Everything to Know About Marketplaces for Data

Going to a marketplace for data is now a quick way to get external insight. These marketplaces have grown in popularity, and the process has become straightforward. Buying data online is more like ordering products from amazon. Hence, there’s no reason for your business to lack data. 

Data has become an integral part of business decision-making. With appropriate data, your company can make better marketing, sales, product, etc., decisions. Owing to the importance of data, your business should have infrastructures to collect data organically. However, visiting a marketplace is a

n excellent option to meet urgent data needs. 

This guide explores everything you need to know about data marketplaces. To begin, let’s go into what a data marketplace is. 

What is Data Marketplace?

Data marketplaces are platforms designed for the exchange of data. On these platforms, vendors efficiently market data. As a buyer, you can browse through data catalogs. In addition, some features allow for comparison between multiple sources. 

Technically, marketplaces for data are two-sided markets – the vendors and the buyers. However, unlike other two-sided marketplaces like Amazon and Alibaba, data marketplaces focus on maximizing both parties' benefits. 

How do Data Marketplaces Work? 

Data marketplaces are like any other e-Commerce website. But here, the product is data – information, insights. The processes involved in maximizing marketplaces for data are broken into five:

Browsing the Data

Marketplaces for data are filled with numerous data vendors. A single platform can feature thousands of vendors. Hence, you have a chance to check through options for the right quality and quantity of data. Most platforms also help you customize the search experience for better results. For example, you can conduct searches based on geographical location, data type, and budget. 

Comparing Data

Since there are numerous data providers on the platform, features allow comparison. By exploring the details between two or more data sets, you identify which is best for your company. 

Many data sourcing platforms require that you contact the vendor for further information. But the best marketplaces make it easy to know what you’re buying from a landing page. With a details page, vendors pre-create content around why they are the best data provider. Also, such vendors share previous product reviews to encourage new buyers or showcase their certifications in the business. 

Being independent entities, data marketplaces prioritize the compare stage of the buyer journey. Sales of data aren't new, and data marketplaces make the process even more intuitive. 

Sample Data

When users are done comparing data, testing is the naturally-expected next step. As a buyer, the testing stage helps you make a final choice. In addition, sample data helps buyers determine if the data is adequate during decision-making. Hence, vendors must supply genuine and quality data for the testing phase. 

Purchase Data

This is the stage of concrete value exchange. Once you're satisfied with the data, as a buyer, you can either get the product as an API or bulk databases, amongst other data streams. 

On a marketplace for data, three payment modes are established: 

• One-off data purchase: Here, you pay for a single database; you also don’t get updates to the data. 
• Ongoing data subscription: Buyers a fixed amount monthly or yearly. 
• Usage-based data license: Buyers only pay whenever they need the data. However, some sellers have the policy to get a base monthly guaranteed fee. 

Whenever there's an issue with the purchase, the data marketplace’s support works on a resolution. 

Review Data

Like you drop a review on products you get on Amazon, you can also review data purchases and vendors. Over time, the review section becomes a significant determinant of sales for data vendors on platforms. 

Types of Data Marketplaces

There are three main types of data marketplaces, reflections of the dataset’s source and target audience. 

Personal Data Marketplaces

These decentralized marketplaces provide insights about consumers – who get rewarded for the data. This new marketplace responds to the reality that big tech companies commercialize users' data without reward to the user. Hence, essentially, consumers get paid for their data. 

B2B Data Marketplaces

These platforms are designed to provide corporate data traded between businesses. In addition, B2B data platforms facilitate the possibility of an individual registering on behalf of their companies. 

Furthermore, the B2B data marketplace is the most popular type of data marketplace. Businesses need data to make better decisions. Most of these platforms provide data in numerous niches. Hence buyers will most likely find what they need. 

B2B data marketplaces function on any of the financial models:

• Sometimes, vendors are required to subscribe to the marketplace while also paying when listening to their data. 
• Other marketplaces only collect a cut from vendors when sales are made. 

B2B marketplaces are getting increasingly popular in supplying quality analytics-grade data. As a business, having access to such a dataset separates a company from its competitors. But, as you'll expect, high value comes at a high cost.

IoT Data Marketplace

IoT is called the 'Internet of things,' and it's a technological infrastructure that involves the interaction between several devices, which emit sensors coupled with data generation. Hence, data from this technology infrastructure is called IoT data. Purchasing such data gives your business access to real-time signals from all places. 

Conclusion

Businesses making wrong decisions are at risk of failing. Hence, it's vital to invest in data collection, enrichment, and maintenance. With external data, decisions across marketing, sales, etc., become more efficient. Also, to have the edge over your competitors, it's essential to stay abreast with real-time customer-centric data.

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