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Recently, eCommerce has been becoming a booming industry all over the world. In 2023, total global eCommerce sales are projected to be more than 5.9 trillion dollars. The exciting fact is that this number is expected to grow over the next few years continuously.
This statistic shows how promising the future of the eCommerce business is in the future.
Entering the world of eCommerce can feel like a big move for every business, especially small and startup companies. One way to make it easier is to share audiences and costs with other like-minded businesses. This model of setup is known as a multi-vendor marketplace. You create an eCommerce website and invite other businesses to join your marketplace and sell their products and services. In my opinion, it’s an excellent way for a small business or startup business to get a little extra help when starting, or for existing stores to expand their markets.
The projected global growth rate for e-commerce in 2023 is expected to be 8.9%, resulting in worldwide e-commerce sales reaching a staggering $5.9 trillion. This represents a 1.8 percentage point rise compared to the growth rate witnessed in 2022, which followed a significant decline from the previous year.
What Is Dokan Multivendor Marketplace?
What’s A Multi-Vendor Marketplace?
A marketplace may be an eCommerce website, but not all eCommerce websites are marketplaces. The majority of eCommerce websites are single-vendor websites where one store owner or a company operates the website to sell its goods.
A multi-vendor marketplace is a website type where various vendors place their products or offer services while the website owner moderates the website and approves the content. Moreover, as customers buy the items, the website owner gets a commission from every sale. In general, the multi-vendor marketplace has three basic components or is often referred to as components, which are:
The Admin: If you own the eCommerce marketplace website, then you are the admin of that eCommerce platform. You can invite multiple vendors to sell their products on your platform. You will earn money whenever new vendors register their business on your platform. Also, you can earn money when each purchase is made by the various vendors.
The admin has an important role in the eCommerce platform as he/she is responsible for the following activities.
Vendors: Vendors can simply register their businesses in multi-vendor marketplaces. Then start selling their products to valuable customers and start earning money. Role of a vendor:
Customers: Customers are the key to every business. Hence customer satisfaction is very important. The customers will shop without a time limit. The customer will begin searching for a particular product and end up having many choices from different sellers for that one particular product. Then by analyzing price ranges and reviews, the customer will make the order and will get the purchased products on time with the best shipping process.
The eCommerce marketplace is so popular as it has some advantages in it so that it reaches millions of people towards it. These sorts of online markets not only benefit both owners and sellers but the buyers also.
Benefits of the Admin:
When you invite new vendors into your marketplace, you can take a commission on each of their sales. Establish a standard commission rate across the site, or offer sellers different rates tied to criteria like the number of products and an established audience. Be upfront about your transaction fees, and then let their sales contribute to your overall site maintenance costs.
As new sellers join your platform, they bring new sets of customers. Each vendor uses its own social media accounts, word-of-mouth contacts, and established customer base to bring more visitors to your marketplace. The more vendors, the more customers for everyone.
As the marketplace owner, you’re in control of what’s displayed on your site. When new vendors apply to join, you can accept only those that fit the overall brand you’re building. Accepted vendors can create their products in the WooCommerce dashboard, but you maintain quality control, and only items you approve go live on the site.
Spread the responsibility of running and maintaining the site by designating administrative users who have control over the shop. Your new team of admins will be able to approve vendors and products, deal with password issues, and manage featured products on your behalf while you stick to the stuff you love: creating and selling your items.
Benefits of The Vendor:
Vendors have limited access to the WordPress dashboard to create products, upload images, set prices, and describe their creations most accurately. Vendors also have the power to control their inventory numbers, so availability is accurate and instantly updated for visiting customers.
Vendors can set shipping rates for products, so they aren’t tied into a strict pricing structure for items that are bulky, heavy, or require extra postage.
Order confirmation emails can include vendor notes, so sellers can speak directly to their customers. Emails can include delivery details, instructions, or required disclaimers — in their own words, and without full administrative access.
Vendors can see their own sales numbers and customer information, in an easy-to-read format, in the WooCommerce dashboard. They can use their data to make sure that they’re listing the right products in the right places and to drive their marketing campaigns.
With WooCommerce, vendors can sell physical items, digital downloads, or both.
Benefits of The Customer:
Business Models Of Multi-Vendor Marketplace
B2B ECommerce Marketplace
Business to Business (B2B) marketplace is one of the business models which deals with the eCommerce activities between two or more businesses. It has money transactions in the online portals.
Pros
Cons
B2C ECommerce Marketplace
Business to Consumer (B2C) marketplace is the traditional eCommerce activity where the customers search for a particular product in the best eCommerce marketplace platform and make the purchase for 365 days 24/7. The multiple vendors will sell the products directly to the customers in one huge platform.
Pros
Cons
C2B ECommerce Marketplace
Consumer to Business (C2B) marketplace is one of the models in which consumers develop product and service ideas for the business organizations and get paid for the idea development.
The consumer increases the value of the business products through feedback and product reviews which will aid businesses to earn some positive value to their business.
Pros
Cons
C2C eCommerce Marketplace.
Consumer to Consumer (C2C) marketplace is a business model including the product and service transaction between two customers. Without involving sellers, one customer will sell products and services to other customers through a third-party platform.
Pros
Cons
Besides those basic marketplace models, some other marketplace models are fully focused on generating revenue and managing inventory. No matter what eCommerce business model you choose, each has its benefits and challenges, and many companies operate in several of these at the same time.
What Is Dokan Multivendor Marketplace?
Dokan multivendor marketplace is an essential plugin for creating multi-vendor marketplaces. In combination with WooCommerce, it allows you to transform your website into a huge online marketplace where anyone can display and sell products. But before you install this plugin and start growing your online business, check out if your WordPress theme is compatible with Dokan.
What makes the Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin a must-have element of any multi-vendor marketplace is the set of features it brings it allows sellers to register their shop and create their profile on your website to present and sell items.
It also brings a special, intuitive dashboard page where each seller can add and manage each product with complete ease. Here you can set everything related to your online store. From following sales reports, managing reviews, and sharing additional information on your shop and products, its location, and working hours to checking out orders and earnings.
Dokan multivendor marketplace also allows you to connect your shop with social networks which can improve communication and interaction with customers.
In addition to this, you can manage your store’s SEO. With a few simple steps, you can optimize your store for a better Google ranking. Add keywords, write a meta description, define your SEO title, and more.
Remember that each product you post has to get official approval from the website owner. But, in case you use the Trusted vendor option, your products will be automatically shared on your store.
Lastly, both the website administrator and seller will have the option to follow the detailed analytics about the number of sold products, popular shops, total earnings, etc.
Why Should You Use Dokan Multivendor For Your WordPress Marketplace?
Built For WordPress
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin is one of the first multivendor marketplace solutions that support WordPress, which is one of the most popular and widely-used website platforms today. With Dokan, anyone, even those who don’t have technical expertise in creating online stores, can turn a WooCommerce store into a fully operational Marketplace.
Based On WooCommerce
If you are familiar with WordPress then there is a 99.9% chance that you are familiar with WooCommerce. It is the most stable eCommerce plugin for WordPress and that is why the Dokan theme is completely based on it. Dokan multivendor marketplace supports all the payment gateways which work seamlessly with WooCommerce. So, it gives you a big feature to choose your gateway for your multi-vendor website easily.
Huge Flexibility
Perhaps one of the Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin's most significant benefits to eCommerce newcomers is that vendors using the platform can exercise a whole lot of flexibility with their products, without having to know too much about the technical side of things.
Products can be categorized, given sale prices, create coupons, own shipping prices, independent attributes, and more. Additionally, their stores are capable of selling physical, virtual, and downloadable products. Moreover, they can manage everything from their Dashboard.
Vast Customization Options
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin is open source. So, there are plenty of hooks available to make it compatible with any other WordPress plugin and theme. If you are willing to use your style, design, or layouts – you can easily manage that by using a child theme of Dokan or can create one by yourself.
Professional Yet Simple
All of the features are built-in and all the settings are inside one simple menu. So there is less space to get lost or to be confused.
Analytics Made Easy
You and your sellers both can see all of their information in one single place. A detailed dashboard is made for the sellers and the admin. So you can view your total sales for the month, new orders, pending orders, completed orders, total revenue, and many more from one single page. The data is shown through charts and bars to make it easier to understand.
Add-on Gallery
You will get to see the available add-ons right from your admin panel. So you'll get to know about all the latest available add-ons inside your site.
Powerful, User-Friendly Dashboard
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin provides your vendors with a robust dashboard loaded with all the features they need to fully manage their operations, products, customers, marketing, promos, and more. The dashboard centralizes all their processes, from adding items to their listings, editing product descriptions, communicating with their customers, tracking their shipping, and so on. In a few clicks, your vendors can generate rich and detailed reports that provide them insights to make smart business decisions.
Multi-Currency And Multilingual Ready
Attract vendors from all over the world to set up their stores in your marketplace. Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin is ready to play with PayPal and Stripe right off the bat and is compatible with over a hundred WooCommerce-supported gateways. On top of that, Dokan is available in more than 25 languages. You can say your marketplace has a global reach.
Ensure Store Security
Allowing backend access to admins and only front end for vendors ensures store security. The backend of any store is not always easy to use for the inexperienced. Unlimited access could easily mean that anyone could just simply destroy your store and steal your money.
Nonstop Earning
Since there is no limit on vendors, you get to earn commissions from each sale or selected type. Thus, you are never at a loss with your marketplace. You can also earn more from hot-selling products, and favorite vendors or launch discount campaigns on special occasions to boost sales.
Reduce Maintenance Cost
Since vendors self-manage, your maintenance costs are lower. Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin owners usually do not require separate store owners to take care of their business. Since it is open-source, you can hire coding people to customize the plugin at a comparatively lower cost. Also, Dokan comes with a free theme that beats many paid themes. The extensions for Dokan are fairly priced considering the feats they perform.
How Does Dokan Multivendor Marketplace Work?
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin is a self-managed, easy-to-use multi-vendor plugin with intuitive designs. It is one of the most popular multi-vendor plugins in use. Here are some features that make Dokan popular :
Vendors can control everything from the UI dashboard
The Dokan dashboard is a clean and functional tool that vendors can use to increase sales and profits. Every business needs an overall picture of performance. It gives each vendor an overview of business performance. You will be able to see:
Vendors can add and customize their products listed with Dokan
The simplest task for a supplier is to add products to the point of sale. It is important to make things as easy as possible for your sellers.
The interface of the Dokan supplier add-in mirrors the actual product page. Sellers can upload images and add product names with descriptions on the same page. Sellers can also set prices for their products and define a category.
As an administrator, you can configure fields, categories, product types, etc. If you configure the plugin correctly, the seller will not be able to add categories or taxonomies along the way, which is reassuring. Also, you can limit vendors’ products to only digital download products, to create a digital marketplace.
Vendors can manage their customer orders so sellers know the status of their orders so they can ship them on time and prevent bad reviews – which would also be detrimental to your reputation in the market – Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin allows sellers access to all of their orders. They see the order number, total amount, customer name, and delivery date. Dokan is one of the few existing multi-vendor extensions to provide the upstream supply chain.
Salespeople gain access to analytics and reporting
Dokan’s reporting panel contains powerful analytics tools that help merchants increase sales. For example, sellers can use the ‘Reports’ view to see which of their products are the most popular.
Other marketplace WordPress plugins, such as WC Marketplace, Yith, or WC Vendors, provide basic reports on marketing activities. But only Dokan offers every seller a customizable picture of the success and statistics of their online store.
The sellers can better understand the customers and the products they want to buy. Providing them with relevant sales and performance data enables them to make better decisions about how they can improve the customer’s experience. This means more time and more benefits for you.
Your sellers will be able to customize their store
Access to products and orders is not all that makes your merchants happy and profitable. They must also be able to set up their stores and mark the brands that are for sale. Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin makes it easy for sellers to:
With Dokan, the provider’s storage areas are clean, easy to navigate, and responsive to mobile devices, tablets, and desktops.
Make Money With Sales Commission
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin is designed for sellers. Effective analytics combined with automation makes it easy to manage suppliers and track sales. These are the best features of Dokan management tools.
The admin of the marketplace can specify the fees of individual sellers in percentage or offer monthly, annual, or even daily subscription prices to sellers. The fee is flexible, you decide the amount or choose to not use it at all.
You will receive a commission for every sale made on your website. The percentage you get from sellers has a significant impact on the price and profit of products. The higher your commission rate, the fewer sellers you will attract. The lower your commission, the lower your income. The balance you strike is your decision.
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin allows you to set up commissions for individual suppliers so that you can adjust your prices according to the value (roles) of a specific entrepreneur. For example, you can set a higher premium for sellers who sell high-margin products – i.e. electronic products – and a lower premium for those who sell low-priced products such as handmade products.
Dokan offers many different payment gateways
Successful marketplaces with many retailers offer customers many payment options. If you sell internationally, you need a secure payment gateway to support foreign currencies and popular payment methods locally. Dokan offers the following payment gateways built into their system:
But Dokan, based on WooCommerce, allows you more popular payment options. More than 100 payment services are compatible with Woocommerce.
After the customer buys, Dokan calculates the payment and the seller makes a withdrawal request. You can use the same payment gateways to debit customers and make payments to merchants. With a variety of payment platforms, it can become easy to meet the business needs of every business. And it makes your marketplace an attractive and practical online option for marketers.
Sellers can handle refund requests and refund customers
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin can process refunds through PayPal, a popular payment method that makes the transaction process easy.
Without Paypal, only administrators can process refunds that have to be made manually. In this case, the greatest responsibility lies with you. But the Dokan admin panel organizes and shows all pending refunds for you, and you can process them individually or in bulk.
Customers can add product reviews for each vendor individually
With Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin, it is possible to analyze the seller and the products separately. With this essential independence, you have more control over the quality of your providers’ customer service. A seller may have great products, but terrible service.
With the Dokan Seller rating feature, customers leave individual seller ratings that appear in their window. Reviews improve the customer experience and speed up their purchase decision.
How Much Does Dokan Cost?
For users wanting to discover the Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin, there is a free version in the WordPress store. Dokan’s free formula may be enough for you and isn’t exactly limited. However, it won’t have all of the features essential to the rapid development and growth of your marketplace. You also won’t have the benefits of Dokan customer service.
Simply put, you will have providers with very basic features and that’s it.
Dokan’s pricing model starts with long-term planning. It is designed to evolve with you as your marketplace grows. Even new store owners on a budget can access the Dokan plan for free and still benefit from the service. Refer to PRICING OF MULTI VENDOR MARKETPLACE
Dokan offers five different pricing plans, from the free tier to the business tier. Market operators need different roles at different stages of store growth. Plus, you have the option to pay annually or take advantage of their lifetime offer, which takes about 3 years.
The Starter plan costs $590 lifetime and offers all the features as the free version while including some additional features:
The Professional plan costs $1590 lifetime and offers all the features as the first version while including some additional features:
The Business Package costs $2590 lifetime and offers all the features of the Professional Plan while including some additional features:
And the most powerful package, the Enterprise plan costs according to the customer's requirements and offers all the features of the Business plan while including some additional features:
If you are planning a long-term plan and think your Marketplace will be online for more than 3 years, you may want to consider paying for a lifetime offer. You get the same features as their annual plans, but you get their subscription for lifeToto view detail about pricing to build a multi-vendor marketplace, please click here.
What Are The Differences Between The Free And Paid Dokan Multivendor Marketplace Plugin?
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin is available as a free version (Lite) but I do advise that you upgrade to the professional version. Unlike the free version, with very limited functionality, the Pro version gives you everything you need to create a powerful and reliable marketplace, especially thanks to the PayPal and Stripe gateways.
The free version of Dokan includes:
Dokan multivendor marketplace plugin shows its full potential in market management, starting with the ‘Professional’ version. This package offers features that are quickly becoming indispensable, such as:
Dokan has more features than some multi-vendor marketplace plugins. Perhaps the most important feature is the integration with one of the world’s most popular eCommerce platforms (WooCommerce) and the world’s leading content management system (WordPress).
Quality products, reputable suppliers, and effective marketing are just as important as sales volume. A plugin that works well with popular eCommerce platforms will make it easy to get started and profitable.
How To Start A Marketplace Website With Dokan Multivendor Marketplace?
No matter what type of multi-vendor store or marketplace you are trying to build, Dokan multivendor marketplace is the most suitable solution that you will find inside WordPress. Dokan extends the capabilities of the most popular eCommerce plugin, WooCommerce, providing the best front-end experience combined with the exceptional features that every marketplace needs. It is the must-have multi-vendor plugin on the market right now.
Step 1: Choosing Domain & Hosting
The first thing that you need is a domain and hosting. The domain is the URL of your marketplace. So, when choosing the URL, make sure that the URL resembles your brand name. You can find numerous domain and hosting providers out there in the market. Choosing web hosting should not be taken lightly. You need one that is fast, dependable, and cheap. A domain name is the address of your website. Make sure that the name you choose is catchy and memorable.
Step 2: Install The Best CMS, WordPress
When you are done with buying a domain and hosting, you will have to install the best Content Management System WooCommerce. WordPress is powering up more than 33% of websites and its popularity is growing more than ever. What sits on top of it is that it comes with numerous SEO (search engine optimization benefits) too.
After downloading the zip file for installation, you can upload it easily from the Cpanel of your hosting.
Step 3: Install & Activate WooCommerce
Now, it’s time to install the best eCommerce solution, WooCommerce on your website. It is completely free!
If you are in doubt about the popularity of WooCommerce, 42% of total websites are using WooCommerce for their solution. To install WooCommerce, navigate to the WordPress Admin Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Search for ‘WooCommerce’. After that, install and activate the plugin.
After activating WooCommerce, you will get a fantastic setup wizard allowing you to configure payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, and other fundamental things for your store.
Step 4: Time To Extend Woocommerce With Dokan Multi-Vendor Plugin
Now, you are all set to install and activate the best multi-vendor marketplace solution, Dokan.
To install, navigate to the WP Admin Dashboard > Plugins > Add New > Search for ‘Dokan’. Then install and activate Dokan.
Step 5: Configure Dokan
After activating Dokan, you will get an amazing setup wizard much like WooCommerce.
While completing the setup wizard, you have to ensure that you enabled the New vendor selling and set the vendor commission percentage for each order.
To adjust and set up the Dokan store, follow the steps below:
To Set Up Withdraw & Payment, you do the following:
You enter the amount to withdraw into "Withdraw Amount" then select the "Payment Method" corresponding to withdraw money Then press "Update".
The command will then switch back to the "Approved Requests" section to wait for approval.
Canceled requests are not approved, you can check "Canceled Requests"
To Customize Dokan Store Profiles, follow these steps:
In the Shop Customizer section
Edit the Shop name in the Shop name section
Section Dashboard Header Logo to replace the logo display.
You can refer to the video tutorial below:
You could also get more information by watching this video:
While completing the setup wizard, you have to ensure that you enabled the New vendor selling and set the vendor commission percentage for each order.
Then keep the payment methods enabled that you have and set the minimum withdrawal limit for your vendors. After that, check the completed box so that vendors can only request withdrawal only when an order is completed.
Step 6: Turn On the Anyone Can Register Option
Next up, make sure to turn on anyone who can register so that your vendors and customers can register on your site. You can do it from the WP Admin Dashboard > Settings > General > Turn on Anyone can register
Fortunately, Dokan comes off with its own vendor and customer registration pages.
Step 7: Set A Theme For Your Marketplace
Using an appropriate theme is important for any eCommerce store. A good theme can help create a good impression on your visitor’s mind.
Interestingly, Dokan comes with not only a special free theme but also supports a host of premium themes. To install the theme you could download the zip file and upload the zip file by navigating to the WP Admin Dashboard > Themes > Add New > Upload a Theme > Upload the zip file then activate the Theme. It’s super easy!
Now, Your Marketplace Is Up And Running!
Multi-vendor market websites are on the rise for a reason. The convenience they bring to sellers and customers is the secret behind their popularity. They not only save time and energy but provide visitors with a huge number of products they can choose from. The best part is you need only two things to start building your multi-vendor market today: WooCommerce and Dokan plugin. We hope this article brought you some interesting insights about these plugins. Good luck with your new multi-market business!
If you intend to start your marketplace but do not know where to start or you need advice on how to grow your marketplace, do not hesitate to contact our consultants who are experts in this. Our super-friendly team will offer you the best advice.
Thanks for reading!
Rose Helen
With years of experience, Rose Helen possesses an in-depth understanding of e-commerce platforms, technologies, and best practices. She works closely with clients to analyze their needs, develop tailored strategies, and execute effective project plans that drive growth and success.
As an Ecommerce Project Consultant, Rose Helen excels at overseeing project lifecycles, from inception to completion. She ensures projects are delivered on time, within budget, and with the highest level of quality. Her exceptional project management skills enable her to effectively communicate with stakeholders, manage resources, and mitigate risks throughout the project journey.
Rose Helen is a strategic thinker who leverages her extensive knowledge to identify opportunities for improvement and innovation. She provides valuable insights and recommendations to optimize e-commerce processes, enhance user experiences, and increase online sales.
With her strong communication and collaboration skills, Rose Helen builds strong relationships with clients and key stakeholders. She fosters a collaborative environment, working closely with cross-functional teams to ensure seamless project execution and alignment with business objectives.
Beyond her technical expertise, Rose Helen is dedicated to delivering exceptional client service. She goes above and beyond to understand her clients' unique requirements and provide them with personalized solutions that drive tangible results. Her commitment to client success is evident in her approach and the long-term relationships she builds.
Rose Helen's passion for e-commerce, coupled with her extensive experience and project management skills, makes her a valuable asset for organizations looking to thrive in the digital landscape. With her guidance, businesses can navigate the complexities of e-commerce projects and achieve their objectives with confidence and success.