An online marketplace is a virtual goldmine. But are all marketplaces successful?
Success means finding a perfect software that can support long-term, sustainable growth. Traditional approaches of store-setups, as well as the wrong choice of store builders, can leave you with a rigid business model that cannot adapt to market dynamics.
Inflexible features can restrict everything - right from design creativity to business flow. Adding new functionalities not only becomes impossible as your business grows and expands but also affects your marketing efforts and customer experience.
But with so many ecommerce marketplace website builders, how to get it right?
When it comes to web store builders, there is no one size that fits all since most businesses are different from one another and have different needs. However, in terms of flexibility, you can ask your solution provider some simple questions to know if this is the one you are looking for.
Table of Contents
How to check the flexibility of an ecommerce marketplace website builder
1. Can you customise themes as per your niche?
Your jewellery multi-vendor store should look like one, not something that appears to be created for utensils or confectionary business. One way that makes customers get a feel of your niche is through the overall store design.
A simple and straightforward theme that speaks for itself can do wonders for your brand. But at the same time, it should be relevant and functional.
A good design means customers can;
- Immediately understand what your business represents
- Find relevant products using the search buttons
- Easily navigate from one page to another
- Locate reviews, write testimonials, leave comments
- Checkout easily on your online marketplace
- Connect to your brand and engage with it
StoreHippo ecommerce marketplace website builder comes with a rich theme library and drag and drop features. You can change, mix or match various designs to suit your needs. At the same time, you can enhance customers’ browsing experience through custom widgets, search filters and more.
2. Can you offer customers flexible payment options?
Digital discoveries have left customers with various options to make their payments once they are at your store. Depending upon the modes of payments, you can categorise your customers as those with;
- COD Support
- e-wallets Options
- Credit and debit card Payments
Knowing the percentage of customers within each category will help you learn your customers’ preferred mode of payment. It will also be effective in crafting marketing strategies for your online marketplace. Like for instance, if the majority of your customers use e-wallets, you can announce discounts and coupon codes revolving around it.
One important thing to look for in an online website builder is its ability to provide maximum options of payments to your customers. StoreHippo integrates your multi-seller store with several payment gateways from all across the world. Through our software, you can also generate flexible invoice templates for your online marketplace, come up with custom quotes and accept payments in different currencies for creating opportunities for global trade.
3. Can you tweak content in different languages?
Do you know that the lack of a localised interface could be one of the main reasons for your customers to turn towards another brand at the very first click?
If you thought that English speaking customers dominate the internet, then for digital shopping, this is not the case. Day by day, more and more people from across the world are relying on online marketplaces and not all of them speak or English!
A survey conducted by Common Sense Advisory reflected that 56% of respondents prefer reading the information in their native language. Hence, it is quite clear that if you want to drive more traffic to your multi-vendor store, then you need to speak to your audience in their local language.
Perhaps, that is why StoreHippo’s multilingual feature is so important! The software allows you to translate your content into 100+ different languages along with auto-translation features. With our ecommerce marketplace website builder, you get bulk translations with CSV support.
4. Can you create unique business flows?
A multi-vendor business is a complex model that involves three different parties - the owner, the vendors and the customers. Also, each vendor module can have various kinds of flows depending upon whether;
- It is a niche model selling one specific line of products
- It is a horizontal structure selling a range of items
- A service aggregator platform
Whatever the case, you need specific admin and vendor dashboards to enable the owner to have complete control over the online marketplace and sellers have total freedom to add, edit or manage their inventories and products.
StoreHippo ecommerce marketplace website builder provides a systematic business flow under which you can have;
- Individual vendor and admin dashboards
- Separate seller pages
- Systematic approval flow
- Product and inventory management
- Commission set up
These features ensure that your multi-seller model is transparent and helps vendors to gain trust. It also helps you create an organised business process eliminating chaos, inventory or payment confusion and helps in dealing with returns from customers.
5. Can you cater to various shipping needs?
Logistics holds considerable importance for digital shopping. Your online marketplace success can be defined by how well you serve and retain your customers through timely and appropriate delivery.
A lot of aspects including product handling, packaging, billing, inventory management, etc are part of the logistics experience you provide to your customers. But its significant impact lies in how well you deliver goods at the doorstep.
StoreHippo ecommerce marketplace website builder caters to this need by helping you integrate with its shipping aggregator platform ShipKaro. You can extend your shoppers, facilities such as real-time tracking, partial fulfilments and so on. You can also enhance their shopping experience by tieing up with different carriers that take care of packaging your products well.
Besides, ShipKaro’s automated facilities help you with bulk uploads, systematic logistics flow and scheduled pickups.
Helping you create a flexible multi-seller store
Equipped with modern-day tools, StoreHippo ecommerce marketplace website builder is a technologically advanced and auto-upgradable platform that provides your business with the flexibility it deserves.
Using a gamut of these features, you can create your desired vendor module and build a systematic workflow process. This ensures that your primary goal- gaining customer satisfaction and earning credibility is achieved.
Checkout StoreHippo’s flexible features with a 14-day free trial store or drop us a line below to know more.
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