Marketplace strategy for Expert in Germany

Case Study

Background

As a trade association group, Expert faces the challenge of respecting the entrepreneurial freedom of its members while at the same time building a powerful online sales channel for the trade association group as a whole. As a rule, trade association groups have a hard time positioning themselves advantageously in terms of e-commerce, because their decentralised organisational structure means they are faced with the major challenge of bundling their traditional strengths in a central online sales channel. As we were able to show in our study, there are various approaches how association groups can position themselves more optimally in online trade:

Objectives

Expert’s goal was to achieve a significant strengthening of e-commerce or omnichannel sales. This required a balanced solution for its own online marketplace as well as a strategy for expanding activities on external marketplaces. Two specific questions were at the forefront of Expert’s collaboration with eStrategy Consulting.

According to which concrete business logic should the new central webshop of Expert E-Commerce GmbH operate on its own online marketplace under expert.de, so that the customer benefit is optimised, the group as a whole is strengthened and individual members are not disadvantaged.
On which external online marketplaces should Expert be visible with its central webshop as well as with the decentralised offer of the members and what are the potentials and success factors for these channels in each case.

Solution

By conceptually rounding off our own central web store and embedding it in our own Expert marketplace in the interests of all stakeholders, we were able to take an important step toward strengthening the online retailing activities of the Verbund Group. In addition, external online marketplaces were analyzed and prioritized in terms of their potential, business logic, integration effort and fee models. The resulting marketplace strategy was presented to the customer and the onboarding process was then started for the prioritized marketplaces.

Results

With the conceptual rounding off of our own central web shop and its embedding in our own Expert marketplace in the interest of all stakeholders, we were able to take an important step towards strengthening the online trade of the association group. In addition, external online marketplaces were analysed and prioritised with regard to their potential, business logic, integration costs and fee models. The resulting marketplace strategy was presented to the client and then the onboarding process was started for the prioritised marketplaces.

Our Role

eStrategy Consulting was responsible for the conceptual fine-tuning of the business logic regarding the embedding of the central webshop on the Expert marketplace. For this purpose, customer benefits and user experience, expectations of the Expert members as well as the potential expectations for the Expert marketplace were weighed and transferred into an overall strategy. In parallel, a marketplace strategy for scaling sales activities on external marketplaces was created and presented for Expert. For the prioritised marketplaces, eStrategy Consulting professionally accompanied the contract negotiations and onboarding process.

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