How marketplaces can get new suppliers live faster

To get suppliers live faster, ask for less at sign up, collect the rest in stages, chase automatically and step in where it stalls. According to Mirakl's 2026 Seller Report, April 2026, sellers complete onboarding in a median of 28 days. The fastest take less than 2 weeks, and the gap between those numbers is where the work is.

How long does it take to get a new supplier live?

About 4 weeks, on the best recent data. For its April 2026 report, Mirakl analysed over 100,000 sellers on its marketplace and dropship platforms. They completed onboarding in a median of 28 days.

Business checks stretch it further. For almost 60% of the firms in Sumsub's European KYB Benchmark Survey, July 2026, verifying a corporate client takes longer than a day.

Banks sit at the far end. Fenergo's survey of 600 senior decision makers, October 2025, found UK corporate banks average more than 6 weeks to onboard a client.

Meanwhile, suppliers have options. ChannelEngine surveyed 470 marketplace decision makers in June and July 2025, and found sellers are active on 6 marketplaces on average. A slow start on your platform leaves their attention with the ones where they already trade.

Why do suppliers drop out before they go live?

The data points to complexity and delay. In ChannelEngine's July 2025 survey, 26% of sellers said technical requirements made them reluctant to expand to a new marketplace. 22% named marketplace compliance challenges as a barrier.

Compliance teams see it from the other side. In Sumsub's July 2026 survey, 59% admitted that compliance complexity causes direct customer drop off during onboarding. 81% had lost potential clients due to onboarding delays.

Financial services shows where that ends up. In Fenergo's October 2025 survey, 70% of firms lost clients in the past year because of inefficient onboarding, up from 48% in 2023.

Inside a marketplace, the stall points tend to look like this.

• A long form on day 1 that asks for documents the supplier does not have to hand.
• Steps spread across email threads, spreadsheets and shared folders, so nobody can see what is missing.
• Reminders that rely on someone in the team remembering to send them.
• No clear view of who is nearly live and who has gone quiet.

Each of those adds days of waiting, and none of them shows up until someone goes looking.

The supplier onboarding figures that matter

• Sellers complete onboarding in a median of 28 days, and the fastest in less than 2 weeks, according to Mirakl, April 2026.
• Sellers are active on 6 marketplaces on average, according to ChannelEngine's survey of 470 decision makers, July 2025.
• 26% of sellers are reluctant to expand to a new marketplace because of technical requirements, according to ChannelEngine, July 2025.
• 81% of European firms surveyed have lost potential clients due to onboarding delays, according to Sumsub, July 2026.
• 59% of those firms say compliance complexity causes direct customer drop off during onboarding, according to Sumsub, July 2026.
• Client onboarding abandonment averages around 10% at banks, asset managers and fund administrators, according to Fenergo, October 2025.

How do you get suppliers live faster?

Cut the waiting between steps, and only ask for what each supplier needs. Stripe's guidance on seller onboarding, updated September 2026, recommends simpler onboarding for low risk sellers, with more information requested as volume or risk grows.

Group what you need into stages that match the order a supplier can provide it. Account details first, then what they sell, then documents and checks, then a first listing or first service.

A flow that keeps suppliers moving looks like this.

• Start with the minimum: name, contact details and what they offer. Everything else comes once they are in.
• Split the rest into short stages that only ask what applies. A sole trader and a limited company should not see the same form.
• Save progress as they type, so a supplier can stop and come back without starting again.
• Let them upload documents and photos straight into the right place, with nothing to email back and forth.
• Show a progress view: what is done, what is left and what is holding up go live.
• Run the checks that can be automated, and route only the exceptions to a reviewer.
• Tag every supplier by stage in the CRM, so the team sees the whole pipeline at a glance.

A progress view does 2 jobs. It shows the supplier what is left, and it shows your team who is close to live and who has stopped.

Stripe's guidance also covers suppliers who can trade before every check is complete. It suggests capping their volume or holding payouts until verification finishes.

How often should you chase a supplier who has gone quiet?

Often enough to keep momentum, never so often that it reads as nagging. Start with the rhythm below, then adjust it to your own completion data.

• 2 days after the last activity: a short reminder that names the exact step left.
• Then every 3 days: a reminder with a direct link back to that step.
• After 4 reminders: stop the emails and create a call task for a named person.
• Any reply or upload: stop the sequence straight away.

Make every reminder specific. 'Your insurance certificate is the last thing we need' is easier to act on than 'Please complete your profile'.

Use email for the detail and a text for the nudge. A short SMS with a single link back to the missing step takes seconds to act on.

Bring in a person at 3 moments.

• A supplier stalls on a compliance check or a document they cannot find.
• A large supplier is nearly live and worth a call to finish the last step.
• Someone replies with a question, whatever stage they are at.

Automation finds those moments. People close them.

What this means for your marketing system

Supplier onboarding is a marketing sequence with a compliance step in the middle. It deserves the same care as a welcome series for buyers.

Automate the parts that rely on memory: staged forms, document collection, reminders, stage tags and the hand over to a person. Keep the judgement calls human.

Agree what live means before you measure it. It might be a first listing, a first booking or a first payout, but it should never be a submitted form.

Then measure what Stripe's guidance suggests, plus 2 numbers of your own.

• Median time from sign up to live, so a few slow cases do not hide the trend.
• Completion rate for each stage, split by supplier type.
• The stage where the most suppliers stop. That is where to make the next change.
• How many stalled suppliers go live after a person steps in.

Going live is only half of it. A short sequence after launch, with help on a first listing and a check in after the first order, keeps new suppliers active.

Buyers need the same care. A first order welcome, a review request after delivery and a check in when buyers go quiet can run from the same CRM.

We build this as part of a bespoke marketing system, designed around how each platform wins and keeps its suppliers. Staged onboarding, automatic chasing and a live view of every supplier's stage sit in the same CRM as your buyers.