marketplace
MAHR-kit-playss
/ˈmɑːrkɪtpleɪs/
An online platform where multiple third-party retailers sell their products to customers.
Unlike a single-brand store, a marketplace acts as a host for many different sellers, similar to a digital mall.
The story behind the word. The word combines the Latin 'mercatus', meaning trade or buying, with the Greek 'plateia', which referred to a broad street or courtyard. Historically, it was the physical town square where farmers met; today, it is a vast digital architecture of servers and code.
Word relationships
- bazaar: Bazaar implies a more chaotic or traditional physical market, whereas marketplace is the standard digital term.
- monopoly: A monopoly is a single seller, whereas a marketplace thrives on multiple competing sellers.
Commonly confused with
- storefront: A marketplace is the whole platform; a storefront is an individual seller's specific page within that platform.
Word family
- market (noun/verb): The act of trading or the place where it happens.
Collocations
- online marketplace
- global marketplace
- marketplace seller
Example sentences
- "Amazon's marketplace has become the primary engine of its retail dominance, hosting millions of independent sellers." Describing the scale of a major tech company.
Memory hook
Think of a 'Place' where many 'Markets' meet under one roof. The digital mall for all.
When not to use
Do not use this for a store that only sells its own branded products (e.g., Apple.com is a store, but Amazon is a marketplace).
Fun facts
- The world's largest online marketplace, Alibaba, handles more transactions than eBay and Amazon combined.
Related words
Explore more words
wholesale, disintermediation, Market, food court, bazaar, merchant
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