A multi vendor marketplace is an ecommerce website where customers can find a variety of products from a variety of stores supported by this marketplace. There are two major ways for businessmen to sell their product online. It is either via a separate online store or via a multi-vendor marketplace.
An ecommerce resource presenting a single solution is a bit harder to manage and promote. The list of goods is usually short or there is one unique product at all. With a multi vendor marketplace at hand, you do not entirely work for yourself, by yourself. Many business people realize the rich potential of multivendor marketplace solutions because they attract huge volumes traffic, allow selling lots of different products in one place, offers faster payments, and quite a smooth shopping experience as a whole.
Both variants are good for every retail business and both differ. You just have to clarify for yourself which type of a marketplace online will suit your needs better.
Further on in the article, we will discuss what type of selling platforms are best for the realization of your business needs and how they differ.
Single-Vendor Marketplace
A single vendor marketplace is a website where only one seller provides the goods or one product. Only the seller and the buyer are involved in such a platform's processes, so there are no third-party complications. Many people know this as Stand Alone Website.
Because a single vendor marketplace cannot offer a wide range of goods and products, there is very limited traffic and the resource needs significant promotional efforts compared with a multi-vendor marketplace solution.
Advantages of Single-Vendor Marketplace
With a single-vendor type of eCommerce, everything is faster and many business processes require a more effortless approach, as there are fewer people involved in a selling-buying process and you have a single supplier. Negotiating with just one supplier, you can set reasonable prices for your goods and make them more appealing. However, there are also some downsides.
Multivendor Marketplace
A multivendor marketplace is an online store that sells products provided by one seller of the many that are available on the website.
Buyers find everything they need in one place and this leads to a bigger profit for multi-vendor marketplace owners. Such a platform will have bigger traffic compared to the single-vendor marketplace.
A multi-vendor marketplace basically involves three main parties:
- admin;
- vendor;
- customer.
It is better for sellers or vendors to register as administrators so they can moderate their product by themselves. And generating profit result becomes more accessible as opposed to a single-vendor option.
Advantages of Multi-vendor Marketplace
Most of the times, it is better to try a multi-vendor marketplace than a single-vendor one when you have small to medium business. You will have multiple suppliers, which will help you introduce more variety to your provided set of products. And if something happens to one of your suppliers, you will always have eager sellers to work with. It is a huge advantage because competitors are fast to get your chunk of the market and customer-base while your business experiences a downtime of some kind.
In this case, more people will also come to your resource because of the products selection. Each supplier brings at least one loyal customer along. You do not have to pay loads of money for promotion.
Reputation Management for Single- and Multi-Vendor Marketplace
One way or another, each platform has to have reviews and a good reputation. Marketplaces usually allow each customer to leave reviews and feedback for each seller and each product. Thus, every seller cares about ratings and the quality of their goods. The more feedback the marketplace or seller gets, the more popular the marketplace becomes. It brings more new customers because they see high marketplace rating and trust you more.
Creation Management for Single- and Multi-Vendor Marketplace
When somebody wants to start online business, it is important to know everything on the marketplace subject. For an online business, you need to build a website, get the domain, manage the SEO part, manage the marketing part, and many more.
It is better to start a multi-vendor site if you want to make everything easier for the supplier and the seller. They will have ready-to-use templates to make their goods look good. Less work for them - more profit for you.
Process Management for Single-vs Multi-Vendor ECommerce Marketplace
Every seller on your e-commerce marketplace gets a dedicated admin panel where they can handle the inventory and follow an order processing from payment and up to invoice. The whole process is automated for a vendor. Sellers of the marketplace will also be able to track a sale in the centralized system. Vendors do not have to do anything outside the system because the interface requires you to do less and to control more. Every record is already in the system.
Each seller just has to be sure to hire some kind of accountant that would handle a bunch of paperwork.
Summary
Every type of marketplace is great for an original e-commerce business. Each has minor flaws that can be easily eliminated with a professional's help. There are many development teams who are ready to help you with your marketplace. They even might suggest you which type is the best for you depending on your business experience, budget, time, and things like that. All you have to do is just step up in this game. So get in touch!
