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If you were in any doubt about the flexibility and power of Magento, the fact that it can be used to build not just standalone ecommerce sites for a single operator, but also multi-vendor solutions akin to what’s offered by Amazon’s Marketplace service, should seal the deal
There are a number of themes and extensions that make this possible, so let’s look at the top options to consider using for your own sales platform.
Themes
There’s no single theme that’s suitable for every multi-vendor marketplace; you need to look at your needs and compare them with what’s on offer, which includes:
Martfury
Boasting a variety of adjustable, adaptable and reusable layout elements, this is highly convenient to use as a theme in a multi-vendor environment. It also provides excellent mobile optimization, and a lightweight design that keeps page load speeds swift, which is of course important for SEO.
Mag2 Marketplace
The creators of this theme are unabashed about admitting their sources of inspiration, which includes the likes of eBay.
The appeal here comes from the broad feature set, which covers a one-step checkout, a layered navigation system, an in-depth product search function and much more besides.
Of course with the help of Magento theme development provided by experts, you can put together a completely custom creation that’s tuned to your requirements, or have one of these themes adapted to better accommodate your ambitions for your marketplace.
SM Market
The diversity of the homepage designs available here is impressive, and so if you want to give your marketplace a unique visual twist rather than having it blend in with the rest of the ecommerce services that are out there at the moment, this is the theme to choose.
There’s also plenty of choice when it comes to how products are displayed, and the ample support from the developer means that if you do encounter issues, you can get them resolved swiftly.
Extensions
We’ve tackled the themes, so now let’s talk multi-vendor extensions, as the line-up is extensive and covers solutions from developers such as:
Webkul
The efficient underpinnings of the multi-vendor extension belie the complex functionality it can add to an existing Magento store that’s ready to make the leap to supporting other vendors.
You can even enable automatic approval for vendors that apply to sell on your site, or retain manual control over this for added peace of mind.
It’s also a breeze to empower approved vendors with the ability to control the look, feel and user friendliness of their own personal storefront on your site.
Magetop
When you start a multi-vendor marketplace, the way you’ll make money as the site owner is to take a commission from every item that’s sold by the third parties who’ve signed up.
The multi-vendor extension from Magetop takes the hassle out of managing this aspect, and also means that you can ensure that customer orders are fulfilled as expected, because of course it’s your brand reputation that’s on the line as much as the seller’s.
Apptha
This is a free download for Magento 2, meaning that it’s worth trying even if you don’t stick with it in the long run because you won’t be taking a financial risk.
This extension ticks all the boxes in terms of features you’ll need if you want your marketplace to reach a global audience, as it can manage a multitude of currencies and languages, as well as supporting all sorts of payment providers.
Final thoughts
Combining a multi-vendor extension and theme can transform the trajectory that your Magento store takes in terms of its earning potential. Start experimenting now and see what magic you can make happen.