How To Build Locations-Based Storefronts For Your Global Marketplace

Thinking of launching your global marketplace? Want to unlock new growth opportunities for your multi-product brand? 

Eager to beat your competition by becoming your customers’ fave brand across geographies? 

Wonderful idea indeed!

Taking your enterprise brand to global markets is the best thing you can do for your business. Here is why:

• 39% growth in global retail ecommerce sales expected in coming years surpassing $8 trillion by 2027 
• 67% of global cross-border online buyers are buying because of lower prices outside of their own country
• ~4X growth in global cross border ecommerce market value from 2019 to 2026
• $2.25 trillion is the expected value of the cross-border e-commerce market by 2026
• 11.71% is the estimated CAGR of the cross-border logistics market during 2022-2026

Source: Statista

Figures explicitly indicate the possibilities that lie ahead for your global ecommerce brand. To capitalize on the idea you need an online marketplace that is a few notches above the rest. 

Benefits of Location-based Global Multi Vendor Marketplace

Wonder how to build an international marketplace that is just the right fit for customers across different geographies? Well, you have a solution - go for a location-based marketplace website. 

But why multi-store setup? 

Let us validate the idea by listing the perks of having location-based multiple stores. Here they are: 

• Builds customized storefronts with localization
• Offers a low cost yet highly targeted marketing opportunity
• Helps understand customer preferences better
• Helps offer tailor-made deals and shopping experience
• Offers an easy and simple shopping experience
• Higher sales with local proximity
• Offers quick service for your customers 
• Helps measure results quickly and accurately
• Easy to add relevant products with multiple departments and verticals
• Helps expand to new geographical territories 

Now that we have established the importance of a multi store business model with location-based stores for your global marketplace. 

How to launch location based stores for your global online marketplace

Well now that you have decided to build your international marketplace website, it is time to plan and implement various aspects that will differentiate your brand from the other players in the market.  The first step would be to look for a powerful ecommerce platform that can single-handedly deal with your day-to-day as well as future needs. 

Once you have a future-ready marketplace solution with multi-store capabilities, start rolling out your location based stores as below:

Create a storefront for each location

The first step towards developing a location-based multi-store international marketplace has to be creating storefronts for each location.Once you have decided on the locations you want to expand your enterprise business to, the very next step would be to create those location specific stores. For example, if you are planning to expand in the UK, India and Australia, you need to create three different stores that are localized for the given location.

StoreHippo lets you build mobile ready sub-stores right from the dashboard and allows you to create different URLs for each sub-store. Supposedly you own an online marketplace as xyzstore.com, with StoreHippo you can create sub-stores like india.xyzstore.com for India, uk.xyzstore.com for UK and au.xyzstore.com for Australia. 

Design different themes for each sub store

Each of your sub-stores should look and feel unique, right? Suppose your apparel sub-store for India has the look and feel of the Diwali festival around the month of Diwali, the same design and theme can’t be applicable to your UK and Australia stores. These stores around the same time might do well by displaying Halloween and pre-Christmas themes. 

With StoreHippo you can easily design a different look and feel for each of your stores on your location-based multi-vendor marketplace. The drag-and-drop feature from the rich design themes library lets you choose and create designs easily and quickly. The look of your website can be completely changed within minutes, with no coding required. You can also save your themes and designs to be used later in just one click. StoreHippo theme designer also enables brands to play between designs and create multiple design variables for their storefronts.   

Build a unique catalog for each sub-store

When we talk about multiple stores based on multiple locations for an international marketplace, a unique product catalog for each of the sub-stores goes without saying. Suppose your online marketplace sells wedding garments. Will a bridal red lehenga work be a good product choice for UK and Australian markets? How popular will a white wedding gown be in the Indian markets?

Well, it's quite evident that different markets need completely diverse catalogs.

Sounds like a tedious job? What if we say it's not? 

With StoreHippo you can bulk import and export all your products using CSV and then allot products to each sub-store right from the common central admin dashboard.  What could have taken hours of manual effort is sorted in minutes with Storehippo automated order management solutions.

Build your mobile presence

Ecommerce is drastically shifting towards m commerce. 80% of online orders come through the mobile channels. Conversion rates from mobile apps are 3x higher than mobile websites. Well, with such insights it's only imperative for you to build your mobile-ready stores as well as apps for your global marketplace so your customers can order anywhere anytime. 

StoreHippo is built on the mobile-first principle. It comes with a built-in mobile apps builder that can create sub-store-specific apps as well. All stores and sub-stores built on StoreHippo are PWAs. This means these stores work like native apps when opened in a browser. These hybrid apps powered by StoreHippo run seamlessly on all devices and allow your online marketplace to serve customers even in distant areas where internet connectivity is not so fast. Isn’t this the best way to reach fast-growing ecommerce markets internationally? It sure is! 

Talk in the language your customers love

75% of worldwide consumers prefer to buy from websites that sell and communicate in their native language. We are sure you would want to place your enterprise business in the market as a brand that not only caters to the demands of its customers but also forms a strong bond with its buyers. 

By converting your global marketplace into multiple languages you not only make buying easier for your international customers but you also reap SEO benefits that come with multilingual content. StoreHippo offers built-in multilingual solutions that help international marketplace brands to create language specific sub-stores. StoreHippo also supports multiple languages in mobile apps, thus making it easier for global marketplace brands to connect with its buyers.

 Set up location based promotions 

Once you have set up your multi-location sub-stores and brushed up the design, it's time to start your marketing. While, there might be multiple ways to promote your online marketplace and its location-based stores, targeted marketing is still one of the most potent techniques. With targeted marketing, your international marketplace brand can devise different strategies that are aligned with the requirements of diverse audience segments in different geographies you want to expand to. 

To do so, you need to identify customer behavior, the channel they use for online shopping, the special days/occasions they shop on, the type of deals they redeem etc. Based on these  data-driven insights, you can then acquire new customers and increase your sales, market reach etc. 

StoreHippo’s simplified marketing tools give you a variety of options to plan your marketing strategies for different geolocations. The powerful discount engine and coupon codes feature help you roll out offers, deals and discounts suited for diverse audience segments in a few simple steps. You can engage your global marketplace’s customers in real-time by sending personalized push notifications or connecting with buyers through live chat and chatbots.  You can also leverage the built-in SEO features to grow your organic traffic and rank higher on SERPs. 

Offer a seamless checkout flow 

When international customers land on your online marketplace to make a purchase, they are not only looking for products but also a frictionless checkout process and the freedom to pay in their preferred currency. A complex or multi-step checkout flow can be the top contributor to increased number of abandoned carts, impeding your growth. 

To ensure customers keep coming in droves to your global marketplace you need to make payments smooth and quick. While offering multiple payment channels is one way to go about it, helping your international customers pay in multiple currencies is a sure shot way to set your cash counters ringing. By setting up different currencies on the sub-stores of your international online marketplace, you can become a brand your customers love and promote by word of mouth.

StoreHippo enables international marketplaces to implement multi-currency payment options for your multi-store global marketplace. You can let your customers choose from a variety of payment options like debit/credit cards, COD, store credit, mobile wallet, net banking, payment gateway integrations, etc. when you use one or more of 60+ integrated payment options.  

International marketplaces powered by StoreHippo can sell across the globe by optimizing prices in multiple currencies. You can also choose between automatic location-based and automatic store-based currency switches, so your customers are not burdened with additional exchange rate charges. For example, an IP address exploring your sub-store in Australia will see your rates in AUD or your customers can manually choose the designated store with their preferred currency.    

Streamline global logistics 

When you expand your online marketplace globally, you also need to partner with local vendors and logistics providers to stay on top of the game. Ensuring seamless and fast deliveries goes a long way in building customer trust and loyalty. For this, you need to tie up with different shipping partners for each location-specific store. Your logistics providers should have the experience and expertise of offering fulfillment services for the specific geography.

Sounds like a tough nut to crack, right?

But with StoreHippo, you can keep all these worries aside and focus on developing your international marketplace. You can simply choose the best fitting solution from the 30+ international logistics partners integrated on the platform or integrate your custom global shipping provider easily. With different logistics partners for each location-based store on your global marketplace, you can optimize the shipping costs, ensure quick deliveries and minimize the incidence of unhappy customers.

Hassle-free Inventory and order management 

A chaotic online marketplace with poor site navigation and search, incomplete product information, not updated information on available stock etc. is a recipe for disaster. It is imperative for marketplace brands to maintain inventories and orders systematically. But, with multiple stores and multiple stocks/inventories to manage, human errors and stock level discrepancies are bound to happen. 

To avoid chaos in a global marketplace with multiple-location-based stores and inventory, it becomes imperative to have a well-rounded order and inventory management system. 

StoreHippo comes with a built-in OMS (ORDER Management System) that allows advanced, automated, and simplified order processing to streamline your operations and inventory planning. 

The end-to-end order management system saves time and makes the processes faster in your global marketplace. Right from order fulfilment to return management, from integrated shipping solutions to refund and invoice support, from abandoned cart follow-up to store credits, everything is taken care of with StoreHippo’s advanced order and inventory management solutions.

Offer customizations and personalizations

It is crucial for every enterprise online marketplace to think out of the box to stay ahead in the industry. And today customization is not a choice anymore, it is the elementary step towards building your phygital presence. When you build your global marketplace with multi store ecommerce set up, it becomes imperative to offer personalized experiences to your customers based on their cultural nuances, buying habits and preferences.  

In this era of hyper-personalisation, tailor-made personalisations are the differentiators that can create a niche for your brand. When you are building your global marketplace with location-specific sub-stores, the need for multi-layered personalisation grows manifold. And to implement these personalizations and customizations you need a powerful ecommerce solution that gives you the right tools and technologies to implement these changes.

Online marketplaces powered by StoreHippo’s headless and MACH architecture give better creative control to the marketers and developers. Global brands can integrate with the best-in-breed software to implement hyper-personalization for buyers from different geographies. Each sub-store can have its own third party software and service providers to take personalization to the next level.  

Key Takeaway

Well, the benefits to building a location based multi store online marketplace are many. To sum it up, higher customer engagement, a smooth management process of the orders and inventories, simple and easy shopping and as a result better sales! 

With StoreHippo international marketplace solutions, you get 300+ built in tools and features that help you build next-gen global marketplaces with location based sub-stores. What’s even more interesting is that you can go on adding any number of sub-stores based on location or any other criteria like product lines, language, customer segment etc. 

Pivoting to a new hybrid business model is also easy as StoreHippo supports a variety of business models like B2B, D2C, B2C etc. With a gamut of marketing tools, built in tax engine, custom forms etc. global marketplace brands can run their business seamlessly and expand to new geolocations without any hassle.

Ready to embark on an exciting journey by launching your global marketplace? Get started in no time by starting your 14-day free trial right away. 

FAQ

1. Will it be possible to track the performance of each location-based storefront on my international marketplace?

Yes, it is possible to track the progress and performance of each location-based storefront of your international marketplace with StoreHippo. To excel in the global ecommerce landscape, you need strategic marketing moves that help you craft an upward growth trajectory. StoreHippo comes with a gamut of analytical tools and solutions that help you analyze a variety of customer segments from different locations and make data-driven marketing plans. With StoreHippo, you can seamlessly integrate with several data tools like Google Analytics, Zoho, etc. that provide rich customer data. Built on decoupled headless API, StoreHippo helps you create personalized landing pages and custom forms for different stores. With the built-in form builder from StoreHippo, you can also capture rich customer data on your global marketplace.

2. How can I implement country-specific taxes on location-based storefronts of my global marketplace?

StoreHippo multi vendor marketplace solutions come with a powerful tax engine that helps global enterprise brands simplify and automate their tax calculations. You can seamlessly integrate your international marketplace with popular accounting software to simplify tax compliance. The multiple readymade and editable invoice templates make it easy for enterprise brands to create bills and invoices. StoreHippo also has a built-in tax engine using which you can implement multiple taxes under one main tax rule to simplify international tax calculations or set multiple tax rules based on the order amount, location, service type, product type, sellers, etc. or any other criteria. 

3. Can my customers pay in their local currency on each storefront of my global marketplace?

Yes. Your customers can seamlessly pay in their local currency on each storefront of your global marketplace with StoreHippo. Wonder how? Well, StoreHippo comes pre-integrated with 60+ pre-integrated domestic and international payment gateways. You can offer your global customers the freedom to choose their preferred payment method like COD, card payment, mobile wallets, net banking, etc. StoreHippo also offers support for multiple currencies from all across the globe. For quick and seamless payment solutions, you can get an IP-based auto-switch to a native currency with the powerful inbuilt location and currency detector from StoreHippo. Moreover, you do not need to use any additional plugin or app to support multiple currencies as StoreHippo online marketplace solutions come with built-in support for all currency types. 

4. Will it be possible to integrate with chat support tools of a given geolocation to offer native-language chat support to customers of different countries?

Yes, you can seamlessly engage with your local customers in their native language by integrating with multiple software and tools. StoreHippo global marketplace builder supports 100+ languages helping you offer website content to your global customers in their native language. StoreHippo is built on an API-based architecture that helps you easily integrate with multiple software and service providers for hassle-free day-to-day business operations. You can control and manage these customer support tools from the central admin dashboard and seamlessly cater to audiences in all stores. You can integrate with chatbots, live chat, etc to be available for your customers round the clock.      

5. What are the marketing tools offered by online marketplace builders? 

Different marketplace website builders offer different kinds of marketing solutions. StoreHippo international marketplace builder comes with a host of marketing tools and features to help you reach the right audience. With the built-in powerful discount engine from StoreHippo, you can implement multi-level discounts and coupons on your online marketplace. You can recover abandoned carts using the PUSH notifications feature from StoreHippo to attract, engage, and convert potential buyers. StoreHippo also helps your global business rank higher on SERPs with the built-in comprehensive SEO engine. You can create unique URLs, meta descriptions, meta tags, etc or create personalized content to publish using the built-in blog engine from StoreHippo.

6. Will it be possible to manage the inventory across multiple storefronts of my global multi vendor marketplace?

Yes, it is possible to manage inventory across multiple storefronts of your global online marketplace with StoreHippo. The hassle-free inventory and order management system from StoreHippo offers well-rounded, automated, and feature-rich OMS and inventory management solutions for the smooth functioning of your global business operations. StoreHippo ecommerce solutions help you streamline your order and inventory planning with its advanced, automated, and simplified order processing so each seller can manage their order, inventory, shipment etc. With the inbuilt order and inventory management system from StoreHippo, you can quickly assign different inventories to different sub-stores and get rich insights into the business.    

 7. Can I adjust product pricing and promotions based on local market conditions on my global marketplace?

You can seamlessly adjust the pricing and promotions based on local market conditions in your global marketplace with StoreHippo. The multi-store ecommerce solutions from StoreHippo help you implement tiered pricing to different customer segments on your locations-based storefront. You can use the price override feature and convert bigger ticket sizes on your marketplace. StoreHippo also helps you maximize your profits by setting up differential pricing and offering discounted prices based on order quantity, customer location and other local market conditions. 

8. Will it be possible to integrate with local payment gateways for each location?

With StoreHippo, you can handle transactions on your international marketplace by integrating with multiple local payment gateways for each location. You can integrate with StoreHippo’s 60+ domestic and international payment gateways to create a frictionless payment process on your marketplace. With the multi-currency support from StoreHippo, your customers can seamlessly make payments in their native currencies. You can also enable IP-based auto switches or set different currencies for different locations or your customers can choose the currency of their choice while checking out.

9. Will it be possible to have local shipping partners for each sub-store on my global marketplace?

Yes, it is possible to have local shipping partners on each sub-store of your global marketplace. StoreHippo comes pre-integrated with 30+ logistics solutions for you to choose and integrate on your marketplace. As you integrate with more than one shipping solution, you can optimize the shipping costs and streamline a safe, error-free, and quick supply chain. You can also integrate with multiple global shipping partners for quick deliveries. With the built-in-delivery boy solution from StoreHippo, you can also onboard, manage, and track your fleet of delivery boys. You can create a streamlined hyperlocal delivery solution for your global multi vendor marketplace with your own set of delivery boys and manage them right from your admin panel.

10. Do I need third-party apps to run my global marketplace with StoreHippo?

No, with StoreHippo, you do not need extra apps or plug-ins to run your global marketplace. StoreHippo multi vendor marketplace website builder is a fully hosted and managed enterprise ecommerce platform that comes with plug-and-play solutions to help you build and run your marketplace smoothly. However, StoreHippo’s headless API based architecture supports multiple integrations with the tools and software of your choice. You can integrate with multiple third-party apps and software like CRM, ERP, analytics, accounting, etc. to seamlessly run your day-to-day business operations. You can also integrate with different live chat and chatbots to offer multiple customer support channels on your marketplace.