Multi-vendor solutions are repeatedly named one of the most important trends in eCommerce. Yet, not many businesses adopt this business model; hence the competition is still low. Advanced features of this business model cover: shipping services, marketing tools, third-party payments, web hosting, and an engaging user interface. Multi-vendor eCommerce software is like one of the traditional eCommerce websites with multiple vendors with additional unique features.
Based on our experience with open-source multi-vendor marketplace development, we will guide you through the whole process as partners to make sure it meets all your needs. We will cover all the necessary features among one business, an open-source platform – OpenMarketplace by BitBag.
To start the project in the right way, the most important 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. Perhaps you already have one of the marketplace platforms (CS-Cart, WordPress website with WordPress plugin, or any other), we may help you with analyzing the source code, show 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 processes is the implementation of the established requirements.
To get to know more about workshops, click here.
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.
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.
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.
The structure of the team, that will work on your project consists (in general) of the following people:
The working model depends on many different factors, such as the scope of your project, your goals, and the budget you have
There are two models: Fixed Price and 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.
We migrated the Multi-vendor marketplace platform from Magento 1 (related to digital products: computer games) to open-source marketplace software. An eCommerce platform designed for players on a rather unusual topic. In the case of this online marketplace, the Vendors were not only game developers but entire publishing studios. The platform is based on the sales commission model, so the sales statistics module, which had to be heavily customized, played a significant role in this project.
During the migration of this eCommerce platform, our main task was to improve vendor management. So far, most of the activities were performed manually by the store admin, making it difficult to scale the eCommerce platform.
With the eCommerce store users in mind, we created a game library, which had to facilitate access to purchased products with the possibility of downloading at any time.
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, the inventory of which was quite often dynamically changing. In this case, the eCommerce website administrator coordinated all logistics issues in cooperation with local couriers.
This eCommerce platform allowed to increase profits and improve the functioning of the entire system and allowed engaging several times more vendors for sale on the platform with less effort, which translated into a more significant number of products in the store and increased the popularity of the store.
The store was based on a vendor commission model (one of the business models), so vendors did not have to worry about additional costs in low sales, and customers covered the logistics costs.