Multivender Market Places: The Best Platforms for Your Ecommerce Business

Have you ever thought about starting an online business and got stuck somewhere? Maybe you have a fantastic idea, but you just don’t want to deal with all the products on your own. Or maybe you are looking for a business that can offer a wide range of choices to customers. If this is the case, then a multi-vendor marketplace could be the right answer for you.

It’s like creating your virtual shopping center. You are the boss of the mall, and other people (the vendors) are those who rent it for selling their goods. The only thing you do is give them the website, the tools and the customers, and they take care of their products. Everybody wins!

This article will take you through the concept of a multi-vendor marketplace, its advantages and the tools you can employ to create one without code.

Key Takeaways:

• Multi-vendor marketplaces enable numerous vendors to sell their products on one platform, which provides increased variety, reduced vendor dependency, and diverse revenue streams.
• There exist a number of various platforms, which are aimed at different purposes, such as Shopify apps like Shipturtle, open-source solutions like Bagisto, and also extensions for platforms like WooCommerce and Magento.
• Easiest ways to register, search ability, reviews, payment configuration, and the overall compatibility with the business needs are the key features that should be taken into account when selecting a platform.

What is a Multi-Vendor Marketplace?

To the extent of core concept, a multi-vendor marketplace is a website that is solely dedicated to supporting multiple sellers in selling their goods and services.

• One-person or one-company ownership characterizes a normal online store. The example of a website that sells only one brand is a shoe store.
• As simple as multi-vendor marketplace is to a big flea market or a farmer’s market online, One person is responsible for the entire marketplace, while many different sellers have their own “stalls” to sell their unique items.

Without even realizing it, you have probably used one before. Amazon, Etsy, and Uber Eats are the examples of multi-vendor marketplaces. On Amazon, you buy from thousands of different sellers. On Etsy, you buy from artists and crafters all over the world. And on Uber Eats, you order food from many different restaurants on one app.

How a Multi-Vendor Marketplace Works: A Step-by-Step Breakdown

A multi-vendor marketplace is a strong online business model that enables multiple sellers to reach a large customer base. In contrast to a single online store, this model is more like a digital shopping mall. Here’s a comprehensive illustration of how all the parts work together to make it work.

Multiple Sellers on a Single Platform

The core of the concept is to gather together lots of different sellers at a single location. Instead of a single company selling all the products, the marketplace hosts a variety of vendors, each with their own unique products. This is exactly what gives a marketplace its huge selection and diversity. A customer can browse items from countless sellers without ever leaving the website or app.

The Centralized Platform

On a single, unified website or app, everything is done. This centralized platform is the “mall” that customers visit. It gives the digital infrastructure for browsing products, adding items to a shopping cart and completing a purchase. For the customer, the experience is seamless—they see a wide range of products from different sellers as if they were all from one large store.

Vendor Management and Responsibility

Even though the platform is centralized, the vendor is the one who takes care of their “shop.” This implies:

• Product Listings: Vendors are those who develop and operate the product pages for their own, including descriptions, photos, and prices.
• Inventory: They work on the stock level of their own. The vendor’s inventory is updated when the customer buys something.
• Pricing: Vendors decide their own prices and also conduct their own sales or promotions.
• Fulfillment: They usually have the responsibility of packing and shipping the goods directly to the customer.
• Customer Support: Vendors generally deal with the basic customer queries related to their products.

The Role of the Marketplace Owner

If you are the owner of the marketplace, your job is to oversee the whole platform and not just the products. Your primary duties are:

• Maintenance: Making sure the site or app is working perfectly, protected, and user-friendly.
• Payment Processing: The owner is responsible for all payment operations. Money from a customer’s purchase goes to the marketplace owner, who then pays the vendor their share after deducting any fees.
• Advertising: The owner usually takes the lead of marketing activities for the whole platform in order to get a large number of customers that will be interested in all the vendors.
• Support: Assisting vendors technically and being there for big customer service problems.

How the Marketplace Makes Money

Several ways exist in which the owner can earn money, thus diversifying and stabilizing income:

• Commissions: This is the most common method. The owner takes a percentage of every sale made on the platform.
• Subscription Fees: Vendors may pay a monthly or annual fee to be able to sell on the platform, regardless of their sales volume.
• Listing Fees: Vendors may be charged a fee per each of the products they list for sale.
• Premium Services: The owner can offer vendors paid services like special advertising, prominent product placement, or advanced analytics.

Benefits for the Customer

For customers, multi-vendor marketplaces are the most preferred places for shopping because of the following:

• Wider Selection: It allows them to tap into a vast assortment of goods from a multitude of vendors, and more often than not, they end up having unique or niche items that haven’t been available anywhere else.
• Better Prices: Multiple sellers’ competition may result in a better price.
• Convenience: It is just one website with all the products on it, hence a comfortable “one-stop-shop” experience.

Benefits for the Seller

Vendors benefit from selling on a marketplace very much:

• Larger Customer Base: They get instant access to a large audience that the marketplace owner has already built and marketed to.
• Reduced Marketing Costs: The marketplace handles the heavy lifting of attracting customers, saving the seller money on advertising.
• Built-in Infrastructure: Sellers don’t have to worry about building their own website, setting up payment systems, or managing complex technical issues. They can focus on what they do best: creating and selling products.

The Big Benefits of a Multi-Vendor Marketplace

Why would you pick this model over a simple online store? Because it has some huge advantages that make it a great business idea.

• More Choices for Customers: When you have many sellers, you can offer a huge variety of products. A customer who comes to your website for a new t-shirt might also find a pair of earrings from a different vendor. More variety means more sales.
• Less Risk for You: If you have a single store, you have to buy all the products yourself. If they don’t sell, you lose money. With a marketplace, the vendors handle their own products and inventory. You don’t have to worry about products not selling, which means a lot less risk for you.
• More Ways to Make Money: You don’t just make money from sales. As the owner, you can get a small commission (a cut) from every single sale made by every vendor. You can also charge vendors a monthly fee to be on your site. This gives you a steady stream of income.
• Wider Audience: Each vendor brings their own customers. This means your marketplace naturally grows its customer base much faster than a single store could.

How to Choose the Right Platform for Your Marketplace

To construct a marketplace you do not necessarily need to be an expert in coding. For example, there are thousands of tools that take care of all the complicated parts of your project. Such tools are typically referred to as plugins, extensions, or apps. Basically, they change a common website into one with all the features needed to operate a marketplace.

Ask yourself these before selecting a tool:

• How simple is it for the sellers to sign up? The less complicated the process of joining a new seller, the more sellers you will have.
• Can people find things easily? The website’s search bar should function properly so that customers can find products from all the different sellers.
• Are customers allowed to write reviews? Rating and review systems with good ratings create a positive perception of a product and contribute to customer’s purchase decisions.
• Is the payment process stress-free? The checkout process should be quick and safe.
• Is it suitable in terms of features? It can be said that some tools are appropriate for selling the physical products, among which there are those that are especially perfect for the digital products like e-books or music.

A Look at Top Ecommerce Marketplace Platforms

Here are some of the most popular multi vendor ecommerce platform you can use to build your multi-vendor marketplace. We have broken them down by the type of website they work with.

Bagisto Multi Vendor Marketplace – Webkul

Bagisto makes use of Laravel in order to build multi-vendor marketplace platform. It can turn a simple Bagisto store into a multi-vendor marketplace where vendors can create, update, and keep track of their products and orders using the dedicated dashboard. The admin can set both global and individual commissions for sellers.

Pricing Plans

• Free and Open source

Vendor Management and Seller Features:

• Vendor Dashboard: Each vendor gets their own dedicated dashboard to manage products, orders, inventory, and track earnings. 
• Product Management: Vendors can add, edit, and manage their product listings, including attributes and categories. 
• Commission Management: Store owners can set up and customize commission structures, either globally or on a per-vendor or product basis. 
• Product Approval: The marketplace admin can review and approve new product listings to maintain quality and consistency. 
• Shipping Management: Vendors can manage shipping methods and zones for their products. 
• Review and Rating System: Customers can leave feedback for individual vendors, contributing to a transparent and trustworthy marketplace. 

Key Functionality for Marketplace Owners:

• Centralized Management: The platform provides a central admin panel for managing all aspects of the marketplace, including vendor accounts, products, orders, and payments. 
• Multi-Channel Selling: Bagisto allows integration with other sales channels like POS systems or other marketplaces. 
• Inventory Management: The system offers tools for tracking stock levels, managing warehouses, and handling returns. 
• Payment Integration: Supports various payment gateways for secure transactions. 
• Customization and Scalability: The platform is built on Laravel and offers flexibility for customization and adding new features. 
• Mobile Apps: Webkul offers mobile apps for both Android and iOS, allowing vendors to manage their business on the go. 
• Live Stream Integration: The Marketplace Live Stream module allows vendors to host live streams for showcasing products. 
• Admin Privileges: The admin has complete control over sellers’ profiles, products, and orders. 
• Seller Currencies: Sellers can add products using their own currency, which is then converted to the admin’s default currency.

Mayosis WordPress Marketplace

Mayosis is a great option for selling digital items such as arts, templates, music, ebooks, stock photos, themes, plugins, and software. It helps create a unique user experience and allows for customization and organization of products.

Pricing Plan

• Free Trial
• Regular Plan: $69/year
• Extended Plan: $1990/year

Key features

Dokan WooCommerce Plugin

Dokan is a very popular multi-vendor plugin for WooCommerce that is optimized and ready to launch an online store. It provides front-end dashboards for both vendors and customers. It also includes a vendor rating feedback system similar to eBay. Metabase competitors such as Embeddable allow you to add these analytics dashboard to your product with ease, for example.

Pricing Plans:

• Basic: Free
• Starter: $149/year
• Professional: $249/year
• Business: $499/year
• Enterprise: $999/year

Key features:

Vendor Management:

• Dedicated Vendor Dashboards: Each vendor gets their own personalized dashboard to manage their products, orders, and earnings. 
• Front-End Product Submission: Vendors can add and manage products directly from the front-end, without needing access to the WordPress admin area. 
• Storefront Customization: Vendors can customize their storefronts with unique URLs, branding, and widgets. 
• Shipping and Tax Management: Vendors can individually configure shipping options and tax settings for their products. 
• Store Location Map: (Pro feature) Displays the vendor’s location on a map within their store. 
• Single Product Vendors: (Pro feature) Allows multiple vendors to offer the same product. 

Admin Management:

• Content Management: Admins can manage the content and overall structure of the marketplace. 
• Commission Management: Admins can set global or vendor-specific commission rates. 
• Payment Gateway Integration: Supports multiple payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and bank transfers. 
• Reports and Analytics: Provides insights into sales, earnings, and other important metrics. 
• Vendor Approval: Admins can control which vendors are allowed to sell on the marketplace.