Multi-Store Marketplace Solutions

Multi-Store Module Capabilities

In addition to the domain and UI related pieces, it's also possible to set up different capabilities when you create a multi-vendor website, so that whenever someone sets up a store that store has functions that can change based on the individual settings for that store.

So, just as an example, it's quite common to have different payment gateways, different forms of payment, and different accounts for processing those payments. Just take as an example, ABC company uses PayPal to process their payments, and XYZ company uses Stripe and Paymentech to process theirs. It's physically possible to set things up so that both of those stores have the ability to offer those payment gateways and that will allow them to keep their existing accounts in place while continuing to process payments as they normally would. Then the marketplace adapts to those payment gateways instead of them having to change everything in order to work with the marketplace.

Other powerful capabilities within the multi-store module is the ability to modify the payment gateways, but also shipping providers, taxes, and any other settings around possibly account specific discounts. So, within a vendor store they might have different roles that tie back to the marketplace and then those roles have different access to different pricing or quantity breaks. It could be just general access to data within that store or even specific products that would only be available to certain roles.

IP Protection and User Validation

Some stores have pretty specialized data and the sellers don't want to give that data out to the public freely, they want to verify the users before those folks get access. In a similar fashion, it would be possible to set everything up so that vendors can give specific access to their users based on which products the buyers have already purchased

So a lot of times the buyers who purchased large items that are very expensive, maybe a vehicle or maybe it's a device that's very expensive, will need access to replacement parts. They might need repairs and service done on them and so they would specify what those assets are and what replacement parts they need to get. These could all be shown dynamically based on the intent and needs of the buyer. You will see this sort of configuration with auto parts for a car. You go configure your vehicle and then the site changes the recommendations that are available in filters down to make them specific to your vehicle or vehicles.

Building Momentum & User Engagement

So, it's really all about getting some momentum and engagement, both from the buyer and seller. A lot of that with multi-store comes down to analyzing and reviewing where the bottlenecks are within your marketplace. Many of the bottlenecks will be related to governance or how you're encouraging your buyers and sellers to behave within that multi store environment.

For instance, do they have incentives like reviews and ratings? Possibly they could have some form of benefit to their account by engaging with the marketplace. Consistently updating their content just as an example with the vendor if they provide more updates and more accuracy, it would be a good idea to promote them in the search results as an encouragement to continue to do that. In turn, that would help promote an environment where more accurate and up-to-date your content is promoted.

So, it's pretty straightforward to draw a line between multi-store capability and benefits to the marketplace and the essential value that's delivered. Ultimately, the best benefit from a properly implemented system is the increased profitability for the entire marketplace. Buyers, sellers, and the market itself can focus on delivering value within that multi-store eCommerce platform. Then monitoring closely and setting up governance that encourages the right behaviors while you can enable a marketplace. That's extremely powerful and mostly automated, which builds your market into a powerhouse within your segment or segments of the industry.

Clarity Ventures: Your Marketplace Experts

We welcome you reaching out to our team when you're looking to build a muti-vendor marketplace or are looking for a platform with multi-store capabiltiies.

, we have a complementary support that we'd be happy to provide and review of your project to talk through some of the finer details and you're also welcome to look at these resources below and let us know if you have any questions. Otherwise we’ll look forward to seeing your marketplace and possibly helping you build it down the line.