Blog Post

In today’s time, the whole world has gone digital. Right from online shopping to eLearning, we have mobile apps to accomplish the daily routine tasks sitting in the comfort of home. Moreover, eCommerce is one of the large industries which is evolving greatly over the years. You all must have heard about the success of Amazon, Flipkart, and Alibaba. They all are the most popular tech giants that allow users to sell and buy a variety of products on their platforms. Thus, their immense success reached every corner of the world. So, there is no wonder that the idea of building a multi-vendor eCommerce website is so popular.

If you are planning to build a marketplace website, we prepared a guide for you on how to create a multi-vendor eCommerce website.

Before getting started, let’s understand what is online Marketplace and how does it work?

What is a Multi-Vendor Marketplace?

The multi-vendor marketplace is a platform which provides an opportunity for multiple vendors to add and display their products on an eCommerce website. In simple words, a multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace letting multiple vendors or merchants come together on a single platform to sell their products online.

How Does A Multi-vendor Market Place Work?

A multi-vendor marketplace works efficiently with admin, sellers, and buyers. They keep the communication straight and provide regularly updated to the customers about offers as well as ensure the shipment is delivered right on time.

Here are a few details on how a multi-vendor marketplace works-

• The merchants register themselves in the online marketplace. However, registration could be free or paid.
• Once the merchant registers with all necessary information and uploads all the products, then the buyers can start purchasing from them.
• Admin can charge a fee as a commission on each transaction made by the customers to the seller.
• Most of the payments made by customers are transferred to the Admin, and from there to the seller chosen.
• Product delivery can be controlled by the admin or even the seller itself.
• Communication on defective items or products can be conveyed to the seller or even the admin, which the seller handles.

However, building an eCommerce website is an easy process, but you may have to go a long way to make it successful.

How to Make Profit With Marketplace Website-

There are plenty of ways or business models you can follow to make a profit for your eCommerce website. But if particular talk about the multi-vendor marketplace, then you as an owner have to keep the following scenarios in mind.

The online store owner can generate revenue through-

Subscription or Membership Fee– eCommerce giants Flipkart and Amazon are using this strategy to make a profit. Merchants can list their products on your platform for a fixed price of a monthly subscription. So you make a profit by charging a subscription fee from the registered sellers.

Commissions– This is one of the best ways that you can follow to earn a profit. Using this model, you can charge sellers a certain percentage commission from the product sold. Generally, it ranges from 5 to 20%.

Payment Processing Charges– If you are helping merchants with various payment operations, then you can charge a fee for using the payment processor.

Logistics– You can consider the delivery charge as an additional source of revenue. Various marketplaces such as Flipkart, Amazon, and Alibaba are using this model to generate revenue. Providing logistics & shipping services to the merchants either yourself or via the third-party provider may help you generate huge profit.

Listing Fee– This model is being used by eBay as they allow merchants to sell their products by taking a listing fee from them. You can consider this model and charge merchants for listing their products on your eCommerce marketplace.

Advertising– Use your platform as an ad panel. As online marketplaces drive a huge amount of traffic, advertisers may consider your website as a good platform to place their commercials.

Key Features Of A Good eCommerce Marketplace-

If you want to make your website stand out from your competitors, then you should consider the following factors-

• Simple and User-friendly UI
• Quick-load Time
• Mobile Responsive
• Easy Check-out
• Clear calls-to-action
• Product Reviews
• Special Offers
• Various Payment Options
• Easy Return
• Quick Support

Promote and Grow Your Multi-Vendor eCommerce Website

There are many ways by which you can transform your product into a brand, however, it takes time to build an established brand. Arm with patience and use all the marketing tools and make strategies to attract buyers and boost sales. Here are various tools and strategies that you can consider to promote and grow your multi-vendor eCommerce website-

• Share Success Story

Before you start the promotion, create a unique story of your product and present it to your customers. It will show them the uniqueness of your website and even help them meet the right services. Try to make your customer feel special and make them part of your story. Promote this story rather than your product.

• Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the best ways to retain customers and meet new customers. You can collect the email address of your customers and send them offers, news, success stories, quizzes, etc., and you’ll surely get returning customers.

• Social Media Marketing

Various top brands use social media marketing to run their ads. You can also try Social channels including, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc., to convert the visitors into the buyers. You can leverage these channels to increase your brand’s online presence and awareness.

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO has become essential for marketplaces. In today’s time, everyone wants to be on top in search results. You should focus on SEO and hire a Digital marketing agency or best SEO company that can help you bring in top search results. To target both sellers and buyers, your website content should be optimized. Build Meta title, meta description, backlinks, URLs structure, and many more.

• Paid Aids

Various owners of eCommerce websites believe that they make huge money by running paid aids. There are various paid adverting tools like Google AdWords available in the market that you can choose as per your requirements and interact with huge visitors from search engines. Paid aid is an effective way to generate huge revenue directly.

Conclusion-

If you are planning to build a eCommerce website or running a multi-vendor website, then you should consider the discussed above factors and make your strategy accordingly to meet the desired goals.