Online Bookings & Reservation Marketplace
Initiation
Despite the fact that there are numerous companies in the online booking industry, you can easily set foot in the world of online booking business.
This is because of the massive growth of the online booking industry trends that continue to evolve, leading to drive new opportunities to the online merchants.
The global online booking software market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 15.1%, reaching a market value of $360 million by 2024.
So, it’s time to do research into eCommerce niches and generate productive booking business ideas to implement on an eCommerce website.
To offer online bookings to the customers, you can find tons of business ideas related to your profession including Self-drive car booking business, Salon & Spa business, etc.
Now, generate ideas based on your findings and start an online booking system or reservation marketplace.
Before that, let’s explore what the online booking system and reservation marketplace are all about.
What is Online Booking System and Reservation Marketplace?
Online Booking System
A system that allows a customer to select a slot, book an appointment and pay for the product/service you offer on your website.
These services can be anything depending on the profession you choose such as salon booking service, consultant booking system, dental checkup system, etc.
Taking about the rental services, you can offer dresses on rent, electronic items on rent, etc on your online booking website and simplify the booking process.
Reservation Marketplace in eCommerce terms
e-Reservation basically means making appointments via the Internet.
The e-marketplace is an online platform where numerous vendors gather together and sell products & services to their potential customers.
Thus, the Reservation Marketplace is all about allowing multiple vendors to create appointments & sell services/rent products under one roof based on their profession.
In the eCommerce term, the whole booking process will be managed online over the internet.
Who can use it?
An online booking system allows merchants, such as dentists, salons, or consultants, to accept bookings online instead of requiring customers to visit in person for manual scheduling.
In order to avoid the complexities of handling a large number of bookings in one go, merchants choose e-Bookings option.
They create their online stores and accept online bookings for salon & spa, rental booking services, venue booking services and similar services based on their profession.
They find it quite manageable to create day-wise or time slots for the services & products offered on the website & let customers book a slot to avail services or rent products.
Types of Online Booking & Reservation System
You can accept bookings depending on your professions. Moreover, you can categorize bookings as per the requirement.
This makes it simple for the customers to select the service and pay for it.
Explore multiple types of online bookings:-
TYPE 1: SELL TIME
In case, you are offering online bookings for your salon service, tuition classes, dental checkup then, Appointment Type booking is the right option for you.
In this booking type, you can create time slots and let customers choose a slot and book the service.
TYPE 2: RENT PRODUCTS
If you want to rent products on your store then, just go for the Rent Type bookings. You can allow customers to select the start & end date-time when they willing to rent the product.
One Live Example:- The Fitzroy, dress rental service is one such website that allows dresses on rent using Shopify, a simplified eCommerce solution for small to medium-sized businesses.
Start Your Own Rental Booking Marketplace Now!
TYPE 3: VENUE BOOKINGS
Venue/event bookings are another type of booking you can offer on your booking website. You just have to add the dates when the venue will be available and the event will be going to start.
And customers can book for the event and pay for the service.
SUGGESTED APP: Booking App by Webkul
Willing to Start an Online Booking Marketplace?
Now, if you are wondering how to set up the best booking marketplace then, you first need to choose a platform that suits your profession.
If you are a beginner and have no deep knowledge of coding then, Shopify is a good option for you to start an online booking marketplace.
You just need to create a Shopify store and install the Booking app integrated with the evergreen Multi-vendor Marketplace app.
If you have in-depth knowledge of coding, Magento is the right choice for large-sized businesses. Being the store owner, you can make the best use of source code offered by Magento.
You can examine the code & customize features as you will get a lot of custom options for web designing purposes.
Explore the leading eCommerce platforms for Booking Marketplace!
Must-have Features of an Online Booking Marketplace
Here are some must-have features needed for your online booking marketplace.
Effectual Benefits for the Merchant
- A simplified booking process.
- Flexibility to create different types of bookings based on any profession.
- Advanced Slot Management.
- Enable secured payment methods.
- Allow bookings via mobile devices.
- Google Calendar Feature to manage all the bookings received in your store.
Benefits associated with the sellers
- Separate panels for each seller to manage their bookings individually.
- Sellers can add multiple types of bookings from their seller panels.
- Also, each seller will be responsible to take care of his/her own bookings.
- Sellers can check & approve customer’s booking reschedules/cancellation requests.
Scope of Online Bookings and Marketplaces
With the advancement of the eCommerce industry, the trend to start online marketplaces keeps on increasing. Talking about selling services online, the booking industry comes into play.
Thus, online merchants prefer online reservation system for any business that takes days/night bookings, scheduled bookings, etc.
As we know, online businesses are not limited to selling physical items. People find it more convenient & profitable to sell services or rent products online.
You don’t have to take the hurdle of managing inventory as it’s a big task in case you sell physical products on your store.
Considering this, selling services online is a profitable option for merchants who are willing to run an online marketplace for their service-based businesses.
Get An App to Grow Your Booking Business
As far as the features are concerned, the Booking App is an advantageous option to go for.
You can easily get it installed at your store in a few clicks and add products/services to offer online bookings to the customers.
You will have the flexibility to add six different types of products/services such as appointment type, rental bookings, event bookings & one-day bookings.
Thus, choose booking type and create bookings. After that, find a better way to promote your booking website via social networking sites, email marketing, etc.
Thus, let your visitors book for the services or rent products of their choice.
COMPLETE SET-UP GUIDE OF BOOKING APP FOR SHOPIFY
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Thanks for reading!