Embedded Marketplace
The marketplace is a feature inside a larger product — a banking app’s rewards shopping section, a loyalty program’s redemption catalog, a publisher’s shop subsection. The host product owns the surrounding UI; the marketplace is embedded as a shopping-capable sub-experience.
When this fits
| Condition | Does this pattern fit? |
|---|---|
| Shopping is augmenting an existing product, not the primary product | ✅ Yes |
| Host product has its own user identity (banking app, loyalty program, publisher account) | ✅ Yes — auth context flows from the host |
| A slim, embedded shopping section (not a full standalone site) is sufficient | ✅ Yes |
| Full standalone marketplace with own homepage / navigation | ❌ Use Operator-Hosted instead |
What the host product owns
| Layer | Owner |
|---|---|
| Host product surrounding UI (navigation, auth, account, etc.) | Host product |
| Embedded marketplace section UI | Host product (using Firmly APIs underneath) |
| Catalog presentation and search | Host product |
| Checkout — build inline, or use Firmly’s hosted checkout | Host product or Firmly |
| Cart / order orchestration | Firmly APIs |
| Payment + order placement | Firmly APIs |
Auth and identity passthrough
The host product typically has its own user identity (the banking app user, the loyalty program member). When the user enters the marketplace section:
- Host product’s session identifies the user
- Host product calls
POST /browser-sessionto start a Firmly session for that user - Subsequent Firmly API calls use the resulting token
- A Firmly session is scoped to one host user for the life of that host session — when the host session ends or the token expires, start a fresh Firmly session on the next host login
This keeps the marketplace’s commerce identity scoped within the host product’s user identity.
Common host-product scenarios
| Host product | Marketplace role |
|---|---|
| Banking app | Rewards shopping — redeem points for products from partner merchants |
| Loyalty program | Member-exclusive product catalog |
| Publisher’s shop section | Editorial-curated products available for purchase |
| Brand-loyalty app | Brand-partner exclusive products (alternative to Branded Commerce when the brand wants more aggregation control) |
Limits to keep in mind
- Real estate. Embedded marketplace UI is constrained by the host product’s layout. Design for a slimmer experience than operator-hosted.
- Auth lifecycle. When the host product session expires, the embedded marketplace session must expire too. Plan for graceful re-auth or session expiry handling.
- Keep the cart shape simple. Embedded contexts benefit from a lean, focused checkout — don’t over-build the cart UI for the host product’s constrained real estate.
Related
- Branded Marketplace use case
- Single Product Purchase Flow
- Operator-Hosted — the alternative pattern