You’ve seen how easy it is to build an e-commerce site with Prestashop.
Now you may be wondering how to create a Prestashop marketplace?
Building a marketplace is a more complex project than building a traditional e-commerce site.
Every project is unique and different.
Here we’ll look at the elements you’ll need to build a complete marketplace with Prestashop.
Why create a marketplace?
To group several vendors
If you’re the only seller, an e-commerce site is just what you need.
If, on the other hand, you need several sellers to offer their products, you need a marketplace.
On a marketplace, each seller has access to a secure interface enabling them to manage the products they wish to offer for sale.
They can manage their account, their products and all after-sales services.
To access the marketplace, a seller may pay a subscription fee, and generally receives a commission on sales made.
To delegate logistics management
Setting up a marketplace has a number of advantages.
Of course, you don’t receive the full amount of sales.
Instead, you receive a percentage of each sale made by the sellers present on the marketplace.
And, of course, you don’t have to worry about managing stocks, inventories or product shipments.
Each seller is responsible for preparing and delivering the products they offer.
To offer a wider range of products
Building a marketplace also makes it easy to broaden the range of products on offer.
If many sellers are present on the marketplace, they can expand the catalog of the entire marketplace by offering many different products.
Amazon is the classic example of a marketplace offering a vast range of products.
The large number of different sellers, from all walks of life, enables Amazon to offer both mass-market and niche products.
In recent years, many well-known e-commerce sites have transformed themselves into generalist marketplaces.
Cdiscount, FNAC and La Redoute are perfect examples.
To propose a targeted offer
Of course, you probably won’t be able to build a marketplace capable of competing with the market heavyweights.
But you can build a targeted marketplace.
Organic products, food or cosmetics, regional products, toys or mechanical parts are all examples of products in which you can specialize your marketplace.
By targeting a specific range of products and multiplying the number of sellers and thus the number of references, you’ll improve your referencing.
In this way, you can become the benchmark for your target market, attracting more customers and more sellers.
Another type of marketplace has also appeared.
These are sites for the resale of second-hand products.
In this case, each customer can become a seller on the marketplace, in turn offering products on the platform.
The essential features of a marketplace
If you want to build a marketplace worthy of the name, you absolutely must implement a few essential features.
Features for the seller
A seller registered on your marketplace must have access to the following functionalities:
- Manage your sales profile.
- Product management, with import and export functionalities.
- Manage rates, shipping methods and carriers.
- Management of the billing method for commissions received on each sale.
- Order management.
- Management of its after-sales service, processing of messages sent by customers…
- View detailed sales statistics, with graphical presentation…
Administrator features
As a marketplace administrator, you’ll need a dashboard giving you access to the following features:
- Customize your marketplace: commissions, shipping and delivery costs, seller ratings and reviews…
- Manage vendors and their products.
- Management of sales commissions and their percentages.
- View seller history, messages, comments…
How do you build your marketplace with Prestashop?
To begin with, it’s perfectly possible to create a marketplace with Prestashop.
As the e-commerce solution doesn’t allow you to do this natively, we’ll need to use one or more modules.
There are a number of paid Prestashop modules available for building your marketplace.
Of course, they’re not all the same in terms of functionality, upgradability, maintenance, compatibility and, of course, price.
While there are turnkey solutions for building your marketplace, a Prestashop-based solution has the advantage of giving you total control over your platform.
So you’re totally free to make your own choices.
You can choose the design that suits you, and even develop new functionalities.
Of course, the Prestashop marketplace module you choose must above all meet your needs.
We have selected three marketplace modules that meet most needs and are all in the same price range:
- KnowBand MarketPlace (150 euros, then 46 euros per year): this comprehensive module is highly flexible, enabling you to set up a fully customized marketplace.
It is also frequently updated, a guarantee of longevity and security. - Advanced Multi-Vendor Marketplace (150 euros, then 46 euros per year): this is certainly not the best-known Prestashop marketplace module, but it’s complete and starting to make a name for itself on the market.
- JA MarketPlace (226 euros, then 70 euros per year): the benchmark for Prestashop marketplace modules.
This comprehensive module lets you build a multi-language marketplace.
The module is frequently updated.
To conclude on the Prestashop marketplace
Using Prestashop and an appropriate module, it’s relatively easy to create a marketplace.
Nevertheless, you must leave no room for improvisation, and study your project carefully beforehand.
Otherwise, even with a solution like Prestashop, your project could turn into a disaster.
Drawing on my expertise in e-commerce, I can help you with your marketplace project.
From design to launch, we’ll work together to create the Prestashop marketplace that’s exactly right for you.
Please do not hesitate to contact me so that we can discuss the solution best suited to your needs.
