Almost every industry is making the best out of their businesses by stepping into the eCommerce medium to serve their customers. With such growing competition, it is essential to keep up with the pace & trend of the market. The multi-vendor marketplace attracts lots of sellers nowadays.
More small to medium-sized businesses are willing to bring their product & services on an eCommerce marketplace to boost their business. We see more & more sellers coming up on marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart & more.
If you are willing to have a multi-vendor marketplace for your business, where multiple vendors sell on your eCommerce platform, then this write-up is for you.
What is a Multi-Vendor MarketPlace & How Is It Built?
A single eCommerce website can be made to have multiple vendors each with their own vendor panel. In marketplaces, the primary business owner/ main admin of the site is able to manage the vendors, the commissions & more.
Now, you might be thinking about how an eCommerce site can be converted into a multi-vendor store & you may also have given a thought into dealing with the work pressure that may come with having multiple vendors on your site. Well, these factors are less to worry about if building such a store is handled expertly.
We shall uncover such factors in this article & how you can get your eCommerce multi-vendor store up & running in the most efficient manner.
For widely-used & popular eCommerce platforms like Magento, PrestaShop, OpenCart, etc. It is quite convenient to turn a regular eCommerce website into a marketplace. Just like how extensions & modules add more functionality to a website, a multi-vendor marketplace extension simply does all the settings automatically to provide businesses with a marketplace site.
Such an extension is an automated no-code solution with feature-rich front end as well as backend. Admins can simply install such an extension & instantly get their marketplace setup configured without the need to spend hours on coding & configuring.
Key Features of Multi-Vendor Marketplace Add-ons:
Multi-Vendor Marketplace Admins Panel Features:
1. Vendor Management:
The simplified backend makes it convenient for admins to manage all the sellers & vendors on their marketplace. They must have the full authority to approve or disapprove the seller request & new category-addition request made by the vendors. Most of such admin panels even allow the admin to remove the existing sellers.
2. Transaction, Commission & Payout Management:
The admins can conveniently keep track of the transactions & earnings of the sellers & manage their commissions & tax rules. The admin panel must also be capable of managing the payout to all its vendors.
3. Compatibility With Mobile Apps:
Some multi-vendor marketplace add-ons are also compatible with the eCommerce Mobile App (if there is an app owned by the store owners). Hence, the reach is naturally increased to every device including PCs, laptops, smartphones & tablets of both Android & iOS operating systems.
4. Reviews & Ratings:
Admins should be able to access & manage the vendor/ product reviews & ratings that customers submit based on their completed orders. These reviews can be approved from the admin panel before it is made live on the marketplace site/ app.
eCommerce Marketplace Panel For Vendors/ Sellers:
1. Vendor Registration:
On most marketplaces, sellers can simply submit a request to the admins for registration on their marketplace as a vendor. Once the admin approves it, they can proceed with managing their catalog, orders & more.
2. Efficient Vendor Panel:
This panel allows the sellers to manage their products, submit new category addition requests to the admins, set product description, selling price, & a lot more. They can even make bulk uploads of the products using CSV files & do all the necessary things that a vendor selling online must be able to do..
3. Order Tracking:
This feature is a must-have in a multi-vendor marketplace plugin so that the sellers/ vendors can keep track of the orders that they have received & dispatched. On the admin-end, admins must have access to track every order as well.
4. Transaction Payout Request:
From their own vendor panel, sellers can easily make payout requests to the admins. Sellers can specify the amount & choose their preferred mode of receiving the payment. The process of approval can be handled by the admins on the admin panel.
5. Custom Shipping Methods:
Some marketplaces even allow the vendors to add their choice of shipping methods to provide better shipment services. Once the main admin approves it, sellers can proceed with their shipment processes.
Point To Consider While Choosing A Multi-Vendor Marketplace Extension:
As mentioned before, eCommerce platforms like Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop, etc. can be turned into a marketplace using a ‘Multi-vendor Marketplace extension’. Further on, if a store owner decides to build a mobile app for their marketplace, they can use an ‘eCommerce mobile app builder’ extension. Make sure both such extensions are compatible with each other.
Also, in a different scenario, if an eCommerce business already has their website & mobile app up & running & they later decide to go for turning their site + app into a marketplace, they should choose the right eCommerce app builder & marketplace module that are compatible with each other.
If going mobile is not an option for your business in the future, then you would only have to focus on evaluating the features that would be provided to you by your preferred marketplace module. Although focusing on the features you would get is something that every scenario requires.
Here is an advanced option that businesses with their website built on PrestaShop can utilize.
Advanced PrestaShop Marketplace With Mobile App:
It is a one-stop solution for store owners looking for a multi-vendor marketplace PrestaShop website as well as a mobile app. With this unique extension, the task gets more simplified & streamlined for the store admins. KnowBand offers an amazing combo pack of Multi vendor Marketplace & Mobile Apps for various eCommerce platforms:
PrestaShop Advanced Marketplace With Mobile App
OpenCart Advanced Marketplace With Mobile App
Magento Advanced Marketplace With Mobile App
Magento 2 Advanced Marketplace With Mobile App
More consumers are switching to mobile apps because apps offer better UI & UX to them. Apps have been proven to retain more customers & improve engagements & conversion rates. Having a mobile app is worthy of marketplaces in every way.
Whether it is an on-demand delivery/ service app, or a B2B multi-vendor marketplace, or any other eCommerce business model, with the right approach, you get a complete omnichannel marketplace solution for your business to thrive.
Related Articles:
5 Ways to Attract Sellers on your Online Multi vendor Marketplace
List of Other Modules Compatible with Prestashop Multi vendor Marketplace Addon
How is the Multivendor Marketplace module a good bargain for store admin?
