Essential Features To Build A Multi-Vendor Marketplace Website Like Amazon

40 Must-Have Features to Build a Multi-Vendor Marketplace Website

Multi-vendor marketplaces have become a common practice for D2C brands to grow their businesses and establish a central touchpoint for their customers. As ecommerce websites become more accessible, the technology associated with running a marketplace like Amazon has also grown substantially. Every successful multi-vendor marketplace today is equipped to ensure the highest standards of customer experience while making sure that all operations on the backend are running smoothly.

Shipturtle brings you a comprehensive guide on the must-have features for your multi-vendor online marketplace so that you don’t leave a stone unturned to satisfy your customers.

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This guide has been divided into seven important aspects for creating a multi-vendor marketplace website on Shopify:

1. Website Design
2. Vendor Management
3. Payments
4. Order Management
5. Security
6. Compatible Apps
7. Support

Here's our exhaustive list of all the features that you will require in your journey to build the next successful marketplace:

How to Create a Visually Appealing & Functional Multi-Vendor Website?

In creating a multi vendor website from scratch that captivates customers and guarantees prompt and effective delivery, it is imperative to incorporate the following essential features. These features are carefully selected with a focus on multivendor website design, ensuring that your marketplace on Shopify is equipped with the necessary elements for optimal functionality.

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1. Carts:

• E-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify have time and again showcased their expertise in delivering appropriate technology for launching your marketplace.  
• On the other hand, custom marketplace builders like Sharetribe or CS-Cart frequently demand a substantial level of proficiency and can sometimes result in higher costs.
• It is thus advisable to utilize platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. They are known for their stability and extensive developer community, proving to be cost-effective and adhering to best practices for building marketplace functionality.

2. Marketplace-friendly theme:

• Marketplace themes play a vital role in building a multi-vendor website.
• Every direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand possesses unique requirements, necessitating a customized theme tailored to fit both their marketplace business model and the volume of orders on the multi-vendor platform.
• Opting for the appropriate layout and theme holds the potential to significantly enhance consumer loyalty. Custom themes further enable multi-vendor marketplaces to concentrate on their core offering – the products.

A D2C brand would create a heightened emphasis on user experience, with features like smooth checkout processes, intuitive site navigation, and overall shopping convenience.

Websites selling thousands of products have a very different layout vs D2C brands focussing on less than hundred products.

Niharika Joshi, FREELANCE DESIGNER

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In contrast, multi-vendor marketplaces often opt for a product-focused theme that not only showcases the available products but also facilitates users in exploring various aspects of the product range.

3. Custom fields and pages:

• Each multi-vendor site operates with a unique multi-vendor marketplace model, order processing, and shipping management workflow.
• When building your multiple vendor store, the website design should be tailored to incorporate these vital modules.
• If you are using a multi-seller marketplace platform like Shopify, it becomes essential to have a dedicated onboarding page for each seller, ensuring a seamless and efficient process that minimizes the time required to bring products to market.

4. Checkout:

• While building a website for any type of marketplace, a speedy, secure, and efficient checkout process can distinguish the performance of the marketplace from another.
• The adoption of a one-click checkout has the potential to transform the way e-commerce brands engage with their audience. It should be paired with features like Carrier Calculated rates and Split Cart.

5. Pin code restriction:

• Building a successful multi-vendor ecommerce website can be a complex task due to the involvement of numerous sellers.

• Given the impracticality of each seller delivering to every location, managing customer expectations by providing information on delivery feasibility in their area enhances user convenience.

Achieving a one-click checkout is contingent upon addressing consumer queries before the checkout phase through website design integrations. Therefore, anticipating whether a product can be delivered to a specific location beforehand can significantly reduce the number of dropouts during the checkout process on a website.

Saumitra Kabra, MYBAGEECHA.COM

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• For instance, in hyperlocal marketplaces, there are often delivery constraints for specific pin codes. Communicating to users whether delivery is feasible within their area can save time and elevate the overall experience, a crucial factor given the short delivery spans associated with hyperlocal marketplaces, where user experience takes precedence.

6. Ratings and reviews:

Earning and sustaining consumer trust and loyalty pose significant challenges. To enhance brand trust with each user visit:

• The website design for your multi vendor platform should incorporate a robust system for managing ratings and reviews.
• This not only provides valuable insights for product improvement but also offers users a compelling reason to make purchases from the website.

7. Whitelabel:

White labeling is widely recognized for its significance in building trust with both vendors and consumers.

• The ability to have a white-labeled Seller Panel compatible with the website design can enhance recall among both consumers and vendors.
• Embedding your brand identity in all communications and touchpoints is crucial to ensure that stakeholders perceive their interactions with a legitimate and trustworthy organization.

8. Type of multi-vendor marketplace:

Every marketplace website operates on a distinct business model, whether it’s a B2B, B2C, and C2C platform, or product, rental, and service marketplace, necessitating a website design that aligns with the specific requirements of each model.

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• For a B2B multi-vendor marketplace solution, the design would center on presenting product information effectively, with a primary focus on lead generation.
• The B2B marketplace is an online store focused on furnishing essential information to prospective clients, incorporating custom features such as call scheduling, lead forms, and gated forms. These features aim to provide convenience and ease for prospective clients to engage with the platform instantly.
• Conversely, a B2C multi-vendor marketplace type of website would prioritize sales, enhancing the consumer experience across all facets of the website.
• B2C multi-vendor marketplace is an online store characterized by a vast product range and high order volumes, impacting not only the website’s structure but also elements like order management, shipping, and returns. The UI/UX of B2C websites is often tailored to optimize the value and volume of sales.
• In a C2C niche marketplace model, the emphasis lies on facilitating the most effective and convenient connection between buyers and sellers.
• C2C marketplaces act as intermediaries between consumers, striving to simplify interactions on the website. The website design encompasses the entire process, ensuring ease for consumers listing their products, connecting with buyers, and making sales through both online and offline channels.

9. Seller profile:

• Ensuring streamlined communication with sellers is imperative for any multi-vendor ecommerce platform, be it on Shopify or WooCommerce.
• It is crucial to incorporate seller profiles with customized access, allowing vendors control over their pages and policies within the multi-vendor marketplace.
• Having a dedicated seller profile page is equally essential, providing consumers with a direct avenue to connect with their preferred brand. The seller profile plays a vital role in aiding consumers in comprehending the brand and the values it embodies.

10. SEO for multi-vendor online marketplace:

SEO plays a pivotal role in amplifying visibility and driving conversions on e-commerce platforms. SEO approach designed specifically for multi-vendor marketplaces requires a distinctive fusion of conventional SEO practices and tailored strategies. Key tactics involve:

• Optimizing website architecture with streamlined site navigation & secure SSL protocols,
• Employing on and off-page SEO techniques for engaging content marketing and
• Incorporating a comprehensive multi-channel marketing approach.

Mastery of these techniques can significantly elevate organic traffic and boost sales, distinguishing your listings in the competitive digital marketplace.

In contrast to standard practice, SEO for multi-vendor marketplace strategically targets customers with commercial intent, aiming at those poised to make a purchase. Challenges encompass managing extensive product listings and maintaining consistency across third-party vendor submissions.

Protim Bhaumik, FRACTIONAL CMO

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At Shipturtle, we comprehend the challenges faced by marketplace entrepreneurs in their growth journey. That’s why our offerings extend beyond mere marketplace technology.

We provide a comprehensive package for creating a marketplace website and its growth:

• It includes Shopify web design and web development, coupled with SEO and SEM services.
• This approach ensures that we not only assist marketplaces in establishing their online presence but also guarantee visibility and foster business growth.

How To Easily Manage Vendors in a Multi-Seller Marketplace?

The second most crucial element for any multi-vendor marketplace on Shopify or WooCommerce lies in the effective management of sellers. It is possible through a user-friendly vendor management module, ensuring safety and security for vendors and stores.  

11. Vendor registration & onboarding:

A straightforward onboarding procedure and dashboard prove instrumental in attracting more sellers to your website within a shorter timeframe.

• An essential component of the vendor onboarding module is the onboarding form, which represents a critical touchpoint for collecting confidential information and establishing the groundwork for a robust partnership.
• The onboarding form should incorporate fields for gathering company information while avoiding unnecessary data fields.
• Furthermore, it should adhere to regulatory procedures, simplifying the business engagement with the partner.
• The inclusion of company documents validating the partner’s legitimacy contributes to building trust and transparency, facilitating the establishment of a long-term partnership.

The time required for market entry can be a distinguishing factor in the competitive landscape. Deploying a dependable vendor management module is thus essential to your success.

SAUMITRA KABRA, MYBAGEECHA.COM

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12. Vendor dashboards:

In the intricate network of multi-vendor marketplaces, where numerous sellers are interconnected through a central website, managing multiple entities while preserving their independent identities necessitates a unique dashboard solution.

Therefore, Unified vendor dashboards are a key feature in building your multi-vendor marketplace.

• Implementing a tailored dashboard for each seller to engage with your store and address their specific needs can effectively oversee sellers on your Shopify multi-vendor website.
• This dashboard empowers sellers to make product purchases, process orders, and track earnings seamlessly.

This centralized tool can execute various processes with a simple click, offering a streamlined approach to complex procedures within the marketplace. This simplification not only saves time and enhances efficiency but also opens up possibilities for new revenue streams for both the marketplace merchants and the individual sellers.

13. Vendor website sync:

Automating inventories and products directly through your sellers' websites can save time and help you focus on the things that matter most - Building customer relationships!

Some of the notable features that a vendor website sync feature must have in itself are:

• Product Syncing: Automatic upload of products on partner websites when the seller updates the same on their website is a magical feature that can change how quickly multi-vendor marketplace and D2C brand owners go to market.
• Inventory Syncing: Imagine the simplicity of operations if manually updating inventory for each product was removed from your daily routine. Automatically syncing inventory while constantly updating it can be extremely useful for the marketplace.
• Order Push: Collecting orders and simultaneously preparing them for shipping in a matter of clicks can save significant time for the marketplace and partners.

14. Vendor permissions:

• Given the distinct workflows of different types of marketplaces, customizing permissions for each vendor becomes essential.
• For instance, a B2C multi-vendor marketplace may require unique vendor access, allowing them to monitor order volumes, select shipping options from the marketplace or their fleet, and manage reconciliation and invoicing on the fly.
• Simplifying such intricate workflows by tailoring permissions to the specific needs of each seller can be a laborious undertaking, and technology providers are adept at swiftly streamlining these complex operations.

15. Vendor customer chat:

• Eliminate the need to connect your customers to their preferred seller on your website.
• Enabling the customer to connect with the preferred seller directly can boost the user experience, loyalty, and conversions.

16. Vendor catalog:

Marketplace owners usually complain about uploading products manually.

Bulk uploads can enhance efficiency.

In marketplaces where products frequently change, this feature provides a massive boost in productivity. It enables you or any seller on your platform to upload and manage a large catalog of products that keep changing according to trends or seasons.

• Catalogs are easy to load and manage.
• They are coupled with a simple user-facing display and can significantly increase vendor efficiency.
• Moreover, catalogs provide your online multi-vendor platform with a way to gauge vendor performance.

17. Analytics:

• Implementing data-driven decision-making for your multi-vendor marketplace on Shopify has the potential to enhance revenue, and average order rates, and attract new and returning users.
• A comprehensive dashboard offering a holistic view of every aspect of your website can significantly expedite the decision-making process.
• This dashboard should encompass all major parameters crucial for assessing the efficiency of the multi-vendor marketplace.
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as revenue, average order revenue, NDR, and RTO are vital metrics to include. Additionally, the analytics should incorporate parameters related to partner efficiency.
• Evaluating shippers and vendors enables you to prioritize partnerships and provide incentives to top performers, fostering further enhancement of your store.

18. Mobile support:

• Accessibility over a mobile application can help you manage your multi-vendor marketplace on the go and initiate processes that require your supervision, no matter where you are.
• Shopify lets you do it easily.
• Decisions such as order returns, misplaced deliveries, and canceled orders can often save a lot of time, and being able to do that on the go is an added benefit for anyone who is running a marketplace with limited team.

How to Secure Your Multi-Vendor Ecommerce Marketplace?

Security is often a neglected aspect of any website or multi-vendor marketplace. Having a scalable, secure, and immutable security framework for your multi-vendor marketplaces is essential for doing business with your users and partners.

30. Scalability:

• As your multivendor marketplace grows, the data processed on your website increases multifold.
• Thus, build a marketplace website from scratch on a framework (like Shopify) that is scalable and can engulf large quantities of data while being secure and agile.
• Scalability is one of the key challenges that marketplaces face due to the increase in the number of processes and tasks.
• To not only collect and process this data but also utilize the process data to enhance productivity is essential for laying down the blueprint or future roadmap for many marketplaces.
• Marketplaces need to employ data collection, processing, and representative technologies across stakeholder groups to grow in a manner that is sustainable in the long run.

31. Data security:

• Controlling access, storage, and movement of data on your website between different users can play a vital role in how you manage your multi-vendor marketplace.
• Data security can often play a crucial role in establishing trust with various stakeholders involved in running a marketplace.
• Making sure that vendor, customer, and marketplace data is protected from internal and external factors can often be a tedious but vital process.

32. Traceability and change logs:

• Having traceability and logs for any changes made by users can help the system provide valuable feedback on how to manage your website.
• Error reduction and efficiency increases can be extremely valuable for your multivendor marketplace.
• Traceability and change logs are often utilized in the development of applications and features that are used to further enhance a marketplace.
• These change logs are extremely crucial to ensuring scalability and data security for your marketplace, while traceability can foster accountability amongst various verticals involved in the smooth functioning of a marketplace.

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Can Your Multi-Vendor Marketplace Software Offer a 360-Marketplace Solution?

A multi-vendor marketplace plugin often has a range of features that cater to the website. Several features often require an extended ecosystem or affiliate program. Having compatible apps that have expertise in crucial aspects can reduce the burden of responsibility on a single application while providing the users with the safety of choosing from several affiliate applications.

33. Tax compliance:

Taxes are one of the major instruments in maintaining cordial relations with government authorities. Building these features within the various applications utilized can save on SME costs to deal with matters on the same.

Rashmi Chouhan, journalist

• Incorporating both vendor and customer compliance aspects into your marketplace is an essential feature.
• Affiliate applications, which can help marketplaces manage both sides of compliance, can greatly benefit any multi-vendor marketplace website.

34.  Subscriptions:

• Subscriptions often require a different website model, and outsourcing the same to an application that specializes in providing subscriptions can reduce the cost that goes into the custom development of the Shopify/WooCommerce app.
• Subscriptions include AOV, Customer Loyalty, and Convenience (say in Grocery marketplaces)
• Subscriptions can completely upset the existing workflows for any marketplace. Subscriptions have their own set of processes and automation and require external partners or solutions to effectively manage and operate them.

35. Upsell and cross-sell:

Upselling and cross-selling are slowly gaining traction as alternative models of selling in the e-commerce world. Having applications that can enable both can be a game changer for any marketplace.

• "Frequently bought together" is a small feature that we have often noticed on horizontal marketplaces.
• If 20% of your customers purchase that additional product, it would lead to a significant increase in the average order revenue.
• It can also help you sell products from multiple vendors within the same order.

36. CRM:

• In an era of growing privacy concerns, a well-equipped CRM is essential for managing consumer data and utilizing that data to increase sales through outbound marketing.
• CRMs can effectively increase marketplace visits by nurturing consumers by constantly messaging them with the right message.
• Building audience databases according to interests, products, and categories can make your marketing even more effective.
• At the same time, a CRM is essential for complying with the privacy frameworks of the operating country.

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How Should You Guide Users to Understand Your Marketplace Ecommerce Platform?

Finally, the last set of features deals with the consumer's requirement to understand how to utilize your plugin. The best practice for any multi-vendor marketplace website is to provide your vendors and customers with a clear picture of how to use the plugin, which has the option of customization and other support features.

37. Documentation:

A comprehensive knowledge base and learning materials can help decrease the time to install and utilize your plugin. This can also increase the potential to upsell features and add-ons by having a central repository to address any questions related to the plugin.

Technology is often hard to understand for those who actually use it. Documentation plays a vital role in spoon-feeding the users on how to use the platform. A quicker time to market and stable operations are byproducts of efficient documentation. Creating a deep-seated understanding and the possibility of building a long-term relationship with the marketplace is the direct benefit.

38. Customization:

• Some unique challenges don’t have an existing plugin on the market to address those requirements.
• Custom builds and configurations are a way to overcome those challenges for any multi-vendor marketplace.
• Choosing the right marketplace software provider benefits you from solving these challenges and laying the foundation for explosive growth in the marketplace.

39. Live chat support:

• Impatient customers often lead to a loss in orders.
• Timely resolution of queries and assistance with the purchase of a product can increase revenue for any marketplace.
• It has become an industry norm to make sure that the customer experience is placed at the heart of any marketplace, and live chat support is an increasingly common practice amongst marketplace owners to make sure that the client is happy.

40. Open API’s

• Many other marketplace applications to enhance the functionality of your website require open integration, over which new modules can be added or built.
• Open APIs are extremely useful if you are looking to build a multi-vendor website that can address new challenges dynamically as it scales.