A Handy Guide to Pick The Right Multi-Vendor Marketplace for Your Business

Just like major malls and supermarkets, e-commerce has also come to a stage where the giants in the field have brought not one, but several vendors on board in order to attract more fish in the sea.A multi-vendor eCommerce marketplace is a huge virtual shopping mall that offers innumerable types of stuff to buy. Today, people barely even want to move from their comfortable chairs and sofas, out onto the busy streets just to shop for some stuff that allures them. In 2017, the E-commerce market had a whopping 2290 billion dollar sale and is expected to reach 2774 billion sales. E-commerce market has eliminated the need for people to strain their muscles by giving its customers a huge variety of products to keep them busy choosing for a good amount of time. And what’s more? It’s cheaper!

WhyMulti-Vendor eCommerce Marketplace?

Digitalizing the world has come to a point where anything, from vegetables to those little beads on that sofa cover can be bought online at moderate prices. This has been possible due to various kinds of vendors coming together on a common platform to share their products with the customer, thus giving them a wholesome shopping environment. 1.61 billion people chose to buy things online in 2016. The total global sales are expected to reach a whopping 4.06 trillion US dollars in the year 2020.

So what are its benefits over a single vendor marketplace? It keeps all, the business owner, the consumer, and the vendor happy. Let’s find out:

1. A commission can be asked for from the vendor in exchange for giving their products some space in the e-commerce website that the business owner handles. This commission can be based on the number of products sold, the total amount made in the month, etc. depending upon the owner and vendor mutual agreement. This grows the overall profit of the business owner.

2. Consumers can buy directly from the platform as the stock is readily available and prices are mentioned right on the screen. No hustle-bustle, whatsoever!

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3. Timing is no more an issue due to the fact that the e-commerce platform is available 24*7.

4. Vendors would automatically get more recognition by attaching themselves with a running e-commerce multi-vendor renowned giant. Even the minor vendors, who cannot start their own websites, can easily approach the bigger e-commerce businesses and start selling their products there and make good profits.

5. Overseas sales, that were once a great deal, have now become a piece of cake!

6. Inexpensive and excellent quality products, with utter variety, are available for the users to look at and choose from.

7. Comparison of products has become oh so simple. All one has to do is open the other website and look at the price of the same product, instead of going shop to shop and confirming prices.

8. Products and their costs are regularly updated and thus the users cannot be blinded or fooled anymore.

9. With the ease of mobile app commerce, the users are given constant updates on the latest deals and can access them anywhere, anytime, even while spending the first few minutes of the day in the washroom.

How to choose the right Multi-Vendor E-Commerce Marketplace for your Business?

Before coming to the final conclusion of picking the Marketplace, one needs to keep in mind a few major factors in order to gain the most from it.

1. Vendor Management and Support
It is important to note that the e-commerce business is giving all sorts of comfortable and required support to the vendors which include the registration of vendors, product picture uploading, management of inventory, costing, delivery, and obviously the commission standards. Make sure it is authentic and easily manageable.

2. Performance Statistics
Going over the history and previous year sales and performance can give a good outlook of how the e-commerce website operates. Look at the customer visitation statistics and build a graph to come to the conclusion.

3. User Interface of the Mobile App
Every other individual is using mobile apps these days to do the simplest of the tasks. It is important to have a catchy, yet easy to use interface, making it more feasible for the user to select from the available products and make one-click payments. The search and filter algorithms must be well refined to cater to the impatience of today’s customers. It doesn’t take long to direct them out of the website/app.

4. Cost Effectiveness
Before finalizing which marketplace to invest your products in, it is a necessity to compare the costs of the shortlisted e-commerce solutions. There might be a good variation in them depending on the platforms used to build the websites, i.e. Magneto, WordPress, etc.

5. Customer Reviews
Customers do not mind giving good reviews to something that satiates them completely. Going through customer reviews and ratings could give a good understanding of how good the e-commerce marketplace is running.

Going through these points should sure come handy in selecting the right e-commerce marketplace for your business. Clearly, there is no reason why this market should fall down in the next few years. However, in order to keep up in the game, one has to be updated and innovative.

MobiCommerce

MobiCommerce is a leading end-to-end eCommerce software solutions provider. Known for developing scalable and feature-rich Marketplaces, eCommerce websites, mobile apps, and Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), MobiCommerce boasts of being more feature-rich and fast as compared to its competitors. It has a steady clientele from the GCC and Europe.