Ssense marketplace case study: book a demo to start yours

SSENSE is recognized for its high-end fashion and luxury e-commerce platform, renowned for presenting a thoughtfully curated array of designer attire, accessories, and lifestyle items catering to both men and women. If you’d like to start your own marketplace like Ssense, you’re facing a buy vs build decision. So before you decide to build it in-house on top of Spree open-source, consider using Vendo, which is the feature-rich Enterprise Edition cutting your time-to-market to a few weeks.

Build vs Buy a marketplace?

The use of open-source comes with multiple benefits, such as having complete control and flexibility in development. However, these come with a hefty price tag. To develop a complete marketplace solution, expect to invest a lot of time, often many months or years, and a significant amount of money. This conclusion is based on our experiences with several marketplace projects.

Without significant funding, you’re likely better off using a packaged, all-in-one marketplace solution like Vendo, according to someone who has years of experience in charging for marketplace development.

Back to the Ssense marketplace case study

SSENSE, originating as a small brick-and-mortar store in Montreal in 2003, has evolved into a major online luxury fashion marketplace. The brand’s transition to e-commerce was a strategic move that fueled its meteoric rise.

SSENSE’s success is attributed to its discerning curation of high-end fashion items, blending established luxury brands with emerging designers. This distinctive approach resonated with fashion enthusiasts worldwide, underpinned by a commitment to evolving technology and user-friendly interfaces to meet customer needs.

Key to SSENSE’s allure is several factors: its meticulous curation, exclusive collaborations with renowned fashion houses and artists, technological investments enhancing the shopping experience, and global accessibility through worldwide shipping and a multilingual website. These elements create a unique shopping experience and cement SSENSE’s status in the online fashion industry.

Financially, in October 2023, SSENSE recorded revenue of $50,507,043, considerably lower than the industry’s median. The platform’s conversion rate ranged between 0.50% and 1.00%, with an average order value of $350-375. However, it experienced an 11% decline in revenue over the past three months compared to the preceding quarter, indicating some challenges in its financial performance.

In summary, SSENSE’s journey from a local store to a global online luxury fashion leader is marked by strategic digital transformation, unique curation, technological innovation, and a broad customer base. Despite recent revenue challenges, its commitment to exclusive, high-quality offerings and global reach keeps it a significant player in the competitive e-commerce fashion landscape.

How to emulate Ssense marketplace success?

To replicate Ssense’s success, you should consider debuting your marketplace rapidly, within weeks rather than months. Evaluate how your products fit with your audience’s requirements, and fine-tune your methods of gaining customers based on real-world data.

First, test the market before investing in its full-scale development.

Here’s what you’d be getting with a Vendo free trial:

Book a marketplace demo call: We’ll set up your demo marketplace and populate it with products, so you could give it a try and start selling in 14 days
Customize your Storefront: Use the drag & drop page builder or custom CSS
Onboard Brands: Invite your brands or choose brands from our catalog
Select Products: Curate products and collections manually or automate it
Embed products: Make your content, newsletters, social media shoppable
Get Paid: Get paid as soon as products are shipped by the brands
End-to-end automation: brands sync, fulfillment, payouts, invoicing, taxes

When you’ve tried all that and it works, start thinking about building your own, custom-made marketplace project based on Spree Commerce. First, by decoupling the storefront and going headless with Vendo marketplace API, and later with your own backend, if you decide you really need it. Just lift and shift the storefront.

Nobody has to know what’s under the hood, right?