Marketplace

The first marketplaces were markets. Some historians claim that markets began to appear when people first started trading. ^{[3] [4]} Open-air markets were known in ancient Babylonia, Assyria, Greece, Egypt, and the Arabian Peninsula. Markets existed on different continents, but not among all peoples. ^{[5] The} Greek historian Herodotus noted that markets did not develop in ancient Persia.

The market network, which was based on the trade in goods brought on ships through the Mediterranean and Aegean, has been known since the Bronze Age. Due to its existence, a huge number of goods were sold, including: salt, lapis lazuli, dyes, fabric, metals, pots, ceramics, statues, spears and other tools. Archaeological evidence suggests that Bronze Age merchants segmented trade routes according to geographical contours. ^[6]

In the Middle East, documentary sources suggest that the first form of the market arose around 3000 BC. e. ^{[7] The} early markets occupied several streets along the length of the city, which usually extended from one city gate to other gates on the other side of the city. For example, the 1.5 kilometer Tabriz market was the longest vaulted market in the world. ^[7]

Historians claim that the Middle East bazaar developed according to a linear pattern, while Western markets were more centralized. ^{[8] The} Greek historian Herodotus noted that in Egypt the gender roles of traders and buyers in markets changed places compared to other cultures, as Egyptian women often visited the market themselves and even engaged in trade, while men stayed at home and weaved. ^[9]

Modernity

In 1995, Amazon was founded, which began its activities as an online book retailer and today is the largest marketplace with eight branches in different countries of the world. In 1995, the eBay online auction site was also founded in the United States, which can also be classified as marketplaces on a formal basis, as this online resource provides an opportunity for individuals and legal entities to put up their goods for sale, but, unlike other marketplaces, cost formation Items on eBay are subject to auction rules.

In 1996, Hiroshi Mikitani founded the Rakuten e-commerce store in Japan, and in 1997 provided retailers with the opportunity to build their own sites based on their online store. In 1999, Alibaba , an online resource created by Jack Ma, appeared in China, which became the world's largest marketplace with a capitalization of $ 441 billion (based on the results of the 4th quarter of 2018) ^[10] .

The term "market" comes from the Latin mercatus ("market square"). The earliest recorded use of the term “market” in English is contained in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 963, a work that was created during the reign of Alfred the Great (c. 871-899) and subsequently distributed, copied in all English monasteries. The exact phrase was "Ic wille þæt markete beo in see selue tun", which roughly translates as "I want to be in this market in a good city." ^[eleven]

Project History

The project concept was first presented in October 2017 at the Finopolis Forum of Innovative Financial Technologies . As part of the implementation of the “Guidelines for the Development of Financial Technologies for the Period 2018–2020”, the Bank of Russia, together with market participants, launched the Marketplace project. Its goal is to organize a system of remote retail distribution of financial products and services.

In March 2018, Sergey Shvetsov, First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, presented a roadmap for project implementation to reporters. The concept includes the possibility of citizens with round-the-clock online access through the web-interfaces of sites to offers of financial products and services presented in financial markets.

The prototype phase of the Marketplace project, scheduled for April 2018, was successfully completed. In the test environment, it was possible to conduct a deal without real cash flow and evaluate the interaction of the prototype participants, including from a technological point of view.

Financial Marketplace and Its Components

A financial marketplace is a plug-and-play system that combines financial service providers and consumers in one information space and provides participants with a number of services that increase the speed and efficiency of financial transactions. The system combines several elements that function in full interaction with each other, and includes: a storefront (or data aggregator) for collecting, organizing and presenting information about financial products to the end consumer; an electronic platform to which sellers of financial products are connected, as well as shop windows (aggregators); consultant bot (algorithmized consultant), providing services for the selection of financial products, the conclusion and execution of transactions; financial transaction registrar (RFT), which is a system for storing data on transactions. At the request of the client, the financial transaction registrar can provide extracts from the registry for use as legally relevant information (for example, in courts) .

Basic Marketplace Modules

• Authorization and registration module.
• Data management module.
• Search module.
• Product Management Module.
• Module for interacting with users.

The authorization module occurs through authorization by email or through the user’s page on a social network, as well as using two-factor authorization, which is carried out by sending SMS with a confirmation code to the user's mobile device. This module should include password recovery features.

The data management module answers the content of relevant information about the user, the ability to change data, make adjustments at any time. This module also implies that there must be different access rights for editing and entering information depending on the role of the user.

The search module is the ability to text or voice input for certain data stored on the site. The search can be implemented based on the information presented on the site, as well as an advanced search, customizable by the search engine algorithm. In the second case, the information indexed by the search system will be loaded in the results of the search and tooltips will appear.

The goods management module can configure data exchange with an external information storage system (for example, 1C) or it is a storage of data about goods in the administration system. This module provides functions for adding, editing and deleting goods or services. All information must conform to the directory structure subordinate to the categories.

The module for interacting with users provides the ability to communicate with customers online. To do this, connect various chats, feedback forms, the ability to share information on the user's social network, participate in the evaluation of a product, or a supplier, or a service, by rating the rating system.

Project Participants

Benefits and Criticism

The security of the entire system will be ensured primarily by a unified identification-authentication system. Once having passed their biometric parameters, customers have the opportunity to identify themselves using the Unified Biometric System (EBS) and join the platform for financial transactions. To make subsequent transactions in Marketplace, it will be necessary only through the Unified Identification-Authentication System (ESIA). This will increase the level of accessibility of financial products and services of credit organizations for remote customers. To fully integrate its functions, “Marketplace” must have an open interface ( English open API ) and be connected to a fast payment platform .

Removing the geographical restrictions and the ability to access Marketplace services 24/7 will increase the level of competition in the financial market segment. A wide range of different product conditions for the population of the regions will be available to the consumer, which will also lead to an improvement in the quality of the services presented on the platform.

The list of financial marketplace products may include bank deposits, government and corporate bonds, insurance products (for example, CTP ), mutual funds, microloans of microfinance organizations . The list can be expanded by credit, investment and non-financial products.

As a result of the prototyping carried out to date, individual participants in the financial market were connected into a single system:

• Aggregators advertising financial products of credit organizations.
• An electronic platform, which is the link between all participants in the chain.
• Credit organizations providing financial products and services.
• A financial transaction registrar that maintains a register of transactions on the platform.

Financial marketplace allows financial intermediaries to give equal conditions for the distribution of their products. A single technical solution is intended for them, which does not require the same costs as with independent development. As a result, a significant reduction in the cost of attracting financial resources may occur. For customers, the availability of financial products is increasing and the choice among financial organizations is expanding. .

The main benefits of the marketplace can bring small financial institutions that do not have independent capabilities to create similar systems and are inferior to large intermediaries in the cost of attracting financial resources.

It is worth noting that for a full-fledged pilot launch and operation of the Marketplace project, changes in the field of legislation will be required. In particular, amendments to federal laws are expected to define new institutions for the financial market: financial transaction registrar, financial aggregator, platform operator, as well as regulation of interaction between all participants in the system.

Marketplaces act as intermediaries in the marketing of online environments, which offer customers a website for connecting online users with information about the products and services of various companies (airline tickets, catering , clothes and shoes, other goods and services). This method is easier for the client, since there is no need to collect information yourself and study all the offers on the network, compare prices, ratings and other indicators. B2B and B2C sites benefit from online resellers. In addition, online resellers sometimes provide support for social networks on the Internet, which create a social community for the supplier and customer to communicate directly with each other, for example, the rapidly growing e-commerce trend, the online website allows the supplier and customer to do business in digital environment. ^[13]

Many online trading sites related to services have been criticized for finding jobs in local industries that cannot compete in price with external suppliers. Another criticism is that laws and regulations regarding online markets are underdeveloped. As a result, there is a mismatch between reporting and liability of the market and third parties. In recent years, online trading platforms and platforms have been heavily criticized for non-compliance with consumer protection rights. ^[fourteen]

• Electronic marketplace
• Financial technology

• Хироси Микитани. Маркетплейс 3.0. Новый взгляд на торговлю в интернете от основателя Rakuten — одного из крупнейших интернет-магазинов в мире. — Издательство «Манн, Иванов и Фербер», 2014. — 288 p. — ISBN 978-5-91657-926-0 .