What is a multi vendor platform?
A multi vendor platform is a software that enables enterprise brands to set up an online marketplace. The online marketplace software offers time-tested solutions to build a variety of enterprise marketplaces like a horizontal marketplace, vertical marketplace, B2B marketplace, hyperlocal marketplace, B2B2C marketplace or hybrid and custom marketplaces.
The multi vendor marketplace has today become the most sought-after business model. A multi vendor marketplace is an ecommerce store where multiple vendors come together to sell their products or services. There could be multiple sellers/vendors selling the same or different products or services on an online marketplace website. These products sold by different sellers offer similar or differential pricing, giving a variety of choices to the customers.
It makes shopping easy for customers as a variety of products are available under the same roof. For the enterprises, it becomes easy to focus on the business and its growth, while the onboarded vendors look after the inventory process. Also, the sellers on a multi vendor platform get a better opportunity to grow their customer base with the huge traffic that these marketplaces provide.
How to identify the best multi vendor platform?
The most crucial step of launching a multi vendor marketplace is finding the right solution to build the marketplace website. A technologically advanced and well-rounded marketplace builder helps in streamlining day-to-day operations seamlessly and eventually helps in scaling the business. Marketplace brands need to have the best-fit multi vendor solution that caters to the present as well as future needs of the business.
The best multi vendor software must have the following features:
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End-to-end vendor onboarding and management solutions
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Omnichannel solutions to be able to create multiple customer touchpoints
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Adaptive payments to easily divide the payment between vendors of a multi-product order
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Vendor-specific discounts and shipping charges
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Flexible commissions for vendors
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Complete control over vendors and the products
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Personalized offers and discounts to boost conversions
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Multiple payment gateways for seamless payments
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Quick and streamlined shipping solutions to win customers’ trust
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In-built marketing tools to implement various marketing promotions
Brands need a cutting edge multi vendor platform like StoreHippo that offers fully hosted and managed marketplace solutions along with the above mentioned features. It is designed to offer feature-rich solutions to brands with its 300+ enterprise grade features, inbuilt marketing tools, 30+ integrated shipping partners and 60+ pre-integrated payment gateways.
Can a turnkey multi vendor platform be used to develop custom and hybrid marketplaces?
Yes, with the right multi vendor solution provider at their disposal businesses can easily experiment with unique flows and hybrid business models to build disruptive marketplace solutions. Businesses can combine the marketplace model with multi-store, multilingual, D2C or any other model to build a unique custom multi vendor ecommerce solution.
To build disruptive custom or hybrid business models, the enterprise marketplace platform must be tweakable at the front end and backend. Also, the online marketplace platform should support other business models so it is easy to combine two or more models.
Below mentioned are some hybrid use cases for the multi vendor marketplace business model:
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Multi vendor marketplace combined with hyperlocal multi store ecommerce set up. Like Big Basket
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D2C marketplace merged with dealers and supplier network. Like Nykaa
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Service aggregator marketplace with the vendors as service providers. Like Urbanclap
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Food delivery multi vendor platform partnering with local restaurants and outlets to deliver food using its own delivery boys fleet. Like Zomato
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Service based marketplaces combining with hyperlocal service providers. Like Practo
The multi vendor business model has helped brands from all industries in building successful marketplaces and hybrid multi vendor websites. To successfully create a custom marketplace, brands need to have cutting edge marketplace solution providers like StoreHippo.
StoreHippo’s agile MACH architecture (Microservices, API first, Cloud-native, Headless) and its in-built support for various business models make it easy for enterprise brands to launch their custom marketplace app.
Why StoreHippo is the best multi vendor platform?
StoreHippo offers a complete ecosystem to build the best innovative marketplaces for enterprises across the globe. It offers integrated solutions for payments, marketing, CRM, accounting, etc and is built on mobile-first principle. The StoreHippo multi vendor ecommerce platform comes with an inbuilt mobile apps builder that enables enterprises to create marketplace apps without any coding. It helps to leverage m-commerce and reach tier 3 and beyond cities with its PWA stores that work like mobile apps.
StoreHippo, the best multi vendor software, provides in-built marketing tools with integrated logistics and multiple payment solutions. It helps enterprise brands to create personalized buyer journeys and offer seamless deliveries and frictionless payments to customers. It also comes with beautiful themes along with drag-and-drop functionality that can be used by any novice user to create customized themes and landing pages.
The StoreHippo online marketplace solution is inherently scalable and can build the best multi-vendor marketplaces for businesses of any size and scale. The adaptive payment features can be used to easily divide a single payment from a multi-product order into multiple sellers as well as admin.
Ready to create an enterprise marketplace platform for your brand and scale your business with StoreHippo? Check out our multi vendor features in-depth by starting a 14-day free trial now.
