The COVID-19 crisis is something that has shaken the business world like never before. The pandemic has brought many behavioural shifts that are likely to last even in the post-pandemic world. Many companies have shifted their traditional physical stores to online to cater to the rising demands of the customers. For a successful ecommerce venture, one needs to know the current demands and trends in the market.
According to a survey, the needs of the consumers are ever-changing and nearly 50% of the online customers repose their trust in a mass marketplace like Amazon that serves as a one-stop-shop for all their product needs. NopCommerce is one such platform that supports out-of-the-box multi-store and multi-vendor marketplaces and hence the stores built on this platform are the most preferred shopping destinations for the customers.
Let us explore the A-Z features of the NopCommerce multi-vendor marketplace.
What is a multi-vendor marketplace?
The multi-vendor feature in nopCommerce enables the merchants to create a website where different people or diverse businesses come together and sell their products. That is, a website with products from multiple and independent vendors appear in a single store catalog. In other words, it is a type of marketplace that allows multiple vendors to sell their products through one common digital store.
All the vendors upload their products to the marketplace. The store admin decides which vendors will be able to sell what kind of products through their e-store. When a customer places an order for a product, the vendor who sells the product would be notified about this and he takes care of the shipment process on behalf of the retailer. And if there are multiple products supplied by different vendors, each of them would be notified and they ship the products separately.
In a nutshell, having multi-vendor support allows you to sell online even without having the required product stock/inventory and without any pains of shipment processes. You collaborate with a network of drop shipping vendors who take care of these logistics.
Features of nopCommerce Multi-vendor marketplace
nopCommerce has a number of built-in functions to assist store admins in running multi-vendor marketplaces. nopCommerce has the following multi-vendor functionalities that ease the business process for all the parties involved.
- Vendor Registration - nopCommerce has a built-in vendor registration page where they can register as a vendor.
- Vendor Information Panel - After the acceptance of the vendor registration, the store admin can then update the vendor profile with their details. Later, admin can assign the customer accounts to the vendor for uploading the products and managing the orders.
- Vendor Dashboard - This gives the summary of the vendor’s products, orders, and the bestselling product info.
- Managing Products - Vendors can post their product information, import bulk products, view the product reviews, have access to the stock reports, and many more.
- Managing Reports - Vendors can also find sales reports and performance reports where they can view the order details, shipments, best-selling products, and not sold products.
- Notify vendors - nopCommerce has a built-in module that sends notifications to the vendors whenever there is a purchase.
- Payments - In nopCommerce, all the payments are made manually by the store owner after deducting their commissions.
With the above nopCommerce multi-vendor functionality, each vendor can have access to the admin panel to manage their products, reviews, sales reports, feedback, and payment processes. The nopCommerce platform also provides a great deal of customization. The UI/UX design team can build a customized marketplace with an easy and intuitive multi-vendor interface.
Why nopCommerce is the best for a multi-vendor store?
- The store owner has full control - Having a multi-vendor store is akin to a brick-and-mortar store and renting it out to multiple retailers but store owners would have complete control over the store and its operations. The admin can monitor the activities of the vendors and has full control over whom to add/remove. He can also control the design and functionality of the store thereby holding a tight grip over the customer experience.
- Vendors’ control over their operations - Each vendor has a distinct account with which they can manage their product listings, reports, view the stock levels, sales, shipment details, and more without interfering with the other vendor’s account.
- Store Admin can issue Vendor Permissions - The website admin can assign the vendor permissions from the access control list. He decides who can have access to the vendor account and the other authorization permissions. He can also set a customer to manage the vendor account through which the customer has very limited access to the vendor dashboard and yet add their products for sale.
- Customer Purchasing Freedom - The customers can enjoy the freedom to purchase products from multiple vendors and can also save significantly on taxes and shipping charges. They can also subscribe to their favourite vendor’s newsletters and notifications. From a buyer’s perspective, this is a successful business model and builds a loyal customer base.
Benefits of having a multi-vendor marketplace
The delegation process is a win-win scenario for both the vendors and store merchants. The store owners do not have to worry about the orders and logistics. The vendors are also safe from any human error as they don’t have direct access to the customer’s orders. This is a high profit and low investment option for anyone looking for having a hands-free marketplace as the ecommerce is booming.
For retailers - nopCommerce helps online store owners set up a multi-vendor store without having a physical inventory or handle the shipment processes. The store owners earn a commission from these product vendors whenever a sale happens through the website.
For Customers - With multi-vendor marketplaces, customers would have a positive experience as they have to browse through multiple sites to buy their desired product. The customers don’t have to fret over going to different marketplaces since they can find a wide range of products hosted by third-party vendors.
For Vendors - The vendors would have a ready online marketplace and a strong customer base that the retailer already has. They do not have to worry about building and maintaining the ecommerce platform.
Having a multi-vendor marketplace is a win-win business model for all the stakeholders involved.
Wrap-up
Building a thriving ecommerce store in the competitive marketplace is difficult but not impossible. With a lucrative option like the multi-vendor store that anyone can enter the ecommerce business and also break the thick wall of competition. However, this may require expertise to put you on that high pedestal. Skynet Technologies can guarantee that we have the required acumen to build a multi-vendor nopCommerce website for you.
