What is multi-vendor e-commerce?

Marketplaces, also known as multi-vendor online stores can be financially rewarding if and when done correctly. You will have heard of some of these big sites such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy to name but a few. These are essentially one site that will sell products from a variety of different vendors. The difference being, each vendor can have their own “storefront” within the main site, or the products from all vendors may be all combined together into categories. Sometimes a mixture of the two can be utilised. The Marketplace owner deals with order processing, tracking and payments, the vendors deal with fulfilment and shipping. Typically, the website owner either charges a flat monthly fee to vendors to allow them to list their products, or charge a commission on sales. This system is advantageous to both the vendors and the business on the other side. The vendors do not have to incur the considerable expense of creating and running their own website, a cost that all businesses could do without. They also save time and money by not having to deal with customers directly or investing in marketing. On the other side marketplaces are able to grow their product inventory fast and easy, offering their customers a multitude of products.

A  Management Solution Accessible to All

Once reserved for only the large corporations with big website development budgets, they are now available to almost anyone. In the past, the cost to launch a multi-vendor store would have cost thousands. Nowadays with the availability of pre-built multi-vendor ecommerce software, companies like Marketcube.io can help you launch a fully featured multi-vendor marketplace from as little as $99 per month.

What’s the Purpose of a Multivendor eCommerce Store?

Multivendor marketplaces are great for the customers. With a wide range of different products to view and with one click, the product arrives on their doorstep, all from one single website. Multivendor sites offer customers the kind of experience that would need a large company to run. It would need warehouses, buyers and distribution amongst other big overheads. Nowadays an e-Commerce store can operate from a small operation with thousands of lines of inventory, allowing for the range of products to be vast. In addition it can also enable for more niche products to be offered together. The product range can be curated to offer a pre-selected range to the visitor, or can be open access, allowing anyone to list their products. Another benefit of a multivendor site is that, in some cases, is it can become a community of vendors, working together for the benefit of all vendors.

How do multi-vendor marketplaces work?

Typically, the marketplace owner will have an administrative login to the site, from here they have total control over all aspects of the marketplace, they also have the ability here to accept or reject vendor applications. Once a vendors’ application is approved, they will have access to a vendor control panel, from here they can upload and edit their products, set availability, pricing and shipping rates. They will also be able to see what sales they have had, any payments due and any products that need to be shipped. Once the site has been populated with a good product range, driving traffic and sales through it becomes the top priority of both the website owner and vendor. This mutually beneficial setup is an excellent way to accelerate the progression of an online business.

Multi-vendor marketplaces are typically run by one company with all the product range coming from other companies, however in some cases the website owner may also have products listed for sale. If you want to build an E-Commerce multi-vendor store and want to know what the best solution is, make Marketcube.io your first choice. The software is excellent, incredibly extendable and perfect for your new multi-vendor store.

With a fair and transparent pricing without lock-ins. No hidden fees, no setup fees and no extra transaction charges. Why not give it a try for yourself. We offer our services on a monthly subscription that you can cancel at any time.

Join us today on a free 14 days trial and start benefiting from our self-service multi-seller management solution!

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