Marketplace Payments:
how to build
a profitable marketplace?

Looking to delve into marketplace payments through a client case study?

This blog post highlights the advantages of working with Digiteal as an integrator.

Bonus: Marjory and Classeo, two of our clients, will explain our added value in concrete terms  ?

Action plan

Creating your own marketplace requires a tailored action plan to avoid start-up mistakes. This plan should be designed according to the organization’s specifics (size, structure, management, etc.), correlate with your product offering and be adapted to your pricing and marketing positioning.

I. Marjory

Automation software provider

Marjory is the all-in-one middleware solution for data integration, simplifying complex workflows at the best cost. It enables your business to grow while easily adapting to the evolving technological landscape.

II. Classeo

Marketplace specializing in school photography

Classeo offers a connected photo-shooting software and online sales of school, nursery, and sports club photos. They are Digiteal’s clients for the marketplace payment solution (split payment).

III. Digiteal

PSP & TPP accelerating and simplifying the European payments ecosystem

We offer easy-to-integrate solutions covering all needs for electronic invoicing, electronic payments and Open Banking.

Classeo (& Digiteal) : study case

How does it work?

The role of a marketplace is to collect funds from third parties, specifically sellers identified on your marketplace. However, it is not legal to collect or retain these funds without being a TPP (Third-Party Provider).

Digiteal, as a TPP and a PSP (Payment Service Provider) authorized by the National Bank of Belgium, has the right to handle funds in transit (from buyer to seller) for marketplaces.

As seen in the diagram below, split payment service refers to splitting (at a predefined percentage agreed upon by the parties) the sum sent by the buyer among the “sellers”.

Marketplace Payment Scheme

Digiteal is not the first PSP Classeo has used. According to Classeo, the advantages of Digiteal include cost but also the payment reconciliation function (improved accounting).

In this webinar (to watch below) :

What are the steps to develop a profitable marketplace?

  • Idea generation

    ensure that real market needs exist.

    To do this, a thorough market research is necessary, with no assumptions about actual needs.

  • Design

    establish processes to implement and focus on legal aspects.

  • Construction

    choose between “Make or Buy”, either do it in-house or select the right external providers, favouring the MVP approach (Minimal Viable Product).

  • Launch

    analyze your market’s performance and optimize processes. Flexibility is key during this stage.

  • Adjustement

    evaluate providers’ results and work with them to develop new solutions or consider switching providers and challenge competitors on their added value.

How to integrate a payment solution into your marketplace?

  • API : 

The best payment solutions offer easy-to-integrate application programming interfaces (APIs). Digiteal, for example, provides a richly documented API that greatly simplifies integration on different platforms, whether these are custom-built or based on pre-existing technologies.

  • Partners : 

What’s more, some payment platforms benefit from partnerships with key players in the marketplaces ecosystem to offer simplified integrations to their users. Digiteal, for example, has forged a partnership with Marjory to facilitate these connections. 

  • Pay by link :

Finally, sellers who wish can also generate payment links, known as “Pay by Link”, either automatically or manually. These links can then be transmitted to customers to initiate the payment process.

What are the tips for becoming profitable?

Below is an exclusive webinar, hosted by Marjory, featuring two of their partners, Classeo and Digiteal. It took place in September 2022 and is titled “How to Build a Profitable Marketplace?”

To summarize the key points from this insightful video content, we’ll provide you with advice and things to anticipate when launching your new marketplace (duration: 26:26)!

For example:

1) Watch out for hidden costs: carefully identify all “expenses”associated with your e-commerce

2) Launch your MVP in one go: don’t hesitate too much

3) Choose the right partners (and tools) like Digiteal (flexible, multi-solutions, simple).

To learn more, watch the video (in English)!

Get more information thanks to our experts!