CHRIS: In addition, you also see a lot of actual services that can be offered with some of the different eCommerce marketplaces that we've done. So it's not just restricted to physical items, it can be digital items, digital products, or even services as well; it can really span the gamut.
Another example is we work with a lot of groups that supply physical items for franchises. This is a pretty classic example where a franchise needs equipment. Maybe they need all the different logo-branded apparel for their location when they spin up a new store for all their team members. You know, these are the types of things that you typically are going to see in these types of marketplaces. And they can be highly customized, they can be highly catered to that exact vendor's sort of customization for their end user.
RON: The thing that's unique about these vendor and buying groups marketplaces is the shipping, right? Because when I go to Amazon and, if I don't buy via Prime—typically prime means that that's one of the few items that FBA Amazon (fulfillment by Amazon) is actually stocking on behalf of the sellers. So Amazon can guarantee to ship it quickly, although they just announced in the news that Prime doesn't guarantee two-day shipping anymore. So I'm not really sure what we get with our Prime memberships.
If I go to Amazon and I buy six items, there's a likelihood that those six items could be coming from six different vendors, and it has to be drop shipped from each of those locations. So when you're looking for a eCommerce platform, ensure that the platform can handle either split or targeted shipping.