Would you like to create a multi-vendor ecommerce website in WordPress?
A multi-vendor ecommerce website allows you to have multiple vendors and sellers selling their products in your marketplace for a small fee or commission.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily create a multi-vendor ecommerce marketplace using the open source WordPress software.
What is a multi-vendor e-commerce website?
A multi-vendor e-commerce website is a platform where multiple vendors, vendors, and companies can add and sell their products and services.
It is a popular online business idea that allows a website owner to make money online by charging a fee or commission for each transaction.
Some of the most popular ecommerce sites like Amazon, eBay and Etsy are all examples of a multi-vendor ecommerce marketplace.
You can easily create a multi-vendor website for a relatively small cost of creating an ecommerce website using WordPress.
However, let’s take a look at how to easily create a multi-vendor ecommerce website without any technical skills.
What do you need to start a multi-vendor ecommerce website?
First you need to make sure that you are using the right website creation platform to create a multi-vendor ecommerce website.
We always use WordPress and recommend it because it occupies 43% of all websites on the internet. It is a free open source software that also allows you to add multi-vendor features on your site.
To create a multi-vendor website in WordPress, you will need :
- The idea of a domain name, this will be the name of your website on the internet (think about amazon.com , < br > google.com , etc.).
- Web hosting account-this is where your website lives on the internet. All sites need web hosting.
- SSL certificate-allows you to securely accept payments online.
A domain name usually costs you about 14.99 USD per year and web hosting starts from 7.99 USD per month (usually paid annually).
This can be a considerable amount of money for those who are just starting out.
Fortunately, the people at Bluehost have agreed to give WPBeginner users a huge 63% discount on web hosting using a free domain name and SSL certificate.
Note :
you can of course use any other web hosting provider as well. We have a list of hosting service providers specializing in WooCommerce hosting .
After that, you will be ready to add the multi-vendor function in WordPress.
Adding multiple vendor functions in WooCommerce
WooCommerce does not come with support for multi-vendor stores. To add this, you need the WooCommerce multi-vendor extension.
We recommend using WC Vendors as the best plugin for WooCommerce multi-vendor. It is very easy to set up and comes with all the features you need for multiple sellers to set up their own stores in your market.
First, you will need to install and activate the free WC Vendors Marketplace Extension .
For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install WordPress plugins .
Note :
This is the limited free version of the plugin, it provides only the basic functions. You still need the basic free add-on in order to use the premium version of the add-on that has more features. We will cover this in the subsequent steps.
When activated, you will be prompted to run the SetUp wizard.
After that, you will see the first screen of the setting.
From here, you can choose whether to manually approve sellers, give them shipping and tax options, and set the base commission rate.
Click the “next” button to continue.
In the “capabilities” tab, you can set user permissions for sellers. These are the actions that they can perform on their products and stores.
Once finished, click the “next” button to go to the pages section.
WC sellers can automatically create important pages necessary for the operation of a multi-vendor store. But if you want to create your own pages, you can select them here.
If you choose your own pages, you will also need to manually add the on-screen shortcodes to each page.
We recommend sticking to the default settings here for easier setup.
Just click the “next” button to continue, and then click “return to control panel” to exit the SetUp wizard.
Next, you need to install and activate the WC Vendors Pro plugin .
When activated, you will also be prompted to run the SetUp wizard.
On the next screen, you can restrict sellers from accessing the WordPress admin dashboard.
This is a good practice to keep your WordPress site safe .
You can also choose different Commission types such as percentage, percentage + fees, fixed and fixed fees +.
Once this is selected, proceed and click on the next button to continue.
Now you will see the features that you can enable in the seller dashboard. These options will give sellers access to more features to manage their store and products .
Optionally, you can also choose a page for viewing seller ratings. Just create a new WordPress page with the [wcv_feedback_form] shortcode inside, and then select the page here.
After that, you need to click the “next” button to finish the setup. WC Vendors Pro also gives you the option to edit the various models used by vendors and install extensions to add new features.
Now you can return to the WordPress dashboard to continue setting up your multi-vendor website.
Setting up your WooCommerce for the multiple vendor platform
Now that you have set up WC Vendor, the next step is to enable user account registration in WooCommerce.
First, you need to create a new page in WordPress and name it “Account”. Inside the page editor, you need to add the [woocommerce_my_account]shortcode.
Don’t forget to save and publish your page.
After that, head to the WooCommerce ” settings page and go to the account and Privacy tab.
From here, you need to make sure that the option “ALLOW the client to create an account” is selected on the “My Account” page.
After that, switch to the Advanced tab. Under the Page Setup section, choose the page you created earlier next to the “My Account page”option.
Don’t forget to click the Save Changes button to store your settings.
Add a link to register as a resource
Now I have set up WooCommerce for a multi-vendor ecommerce platform. After that, you may want to add links to your site, so that visitors can register as sellers.
Just head to the” Appearance “menu page and add the” account ” page you created earlier to the main navigation menu.
If you wish, you can rename the navigation menu option to something like “login, registration” or “my account”.
Don’t forget to save the changes and preview your website.
You can quickly see what it’s like for logged-out visitors by opening a new browser tab in incognito mode.
The account page link will appear at the top.
Clicking on it will take users to the account registration page where they can apply to become a seller on your website
multiple vendor ecommerce store management
Once users are registered as a resource, they may be approved automatically, or you will need to manually approve, depending on the option you choose during the SetUp wizard.
If you need to approve them manually, just go to the users page in the WordPress administration area and switch to the pending seller tab.
From here you can approve or reject the seller’s request.
After the seller is approved, he will receive a notification and be able to log into his account to manage the seller’s store.
From the seller dashboard, they can add new products for sale, as well as manage orders, Store settings, and more.
For example, sellers can enter their payment information under the “Settings”tab.
When sellers add new products, you will receive an email notification.
You can then manually approve a product and publish or delete it.
Now the products will appear on the pages of your store with the names of sellers.
Users can click on the seller’s name to browse more of their products.
Customized multiple vendor ecommerce website design
WordPress comes with thousands of pre-made templates that you can use to get started. We have made a list of the best WooCommerce themes that you can choose from.
Sometimes, you will find a theme that matches exactly what you need. However, in most cases, you may want to customize the look and feel of your brand.
In this case, you will need a WordPress page builder plugin such as SeedProd . It is a drag-and-drop website builder that allows you to create fully customized WordPress themes without writing any code.
It comes with pre-made WooCommerce blocks which you can use to customize your product page, shopping cart pages and every other page in your store.
multiple vendor e-commerce website development
Now that you have created a multi-seller e-commerce website, the next step is to promote your website, so that more sellers and customers can find it.
Here are a few of our favorites and you should have the tools we recommend:
1. All in ONE SEO for WordPress – the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market comes with built-in support for WooCommerce SEO . It is used by more than 3 million websites to rank higher in Google. There is a free version that you can also use if you are on a budget.
2. MonsterInsights-it’s the best Google Analytics plugin for WordPress that allows you to set up enhanced ecommerce tracking . This helps you track product performance so you can see what’s working on your site.
3. WP Mail SMTP-this helps fix email delivery issues in WordPress to ensure that important emails such as purchase receipts, user registration emails, etc. are delivered to the user’s inbox.
4. WPForms-the best WordPress form builder plugin on the market. It allows you to easily create all kinds of forms that you will need to promote and grow your multi-vendor store such as user questionnaire, contact form, polls, etc. There is also a free version that you can use too.
5. OptinMonster-it’s the no 1 conversion optimization toolkit for WordPress. It helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers. You can use it to add special free shipping bars, seasonal promotions, spin the wheel, and more.
WordPress comes with over 59000+ extensions. That is why it is the best choice for experts when creating any type of website including multi-vendor ecommerce stores.
We hope this article helped you learn how to create a multi-vendor ecommerce website.