Over the last few years, the online shopping behavior of customers has evolved a lot. As a result, the number of online retailers is also growing at a remarkable speed. And the concept of the marketplace is getting popular drastically.
According to Statista, almost 21% of eCommerce companies are already listed on a multi-vendor marketplace.
Using WordPress, you can easily customize your marketplace and start earning money without having any inventory. Here, we’ll explain some important factors you should consider before choosing a multi-vendor plugin for your online business.
Learn how to keep your site simple & stylish so that both vendors and customers can navigate the site effortlessly.
10 Things To Consider Before Choosing Your Multivendor Marketplace System
The online marketplace is a platform where multiple vendors come into one place and sell different products or services to customers. Thus customers get a wide range of variety to choose their preferred products or services at their convenience.
As a marketplace owner, you should ensure a better customer experience on your eCommerce site. This will improve your overall marketplace performance and make your site more satisfying for both customers & sellers.
1. Easy Setup Wizard To Get Started
It will be challenging for you to convince vendors to become your sellers if your setup process looks complex. Also, having too many options in the signup process may discourage users from registering on your site.
So before you start your multivendor marketplace or an existing one, try to keep your sign-up process short, clear, and easily understandable.
For example, you can ask relevant questions but not too many details, or let users complete the process through their social profiles.
2. Frontend Vendor Dashboard
Vendors are the most important part of your marketplace as they are directly responsible for selling products to customers and generating revenues. You should always have something special for your sellers first hand.
Providing an intuitive dashboard might help them manage their shops. Keep the dashboard simple and effective for them with all the required elements. Such as important updates, announcements, reports, tools, etc. So whether they have the technical knowledge or not, they can easily overview everything at a glance.
Below is an example from the Dokan Vendor Dashboard. It gives the seller an overall summary of his/her store and activities. From this dashboard, they can easily manage their stores and also get quick insights.
In short, the more benefits you’ll give to your vendors, the more profit they can make for you.
3. Multi-Vendor Theme Compatibility
There are several marketplace themes available in the market to choose from. All of them are beautiful and have exclusive elements to make your website stunning. Also, they are fully compatible with almost all multi-vendor plugins.
All you need to do is pick the right one that aligns with your marketplace niche. Then carefully install it on your WordPress site. Check its compatibility with your WordPress version and other plugins before finalizing.
Your theme will represent your marketplace overview. And if it looks odd, people will not feel comfortable while navigating your online store. Plus, it will be difficult for them to find their preferable products.
4. Easy Checkout Process
This marketplace website feature is another most important thing that you must keep in mind before using any multi-vendor plugin.
With a complex check-out process, shoppers fail to complete their purchases and result in cart abandonment. You, as a marketplace owner, surely don’t want shoppers to face this right?
‘’E-Commerce Brands Lose $18 Billion in Sales Revenue Each Year Because of Cart Abandonment’’
So if you don’t want to be a part of this list, you have to keep the check-out process simple, transparent, and clear. Make sure that your multi vendor marketplace plugin has a simple check-out process feature.
However, if you already have a checkout process with lots of difficulties, consider these below tips to reduce cart abandonment:
- Keep the back button fully visible
- Direct customers on the same domain
- Don’t utilize alternative navigation while checking out
- Try to give real-time support
5. Simple Refund Policy
A structured and transparent refund policy boosts customers’ confidence.
Including this marketplace feature, you can make your brand trustworthy and convert more leads to loyal customers.
If you are confident with your products or services, facilitate your customers with a full/partial refund model. It also shows your care for them. Therefore, your multi-vendor plugin must have a clear & robust refund policy feature firsthand as a part of customer service.
6. Customer Support with LiveChat Feature
Another mandatory feature is the LiveChat feature, as it’s the leading digital contact method for online customers. While purchasing products, or services, customers may have different issues or queries. By attending them at the right time you can easily convert them into potential customers.
“More than 41% of customers expect live chat on your website”
Alternatively, if they don’t get the support in time, there is a high chance they will move forward to other marketplaces. This is surely not good for your brand reputation.
In this case, a LiveChat feature could sort out all these problems giving customers a real-time response through the customer representatives. This way, customers can put their opinions, suggestions, and feedback to your support team.
7. Availabilities of Payment Gateways
Your marketplace multi-vendor plugin must have available popular payment gateways so that your shoppers can easily make the purchase. Such as Paypal, Stripe, or direct bank transfer.
Do make sure all the payment gateways that your customers might prefer are fully compatible with your marketplace. This confirms easy transactions for the visitors on your marketplace. So you should consider this marketplace preference before you choose any multi-vendor plugin.
8. Simple Product Page Navigation
Product pages are an essential part of a marketplace. Nice and well-structured product pages with related information help shoppers visit your site and easily purchase their daily needs.
Irrelevant information on the product page may mislead your customers. And this may discourage them from staying in your store. Keep your product page always simple and relevant.
And most importantly, make sure your preferable multi-vendor plugin has an easy page setup quality. So that you can swiftly create your shop pages and install essential elements according to your customer’s attributes.
9. Clear Product Description with Details
Clear product descriptions persuade customers to buy that product most of the time. It helps them to read, compare and match the product with their needs.
Nowadays, almost every multivendor plugin does have this cool feature to show product descriptions on the store. Using these plugins, you can upload, edit, publish products in an attractive way and drag more visitors to your site.
10. Analytics Feature Track Customer Activity
Last but not least, analytics feature. Analytics helps you to figure out your customer persona. For example, it lets you know their locations, liking-dislikes, activities, and so on.
This data helps you to find different clues regarding your customer activities. And you can easily improve your strategy to provide more refined service according to their expectation. Plus, you can plan your marketing strategies taking help from your customer activities.
However, most of the plugins are offering this feature on their premium version. So try using the free version, if this feature is available. Otherwise, go for the premium version to unlock advanced functions to analyze your customer more actively.
Consider these ten factors carefully to avoid costly marketplace blunders.
Build & Live Your Very First Online Marketplace Today!
A marketplace gives customers a large number of options to choose from. This market model already takes millions of hearts by providing world-class eCommerce services. Like eBay, Shopify, and Alibaba- they allow people to check a wide range of products in the same category and purchase whenever they need.
A feature-rich plugin like Dokan might be an easy option to make your customization easier. With the duo of WooCommerce and Dokan, you can turn your WordPress website into a highly functional eCommerce marketplace in a flash. It also helps you to take care of the required factors we’ve mentioned above in a simple manner.
So why wait around? Let’s build your first ever marketplace and make a profit right away.
