Multi-sided platform bring together two or more distinct but interdependent groups of customers. How do they bring users? it's simple: they facilitate interactions between interdependent groups.

Big sized companies who took the lead

From iPod to the ITunes

Introduced in 2001, the iPod was a device where users could store music either by downloading it online or from their CDs. In 2003 a revolution happened: an online store where users could by and store music on their Ipod. It was the birth of iTunes Music.In fact, iTunes was a platform connecting music rights-holders with buyers. 5 years later thanks to the positive market feedback, Apple decided to make it possible for iPhone users to have the iTunes Store integrated with their phones. And thus allowed them to browse, buy and download music directly from iTunes Store and install it on their iPhone.

Google: free & paid; Adwords

The core of google is to provide targeted results from online search. Since advertisers aim to be known ans seen by their target, Google developed a solution  for them: Adwords. It is a cloud service displaying ads on both Google's Search pages and on affiliated content network.Is it not entertaining? Being exactly where your target is usually, in other words Google Adwords bring you close to your target.

Φ (k) ∝ At

The key raw material that provides a competitive advantage to the people, institutions and geographic locations that hold it, is no longer in the equipment (food, raw materials and energy sources, even if the stakes are high on these subjects, etc.) but in the intangible (information, know-how and knowledge). Knowledge capital can be considered as the third factor of production, in addition to the two more traditional ones: labor, and capital.

Pure physical work, for its part, loses its importance, or at least becomes subcontracted and not strategic, in relation to technical, scientific, organizational and communication skills and the creative and adaptive capacities (theory of human capital). The accumulation mainly relates to knowledge and creativity, that is to say, on the immaterial. We speak in this sense, at the microeconomic level of intellectual capital and "knowledge-value".

Creating wealth on multi sided-platform

Make money with YouTube

You may be able to make money on YouTube through the following features:

• Advertising revenue: Get ad revenue from display, overlay, and video ads.

• Channel memberships: Your members make recurring monthly payments in exchange for special perks that you offer.

• Merchandise shelf: Your fans can browse and buy official branded merchandise that’s showcased on your watch pages

Monetize on Facebook

Video has taken over Facebook, with daily views on the platform growing four-fold to a whopping four billion in just a year. But until now, video creators haven’t had a way to make money on the platform. Among all the social media channels, Facebook also remains arguably the most lucrative platform in 2018.

In fact, because Facebook’s audience is also maturing (with younger audiences not as eager to hop onboard), Facebook and its user base may also be switching over to a more business-oriented mindset and using the platform more and more as a marketing channel. The company introduced its plan to monetize videos and share the revenue with creators. Facebook’s revenue split with creators is the same as YouTube’s: 55% of the money earned from ads goes to the creator and 45% to Facebook. 

Dropshipping

The biggest difference between dropshipping and the standard retail model is that the selling merchant doesn’t stock or own inventory. Instead, the seller purchases inventory as needed from a third party—usually a wholesaler or manufacturer—to fulfill orders.

Dropshipping is a way to connect the wholesaler to the consumers. How does is work? Easy, you create an online store, connect it to a wholesaler, choose the products that you would to sell, list them on your website and Voila! You are good to go.

If you plan to create a multi-sided platform, and don't know where to start, you can click here or contact us.

Credit Sources:

• “Strategies for Two-Sided Markets.” Harvard Business Review. Eisenmann, Parker, Van Alstyne.  October 2006.

• Invisible Engines: How Software Platforms Drive Innovation and Transform Industries. Evans, Hagiu, Schmalensee. 2006.

• “Managing the Maze of Multisided Markets.”  Strategy & Business.  Evans, David. Fall 2003.

• Osterwalder, Alexander. Business Model Generation: A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers. Wiley. Édition