In the Perfect Store, an EBAY seller unintentionally has the most profound insight into the goal of a marketplace:
"Meg changed us from a community to a commodity"
Launch with strong community
Grow supply organically from it
Establish deep network effects
Commoditize supply
"Meg changed us from a community to a commodity"
Launch with strong community
Grow supply organically from it
Establish deep network effects
Commoditize supply
This is of course not the only way to scale a marketplace. But if you think about it from an efficiency standpoint, it is the dream. And why to this day, the original EBAY remains the idealized vision of a marketplace. It was almost too perfect.
It reminds me of this quote from ETSY:
"When a seller churns off the site, we rarely lose the GMS because there's so much supply that if we lose the particular seller, there's many others selling that same product to satisfy the demand for it"
"When a seller churns off the site, we rarely lose the GMS because there's so much supply that if we lose the particular seller, there's many others selling that same product to satisfy the demand for it"
Ultimately the goal of every marketplace is the same, own the demand, commoditize the supply.
Many paths you can try to get there. But with the cold start problem it's really freaking expensive to have to pay to build both sides. It's expensive to have to build one side!
Many paths you can try to get there. But with the cold start problem it's really freaking expensive to have to pay to build both sides. It's expensive to have to build one side!
Anyway, I just thought that was such an amazing description of the evolution of marketplace. Definitely recommend The Perfect Store. EBAY is one of the most amazing origin stories I've ever read.
