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Open-source Multi-vendor Marketplace Development

Unlock the Potential of
Multi-vendor Marketplaces: An Emerging eCommerce Trend

‍Multi-vendor solutions are repeatedly named one of the most important trends in eCommerce. Nonetheless, the competition is still low because not many businesses have adopted this business model yet. Due to that, it is worth considering the development of an open-source Multi-vendor Marketplace in your industry.‍

What is Multi-vendor Marketplace software?

Multi-Vendor Marketplace is an eCommerce model that allows many independent vendors to sell their own products on a single platform that has a well-established brand position within a specific niche. In addition to typical eCommerce features, it also includes many unique and advanced features, such as shipping services, marketing tools, third-party payments, web hosting, and an engaging user interface.

This usually means it can offer a number of valuable functionalities and higher conversion rates on a bigger scale for vendors. The model can operate in B2C, B2B, and C2C areas.

BUILD MULTI-VENDOR MARKETPLACE PLATFORM WITH OPEN SOURCE MARKETPLACE SOFTWARE

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TYPES OF MULTI-VENDOR MARKETPLACE PLATFORM

What is your marketplace business vision?

Commission-based Multi-vendor eCommerce software

In a marketplace based on commissions from vendors, each transaction includes a commission for the marketplace owner.

Subscription-model Multi-vendor eCommerce software

In a marketplace that is based on a subscription model for vendors, each vendor pays a monthly/annual fee for being able to use the platform.

Public Multi-vendor Marketplace platform

A website where you can clearly see that the store is an online marketplace, and you can apply to become a vendor by yourself.

Hidden Multi-vendor Marketplace platform

A marketplace that looks like a basic eCommerce store from the front side, but there is a marketplace functionality existing in the background.

Custom Multi-vendor software

At BitBag, we base our marketplace projects mainly on the Sylius framework, allowing extensive customization. Hence, we can implement non-standard solutions and meet your vision - tell us about your vision!

Marketplace

Check out the Sylius-based marketplace

Sylius Plus Marketplace

Unique features of the Multi-vendor Marketplace platform

Registration and verification

The process of registration, verification, and acceptance of sellers and buyers is necessary. Equally important are the onboarding tools that allow for the fast and effective start of sales processes.

Product catalog management

Allowing sellers to easily add, edit, and remove products from the catalog and automatically update information about product availability and prices is necessary. It is recommended to use PIM (Ergonode, Pimcore, Akeneo). However, it is possible to maintain this area in eCommerce to a certain level without PIM implementation.

Settlements

Determining the conditions for calculating and collecting sales commissions between each party - the market itself, sellers, and end customers. Possible commission models are commission on sales, commission on transactions, and sometimes commission on participation in shipping.

Customer service

Customer support tools such as online chat, ticketing systems, and automatic email notifications allow you to respond faster to customer inquiries and issues.

Admin panel

Complete control over the platform helps you monitor sellers, products, and customer relationships to keep them at the highest possible level.

Data analysis and reporting

Collect and analyze data on sales to better understand customer and vendor behavior and make more informed business decisions. After all, data is a key asset of any market.

Vendor Dashboard

Give vendor access to all the tools they need to effectively manage their work, including tools for sales analysis and marketing.

Sharing documents

Providing customers with documents in electronic form increases efficiency, reduces the risk of errors, and protects documents against destruction, loss, or theft.

Marketing strategy

The strategy should include loyalty programs, promotions, advertising, the offer's personalization, and building customer relationships. Using these tools increases the number of returning customers and improves the overall sales performance on the platform.

MARKETPLACE PLATFORM: #1 CASE

Magento to Sylius migration - Video Games Marketplace

We base our Multi-vendor Marketplaces on open-source software such as Sylius, so in this project, we migrated the Multi-vendor Marketplace platform from Magento 1 to Sylius.

The company for which we carried out the project specializes in distributing anime-inspired video games with various themes.The company's main problem was the growing technological debt, which constituted significant limitations in the platform's further development. Our goal was to create a fast, modern, and intuitive platform that would provide an excellent user experience and improve the efficiency and functionality of the store.

Our work resulted in efficient data migration between platforms, which ensured business continuity. We implemented 13 plugins that enabled us to meet all the project's challenges. As a result, JAST USA has a platform that provides fast downloading of purchased files,efficient search and filtering of games (Elasticsearch), acustom "regional pricing" system,aloyalty points system, automatic promotions, a new payment gateway (credit cards), an advanced reporting module and new VueJS frontend application.

Whole case study

MARKETPLACE PLATFORM: #2 CASE

Selling food on the Marketplace Platform

The second case was to prepare a Multi-vendor marketplace platform with food products from local suppliers. The products came from small farms with local residents in mind. Each of the suppliers received access to the vendor panel built into the store, where they could coordinate the sale of their products, which the number was often dynamically changing. In this case, the eCommerce website administrator coordinated all logistics issues in cooperation with local couriers.

This eCommerce platform led to a rise in profits and improved the system's overall functioning. Additionally, it allowed for the engagement of many more vendors for sale on the platform with less effort. This resulted in a larger number of products being available in the store, which ultimately increased the store's popularity.

The store was based on a sales commission model (one of the business models), so vendors did not have to worry about additional costs during smaller demand for their products, and customers covered the logistics costs.

The road to Multi-Vendor eCommerce platform
- see the process

To start the project correctly, the most crucial part is collecting all the requirements to transform them into an initial estimation of the marketplace platform. To achieve that in the best possible way, we have a special service – Vision-To-Plan eCommerce Workshops.

Every project is different, so we approach each workshop differently. Maybe you already have one of the marketplace platforms. We may help you with analyzing the source code, show an online demo, or you want to show us one of the online stores you like.

As a result of the workshop, you will get a complete architecture of your Multi-Vendor Marketplace (including marketplace software). So, the first two (and the most important) steps from the graphic are covered by the workshop. The rest of the process is the implementation of the established requirements.

You may save up to €10 in needless development costs on every €1 spent on planning during workshops. One-time payment = Long-term investment.

Get to know more about workshops

Working with flexibility and professionalism
at every stage

Get support in choosing the best technology

After the accordance in the project scope, technology, etc., we can begin our collaboration. We lift the veil of secrecy according to the way we work.

Agile in mind

You are engaged in the development process to provide your feedback, suggestions for changes and improvements. This process is divided into a few phases, and each of them ends with testing and consulting with you.

Communication

We communicate with each other mainly via Slack, so we prefer to do that also with you. You will have a special channel containing the people involved in the project. It doesn’t mean that we are limited to one communication tool – sometimes, we also use different channels like e-mail or Google Hangouts.

Team structure

The structure of the team that will work on your project consists (in general) of the following people:

Project Manager – oversees the project and makes things run smoothly.
Developers – create an outstanding solution for your business based on your vision.
Quality Assurance – if something influences your system negatively, he will discover it.
(Optional) Designer – takes care of aesthetics and a unique final look of the eCommerce project.

The method of settlement

The working model depends on many different factors, such as the scope of your project, your goals, and the budget you haveThere are two models: Fixed Price or Time and Material. At the beginning of cooperation, we will determine which model we will be based on. However, remember that you should know its advantages and disadvantages when choosing one of the models. You can be sure that we will advise you on a solution that fits your project at this stage.

Our projects

Jast USA

Video Games Marketplace: Migration from Magento to Sylius

Fast and secure file download mechanism

Custom 'Regional Pricing' system

New VueJS frontend application