Ecommerce is thriving in the current times. Websites like Amazon, Nykaa, etc. have gained immense popularity among customers by offering them with an easy to use marketplace platform. Because of the convenience of shopping from online marketplaces like nil travel time, easy payment options, etc., a large number of people now prefer going to ecommerce stores for their shopping needs.
If you are a shop owner or an aspiring entrepreneur, you must have considered opening an online marketplace, especially in recent times. Need help getting started?
StoreHippo can help you build a comprehensive marketplace website for your business, whether it’s a grocery store or an electronics shop, whether you’re selling your own products or want to open a multi vendor marketplace. The best part is that it has many ready-to-use templates, so that you can have your online marketplace up and running in no time!
If you plan to create an online marketplace, make sure that the website is easy for your customers as well as vendors to use. In this article, let’s focus on some ways to make it more vendor-friendly.
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Here are some features that you can incorporate in your marketplace platform to make it easy to use for your vendors:
1. Easy Registration and Onboarding Process
By providing your vendors a vendor-friendly marketplace website, you can save them from having to give time to technical requirements and they’ll be able to focus their effort solely on the core business.
For a marketplace to be called vendor-friendly, it has to provide a smooth start to the vendors. This means that the vendors should face no issues at all — from getting themselves registered to delivering their first order, the vendor experience should be hassle-free.
An easy to use marketplace platform will allow the vendor to fill in details such as their bank account number, address, standard procedure checklists, etc. saved at one place so that they can register quickly and start their business at the earliest. Platforms that provide the option of online verification are most preferred as they take less time to get approved.
The more time a vendor spends on the technical stuff, the lesser time he gets to spend on the customers. Therefore, a platform that is quick and easy to use is beneficial for the vendor as well as the store owner.
2. Separate Dashboard for Vendors
In a multi vendor marketplace, a separate dashboard is what empowers the vendors to manage their orders and products. With each vendor having a dedicated dashboard, he/she can efficiently manage his/her products and orders.
Moreover, a personal dashboard can help the vendor directly get insights and reports from previous sales, which they can use to improve their services to the customers. The vendors will not have to invest extra time and money to analyse their orders, profits, losses, returns, etc. and the customers will remain loyal in exchange for a good service.
This, in turn, will improve the reputation of the platform — both among the vendors and the customers.
3. Separate Seller Pages
A successful multi vendor marketplace platform would have a separate seller page for each vendor. This will give the vendors complete freedom to sell their products the way they like. The seller page is a one-to-one communication medium between the vendors and the customers. By understanding the customers better, the vendor would be able to sell better.
4. Easy Product Management Module
With a broad catalogue of items to sell, product management becomes an essential task. Some features that would make your marketplace platform easy to use for the vendors are:
- One-click update on the stocks of different products – to avoid any gaps in demand and supply
- Different product categories to organise the products in a better way
- Option to sort the products on the basis of price, availability, best selling, etc.
- A reminder to inform them about products that need restocking
5. Seamless Order Management
Every vendor wants to get their orders ready for delivery at the earliest. To help them do so efficiently, a good marketplace platform will provide them with a seamless order management system. Some must-have features of a good multi-vendor marketplace are:
- Regular alerts/notifications to the vendors about new and completed orders
- Automated invoice generation system, with e-copies shared to the customers on a single click
- A one-click mechanism to view the details, feedback, and reviews about a particular order
- A seamless sorting mechanism to view open, completed, cancelled, and return/exchange orders separately
6. Featured Products to Attract Customers
There are a few products in each category which the vendors want the customers to have a look at before everything else. With an easy to use marketplace platform, vendors can use the featured products section to attract customers to such products.
It is usually the most visited section of any platform and garners the highest sales for the vendors. Therefore, to increase the sales on your website, make sure that the vendors have a dedicated section to list their best products with the best offers.
7. Integrated Shipping Solution
Shipping is one of the most important aspects of an ecommerce business. An easy to use marketplace platform will save the vendors from worrying about that by offering integrated shipping solutions. This would provide the vendors with:
- Quick delivery of products, helping gain customer’s trust
- Regular updates about the product location to both - the customer and the vendors
- Estimated delivery time, calculated at the time of pickup
- In case an order has to be returned/exchanged, high-speed shipping to make that product available for sale again
8. Unified Notifications
You can use the advantage of notifications to enhance communication with the users of your multi vendor marketplace. If they place an order, send them a mail. If they are browsing on the web, send them a message. If they haven’t checked the mobile app for a long time, send them a push notification.
A smart marketplace platform will send unified notifications over email, web, SMS, and phone (push notifications) to the customers to keep them updated about the latest developments. Customers especially look forward to step-by-step updates when they place an order. Therefore, regular notifications would be a good way to keep them informed and engaged.
Conclusion
These are some ways in which you can make your multi vendor marketplace easy and advantageous for your vendors to use. The tools provided in the marketplace platform will allow them to do business effortlessly. This will, in turn, boost the overall business for you and your vendors.
StoreHippo is an ecommerce solutions provider that offers turnkey solutions to build online marketplaces. It has 300+ inbuilt features like easy registration, multiple payment options, tax calculator, etc. to help you manage your ecommerce store with utmost ease. Build your multi vendor marketplace with StoreHippo today!
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