A marketplace can definitely increase the number of students in any International School.
First, lets shed some light on both online as well as the offline, or physical marketplace.
Let’s first start with a physical marketplace. The best example for this type of marketplace is a shopping mall. In every mall there’s owner and then there are multiple sellers who set up their shops in the mall.
The responsibility of the mall owner includes maintenance of the mall and to provide all the necessary services like electricity, security, cleanliness, etc. to his sellers.
Sellers have to pay a fee to the mall owner for letting them do business in his mall and for all other services.
The main purpose of doing business collectively under the same roof is that it makes it easier for the customers as they get more options and it saves them a lot of time. Moreover, it’s profitable to set up a store where there are already so many customers than to start your business from the scratch.
The online marketplace is exactly like a shopping mall. Websites like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay are all examples of online marketplaces of goods. Ally is the best example of a marketplace of courses for international students.
An online marketplace is a website or app that facilitates shopping from many different sources. The operator of the marketplace usually does not own any inventory, their business is to present other people’s inventory to customers and facilitate a transaction. In Ally´s case, we facilitate by connecting Students and Education Agencies in a single place.
The greatest beneficiaries of online marketplaces are small and medium sellers, who have found an already established marketplace with high brand equity that enables them to expand their business without the need for additional infrastructure.
Online marketplaces can be three types:
1) Vertical: Vertical marketplaces sell only one type of product for ex. TrueFacet.
2) Horizontal: Horizontal marketplaces sell products of many types but they all share same characteristics, for ex. Ally (International Education).
3) Global: A global marketplace sells everything, for ex. Amazon, Ebay.
There are various eCommerce platforms available for creating your own online store like Magento 1 & 2, WooCommerce, Shopify, etc but you’ll not be able to create an special extension which will convert your school into an online marketplace, allowing Education Agencies and Students from all over the world to see and access your offer, to do that, you should Publish your portfolio of courses on Ally.
Create an account today.