations to have separate structures, especially in B2B scenarios which can have complicated payment terms or delivery routes, Nussenbaum emphasizes that having two separate platforms is not a sustainable long-term solution.
Nussenbaum shares examples from UNFI, a large food wholesaler, who initially launched their platform separately for non-routed customers but later integrated all customers into one system, allowing consistent terms and a single invoice. The key takeaway is that building a successful marketplace requires long-term transformation and a commitment to seamless integration into the core customer experience.
40%-60% of Sellers on New Marketplaces Come From Mirakl Connect
Discussing Mirakl Connect, a platform that connects sellers on Mirakl with marketplace operators, Adrien revealed that the genesis of Connect emerged from sellers themselves, who were actively engaged in selling on multiple platforms powered by Mirakl. These sellers expressed a desire for a streamlined and simplified way to integrate and manage their activities and data across multiple marketplaces.
Recognizing the benefits of streamlining seller operations, Mirakl made the strategic decision to develop a product directly focused on empowering third-party vendors—a notable departure from their previous offerings. And the results have been impressive. Mirakl has observed a significant acceleration in the speed that customers are able to reach $1mm and $10mm in marketplace GMV.