In the eCommerce Industry, Online Auction is proved to be an exceptional application of technology. Being an eCommerce business owner if You have a Product to sell, keeping it up for auction is one of the effective ideas.
You can be an auctioneer who can connect sellers with buyers from all over the globe and allow buyers to bid on the products of their choice.
This engaged bidding experience of customers will not only help the merchant to know about the demanding products in the market but also help them accelerate their online sales in a very limited time span.
“Online Auction is the most efficient way to accelerate negotiations between buyer and seller”.
e-Auction processes the real-time visibility of the bids happening on any product. Sellers will have the flexibility to offer products with different prices and at the same time, buyers will have a transparent bidding process to show their instant response.
Selling Products online with an auction setup helps the merchants to know the competitive environment of eCommerce as well auction industry.
Bidders who participate in the auction will have an unlimited reach of the global audience and can easily filter out the products in high demand.
Before getting into the details, let’s talk about the different types of eAuctions used worldwide.
Different Types of Online Auction
eAuction comes with different formats used worldwide. Here are the key types of online auctions listed below.
Have a Look:
Reverse Auction
The roles of seller & buyer are reversed in this type of auction. In this process, the buyer puts up a request for his/her required item and thus, Sellers bid for the prices at which they are willing to sell the buyer’s requested products. Lastly, the seller with the lowest bit will be the winner of the auction.
Regular Auction
It is normally the Forward Auction. It includes the process in which usually a seller puts up his/her products for auction and the buyers compete to offer different prices to the seller by bidding on the product. The buyer with the highest bid will be the auction winner.
In addition to it, the Forward Auction includes English Auction, Dutch Auction, etc.
English Auction
It is the most preferable format of an auction. In the whole process, the seller will set a minimum bidding amount and buyers start bidding. The price increases with every new bid by a fixed increment set by the seller. Every bidder knows about the price being bid and the highest bid amount accepted by the seller will be the winner.
Dutch Auction
In this auction process, buyers will set the lowest bidding amount. Once a supplier accepts the first bid, the amount keeps on increasing at a pre-defined interval. This auction is a bit private as there is less transparency. Suppliers will not see all the activities done by the bidders until the first bid is placed and the auction result is finalized. If there is a need to set-up an auction for a small period with a limited number of suppliers then Dutch Auction can be a good option.
Private Auction
In this type of auction, the auctioneer can restrict the bidding participation to selected participants only. Only authorized participants can bid on the products set for auction by the auctioneer. Before participating in an auction, the buyer first needs to pay the joining fee set by the admin.
Fixed-Price Auction
When the auctioneer has set a fixed price on any product set for auction, it comes under a Fixed-price auction format. Thus, buyers will not bid on such products set for auction. But you can provide the “Buy Now” feature to your customers using which they can directly buy the product on their own choice.
Bidding Fee Auction
Bidding Fee Auction commonly known as Penny Auction in which if the customer wants to place a bid, he/she first needs to pay a non-refundable fee to get participated in the auction.
Useful Auction Plugins for Shopify
If You run a store and want to set products for auction then, You definitely need a manageable auction set up on your website for customers. If the customer finds a simplified bidding procedure, he/she will not wait to place bids on the products of their choice. This can be achieved using Product Auction App for Shopify.
With the Product Auction App, the store owner can add products for auction on his/her store. This bidding feature on products helps the buyers to bid on the products they are willing to buy. This will not only increase the likelihood of selling but also help you to identify the products that are in high demand.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
In addition to it, there are lots more features one can have with this plugin: Have a look:
–Auction Joining Fee Feature
Buyers will bid on the product only if they pay the joining fee set by the merchant.
–Booking Amount for Auction Winner
The merchant can set a booking amount payable by the winner after winning the auction.
–Automatic Bidding
There will be an option to enable an automatic bidding feature on products set for auction. Thus, the admin can set a proxy bidding on products.
Proxy Bidding: This is the less time-consuming bidding process in the app.
Example:- Once you place a bid, you need to enter the maximum amount you are willing to pay for the item i.e. a confidential proxy bid. Now, if another bid is placed, the system automatically places the lowest possible bid on your behalf. The process goes on until a final winner will be decided. If you are the highest bidder at the end then, you will be the winner.
Please Note:- Proxy bidding can be set in any type of auction except Dutch auction.
–Bid for Multiple Units
Admin can enable the option to allow bidders to bid on multiple units of the same product set for auction.
-Bid Increment Rules
Admin can set a rate to maintain the gap between the bidding amount.
-Proxy Bidding Option
Admin can allow the customers to make bid automatically on Auction Products.
-Sealed Bidding Feature
If you don’t want bidders to have information about each other then, sealed-bid auction best suits your need. In this auction, potential buyers receive no information about the amount bid by other bidders.
-Twilio SMS Gateway Feature
Also, admin can have this feature to send SMS to auction winner and to the customers who joined the auction via Twilio SMS Gateway.
Auction App for Marketplace
Now, if You own a marketplace with Shopify using Multivendor Marketplace App, You must have multiple sellers registered on it. So, you can allow your sellers to add the auction to their products using Seller Auction Feature App.
Here are some exceptional features of Multivendor-Product Auction for Sellers app:
- An Integration of Product Auction app with Multivendor Marketplace App for Shopify.
- An easy auction set up for sellers registered on the admin’s marketplace.
- Get an additional option to allow sellers to add auctions to products.
- Allow sellers to monitor the bids happening on the admin’s marketplace.
- Sellers can add base price & reserve price and set their products up for auction.
- Also, sellers can edit auction details from their respective seller panels.
- The merchant can remove the auction running on any of the seller’s products.
- Sellers can view the auction winner details.
- Also, sellers will have the option to start auction automatically on the set date.
Just by allowing the marketplace sellers to add auctions to products, your sellers will get a chance to expand their brand presence and reach.
Also, Customers participated in the auction will have an engaging experience of bidding and thus will bid on the product of their choice and buy them.
e-Auction Marketplace: Benefits for Merchant & Sellers
eAuction on marketplace enables the merchant to keep their marketplace products up for auction. Bidders from all over the world can participate in the online auction and bid on the product of their choice. This results in great transparency in the whole purchasing process. Thus, the admin will have all the chance to explore your brand and reach potential customers.
So, take a look at some of the amazing benefits for the merchant in having a marketplace:
- Auction marketplace is a great tool to accelerate online sales.
- Merchant will get a well-managed process to increase its brand awareness globally.
- Store merchants can increase their reach & generate revenue.
- Auction process brings genuine buyers to a point of decision.
- You as a merchant can eliminate the lookers who are actually not willing to buy products at all.
Benefits for Sellers with an online auction marketplace
- Sellers on the marketplace can get their profit separately on each product sold via auction.
- Also, Sellers will meet potential customers.
- Sellers can create awareness among their buyers related to their products.
- Sellers will get to know about products that are on high demand in the market.
- There will be flexibility in setting the price for products set to auction.
Final Words
It has been pretty clear that to generate maximum revenue from your eCommerce business, it is important to pick a profitable niche. Using Shopify, you can create an auction set up on your store using the Product Auction App and add auctions to products.
Similarly, if you run a marketplace with a multi-seller registered on it, you can enable your sellers too to add auctions to their products & offer an ultimate bidding experience to customers. Also, this will help the admin to increase their brand awareness globally and help sellers to increase the likelihood of selling products.
Don’t Know how to Create an Online Multi-seller Marketplace? Learn from here!!!
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