Metro-Area E-Commerce Local Merchant Goods & Services Marketplace by Charles Dushek

This Post Presents the Purpose, Design, and Functions of a Metro-Area E-Commerce Marketplace to Serve 500,000 to 2,000,000 Metro Population Areas and Have 10,000 to 40,000 Local Small Business Merchants (SBM) as Sellers of Goods and Services on Marketplace with revenue Objective of Attaining $1-2 Billion in Annual On-Line and In-Store Retail Sales.

What is a Multi-Vendor Metro-Area E-Commerce Marketplace?

The Marketplace is technically defined as a "Multi-Vendor-Marketplace" with the acronym of MVM.  It is likened to a Co-Operative Enterprise, whereby the MVM host organization may or may not be a competing seller of anything, that could create a conflict of interest between MVM Member Sellers and the MVM Host  Platform Entity.  An example of a Conflict of Interest is the present conditions of both AMAZON and Wal-Mart selling their own proprietary products on their online seller platforms directly in competition with their independent third-party sellers.

The Marketplace Business Model utilizes Existing Technology Digital-Infrastructure functionalities, with Cloud Hosting and Computing APIs.  It is a "Hybrid" Listing & Selling Model in that On-line and/or In-Store Selling Merchants are Marketplace Sellers.  The Shoppers/Customers of the Marketplace are residents of a defined geographic area, composed of adjacent Cities & Communities (Towns) usually defined by a Miles-Radius Area from the Metro-Area Hub Centerpoint.  As an example, a Marketplace that has a 10-mile radius area from the Hub Centerpoint is 315 square miles, with a 15-Mile radius the Area is 700 square miles, and at a 20-mile radius, the Area is 1,250 square miles.

The Purposes of developing and launching a Geo-Location based Marketplace is to meet the Supply and Demand demographics of a given Marketplace Selling & Buying Area by matching Sellers and Buyers that are both physically located in the Area, and thus have Local Small Business Merchants compete much better against the Big 50 Retail Chains that now dominate retailing selling of consumer goods and services that currently enjoy a near 55% Market Share of all retailing sales in the US to-date. 

Further, the MVM Model utilizes the local merchants' Store-Stock of goods as Fulfillment-Inventory to directly ship to Local Customers.  This eliminates the Fulfillment-Center Pick-Pack-Ship Facility Model, as all Metro-Area Shipping is to local Last-Mile-Model customer delivery logistics.  

Moreover, the Marketplace utilizes optimization of a huge current overhang of vacant 10,000 to 100,000 Mall Retail Commercial Spaces. These are now intended Flex-Spaces Facilities locations for Vendor-Space Needs, Local Parcel Delivery Sorting, Will-Call Customer Pickup Locations, and Long-Haul Shipping via USPS, UPS & FedEx Flex-Space Shipping Desks. All of these noted activities come out of the same Flex-Spaces Facility of about 40,000 to 50,000 Flex-Spaces Facility Mall Zoned Locations within a Marketplace Area.

Click to Flex-Spaces for more details. 

The MVM Marketplace is an Ecommerce-Innovation having 10,000 or more Metro-Area local merchant vendors of all types of goods and services to be exclusive sellers to a targeted Metro-Area of 500,000 or larger populations of shoppers.  We would typically Cap/Limit the Size and Scale of a logical Metro-Area Marketplace at 40,000 Local Merchant Vendors of consumer goods and services to a Metro-Area Population size of about 2,000,000.  There are near 100 Metro-Area Marketplace Candidate Locations in the US presently.

Marketplace Enterprise Metro-Area Location Candidate Examples are: Aurora IL, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville, Milwaukee, Louisville, Hartford, Salt Lake, Tucson, Greenville, Albuquerque, Syracuse, Portland, and Chattanooga...all in a range of 500,000 to 2,000,000 metro populations.

All of each MVM Vendor's Customers & Their Names and Contact information and Purchasing History are the Exclusive Property of the MVM Vendor and the MVM Enterprise Platform will Not use any Vendor's Customers' Personal Information for any purpose to Market or Sell any goods or services to any Vendor's Customers.  The MVM Enterprise Platform does not do any direct selling to any Customers of any MVM Vendors.

No Corporate-Owned Retailer Chains are allowed to sell on any Marketplace (MVM). The 50 Biggest US Chain Store Brands and Online Retailers in the US, now dominate the US consumer goods and services retail sector with 55% of all sales to US consumers.  MVM is designed to create more effective competition in favor of 10,000 to 40,000 groups of Metro-Area Local Merchant Vendors of Goods & Services against the 50 Biggest US Chain Store Retailers.

It has been extremely difficult for local community merchants to compete and survive with retail organizations that are thousands of times larger.  As a Seller on MVM, you are only competing with like-kind Local Merchants that physically reside within the 315 to 1,500 square miles of a Marketplace Area.  

Every Marketplace Vendor has Equal Footing in selling to all shoppers. Local businesses and merchants who have traditionally operated their businesses out of stores, offices, in-homes, and warehousing spaces are continually losing their local market shares in sales to the Big 50.  Over the past 5 years, nearly $1 Billion in annual retail sales have been taken from local merchants by Big 50 Retailers from the 500,000 population Metro-Areas, and up to $4 Billion in annual retail sales in 2,000,000 Metro-Areas.  

So, Marketplace is designed to give Equality and More Competitive Advantages to Local Merchants and Businesses to survive against Big Retail.

Seller Fees are substantially lower than any other online platform. MVM is both a Directory of All Local Business Types and for all Sellers and Consumers to do transactions between themselves in goods and services on-line or in-store on Marketplace at a very low cost to Sellers.  MVM is an  Enterprise Business, whereby Seller Fees are charged to cover MVM operating costs and ROI to the Hosting Enterprise of the Marketplace.

Often, it is practical and opportune for the Marketplace Host Enterprise to make cash donations and grants to local non-profit organizations that expand & enhance the civil, educational, and humanitarian private-sector services to the 500,000 to 2,000,000 MVM populations.  This creates a compelling purpose for local shoppers and vendors to use Marketplace to help fund local colleges and universities, Chambers of Commerce, Homeless Facilities, and Food Banks.

MVM seller fees are about 60% less than what AMAZON charges sellers for the transaction service charges & the fulfillment of delivering its goods to AMAZON shoppers.

MVM charges a seller's fee only on online sales.  MVM does NOT take away the flexibility/option of in-store selling by local merchants, and shoppers can do whatever in-store purchases they desire without any Seller Fees to MVM.

MVM offers a full range of Seller Tools and Support Functions that are paid for out of the moderate Seller Fees.

MVM Features and Functions...

1. Free email marketing platform to reach thousands of your customers and prospects.

2. A Free MVM Store Website such as SHOPIFY & Expert Setup.

3. A Custom Search Box Function on your website for your shoppers to find everything you sell using all forms of Name-Key-Words.

4. Free ChatBox like ZenDesk on your website store to engage with your shoppers 24/7. 

5. Functions to Sell More & Better via Related-Products and Cross-Selling.

6. Use your website's Online Dashboard to monitor your store 24/7/365.

7.  Your Customer & You receive auto-generated emailed invoices on every sale 24/7/365.

8.  Each vendor can do email marketing independent of the general marketing of MVM Marketplace to the 600,000 customers.

9. We give you Free Email Blast Tools like MailChimp to attract shoppers directly to your store.

10.  Shoppers going to MVM use a General Seach Box to Find Items by Product/Service Name and the list of MVM vendors that offer them.

11.  Shoppers can find vendors of a product by Best-Price & Best-Stars-Rating. 

12.  Each vendor can put in all the design & work they wish to have a Unique Looking Sizzling Website Storefront.

13.  All vendors have the Best-Tools-of-Engagement to serve their customers well. 

14.  No MVM vendor desires nor can work their store 24/7/365, but the MVM Rep Support Team can.

15. MVM Vendors do Not have to be Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts...Just Know the Basics of SEO.

16.  Your own personal iPhone can make you an expert in Photo-Shoots for listing online items images. 

17. MVM merchant website software will manage inventory restocking notifications to you automatically.  

18. Every merchant’s website store is designed digitally in what is called “Responsive Mode” to look great on iPhones, Tablets & Desktop PCs.

 19. Online Shoppers can buy Multiple-Items from Multiple-Merchants with     One-Cart & One-Payment Checkout. 

  20.  MVM Merchants can be as good as or possibly better than AMAZON and    Wal-Mart on local-area shipping fulfillment. 

Click to: Flex-Spaces Innovation to learn about commercial storage, selling, and fulfillment space opportunities to all Marketplace Vendors.

The Latest Innovation is:  The "NEW "Flex-Spaces"...A Vendor Selling * Storing * Packing * Shipping, and Customer Will-Call Place... by Charly Dushek of E-Commerce Marketplaces. 

 MWM Marketplace Summary...

The Preceding Descriptions of 20 Features and Functions explain the Standard Features and Functions that are included within MVM Marketplace...at No Extra Cost to Vendors beyond the moderate Seller Fee.  

There will be more Features & Functions developed into Marketplace as we continue our Surveys of hundreds of potential MVM Vendors that Contact Us.

We ask them to explain how their businesses function, and what the Ideal things that Marketplace needs to offer them to compete much better against the Big 50 Retailers that are hauling away their local shopper's business and sales dollars.

Please Contact CharlesDushek@gmail.com and Call or Text Charles at 630-280-7510