The Iconic is an Australia-based e-commerce fashion store specializing in clothing, footwear, accessories, and beauty items, showcasing a mix of local and global brands for both men and women, while prioritizing quick delivery and a user-friendly shopping process.
If you’d like to start your own marketplace like The Iconic, 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 a marketplace SaaS. Go live, start selling, iterate.
Build vs Buy a marketplace?
Utilizing open-source technology offers considerable advantages like full control and customization options. However, these benefits come with high costs. Creating a complete marketplace solution can take a long time, often months or years, and involves substantial financial investment, as evidenced by numerous marketplace projects.
Therefore, unless you’ve secured a large funding, choosing a ready-to-use, all-encompassing marketplace solution like Vendo is more beneficial, according to a professional with years of experience in billing for marketplace development.
Back to the The Iconic marketplace case study
The Iconic, an Australian online store, has become a big name in online fashion shopping. They offer a wide range of clothes, shoes, makeup, and more for both men and women. They get their stuff from their own storage place and different suppliers, making them a top choice for online fashion shopping in Australia.
But The Iconic had some problems because of their different supplier network. These included not getting items regularly, having to pay for delivery from one place, and keeping their brand image and customer service steady. Traditional delivery companies in Australia were not ready for this type of business, as they usually pick up from one place and charge for where they deliver.
To fix these problems, SEKO Logistics made a plan for The Iconic. They used the strengths of many delivery companies, kept the billing in one place, and made sure customers were happy. This plan also let suppliers easily get their orders and labels from The Iconic’s “Seller Centre.” SEKO’s plan not only made things work better but also helped The Iconic get more suppliers while keeping good service and clear prices.
In just seven years, The Iconic has grown a lot, with sales going up by 50% every year. They needed more space and went from 12,000 to 20,000 square meters, with around 2 million things in stock. Even more, their storage place delivers on time 99.8% of the time.
Also, they work closely with almost 1000 brands on their website, fixing problems together to keep customers happy. This shows in their high Net Promoter Score (NPS) reports, which often score in the high 80s.
How to emulate The Iconic marketplace success?
To somewhat follow the path of The Iconic’s success, think about starting your marketplace in a few weeks rather than several months. Evaluate how well your product catalog approach aligns with what your customers want. Adjust how you attract customers based on actual outcomes. Try out the market before you commit to creating it on your own.
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?
