Do you have a brilliant marketplace idea? Do you want to design a platform that will compete with Amazon, Upwork, Etsy, or other popular marketplaces? Well, it’s a pretty challenging task to build a marketplace from scratch. If you want to ease your work, you should consider using a WordPress plugin.
Today, we will talk about five powerful plugins that can help you to bring your ideas to life.
What to look for when choosing a Marketplace WordPress Plugin?
There are many marketplace WordPress plugins on the web, and every plugin has a unique set of features. Do you want to know how to define an effective plugin? Check whether it has the following features:
- Frontend dashboard for vendors
- Multiple commission types
- Easy and quick withdrawals
- Order and shipment management features
- Moderate publishing
- Advanced rating system
- ‘Single Product Multiple Vendor’ module
- Individual vendor stores
- Personalized seller reports
What is the best marketplace WordPress plugin?
There is no one universal plugin that can be considered a “perfect option” to everyone. Depending on your specific needs and your marketing ideas, you need to choose a specific plugin. Here is a list of top five marketplace WordPress plugins that are worth your attention.
1. WCFM Marketplace
WCFM Marketplace is one of the best multi-vendor marketplace plugins for WooCommerce. It has the most featured store list and filters and allows shoppers to sort products by city, zip code, category, and use radius search. As you probably know, a simplified product search is a key factor in the marketplace’s success. So if you install this plugin, you will make the first step toward higher sales revenues.
Another great thing about WCFM Marketplace is that it allows you to manage payments with ease. This plugin works in the same way as WooCommerce Frontend Manager does, plus it has some extra features such as Refund Request, Withdrawal and Reverse Withdrawal, and Stripe Split Pay.
WCFM Marketplace can boast a diverse commission system. It includes not only fixed and percent commission options but also product-wise commissions, vendor-wise commissions, and five more options. Why it’s a good idea to choose a plugin with multiple commission options? It will give you more flexibility in working with vendors – you will be able to adjust your commission policy to market trends and maximize your revenue.
Also, it’s worth mentioning that this plugin has Zone and Country Wise Vendor Shipping feature. If you plan to work with overseas vendors, WCFM Marketplace is a perfect solution for you. Be sure to check out Email Customizer for WCFM Marketplace to extend the potential of your marketplace’s email marketing.
Key Features
- Advanced featured store list & filters
- Powerful commission system
- Flexible shipment management
- Versatile payment options
- Extensive payout options
2. Dokan
Dokan is another popular front end multi-vendor marketplace on WordPress, powered by WooCommerce. Its major advantage is that it allows you to build an effective marketplace in less than an hour.
Yep, you’ve read that right. Even if you have just 40 minutes, you can turn your website into a profitable marketplace using Dokan. Whether you want to earn money through commissions from digital, physical, or other products, this plugin will serve your needs.
Are you planning to scale-up your business and allow vendors to offer new services? Use Dokan, and you will create a scalable marketplace – you will get a chance to sell bookable products and auction products through the Dokan adds-on.
Do you want to have control over vendors and their activity? Install the Dokan plugin, and you will control all actions and processes in your marketplace. You will be able to monitor product publishing, vendor registration, subscription renewal, and other activities.
Probably the best thing about Dokan is that new updates appear regularly. Developers add new trendy features and fix bugs weekly, so you can enjoy flawless operation and smooth integration with other popular apps, plugins, and widgets.
Key Features
- Fast installation
- Frontend dashboard for each seller
- Advanced discount management system
- Detailed reports on important aspects of your marketplace
- Availability of such extended features like Live Chat, Seller Verification, PDF Invoice, Vendor Review
3. WC Vendors
WC Vendors is an advanced plugin that has all features you need to create a highly effective marketplace. It was downloaded more than 550,000 times and was used to build more than 10,000 marketplaces.
WC Vendors provides a complete frontend experience. Well-designed vendor dashboard perfectly matches the marketplace’s theme and allows vendors to manage their products, orders, coupons, and complete other actions.
Vendors can create a personalized, independent storefront. They can tweak the design and optimize the store for SEO. Every shop gets its unique URL that vendors can use for marketing, branding, and other purposes.
Do you want to ensure that the withdrawal process to go smoothly? Choose WC Vendors plugin – set up the withdrawal rule and disburse payments to vendors as required. Also, take advantage of a reverse withdrawal feature that allows vendors to pay commissions to admin.
Are you looking for an advanced shipping solution? Look no further than WC Vendors. This plugin allows vendors to manage their shipping in any way they like. Vendors can set a flat rate or table rate – they can choose any option that helps them to get more orders. Since hidden shipping cost is a top reason for cart abandonment, the importance of this feature is hard to overestimate.
Key Features
- Complete front-end dashboard
- Over 100 payment getaway options
- Suitable for physical products, digital products, service, and subscriptions
- Flat rate and table rate system
- Membership payments option
4. WordPress WooCommerce Multi Vendor Marketplace Plugin
Marketplace Multi-Vendor WordPress plugin is a magic wand that you can use to convert your website into a complete marketplace. This plugin allows sellers to create separate profiles and add products to your website. You, as admin, can edit these products or delete them, if necessary.
Marketplace Multi-Vendor WordPress plugin allows sellers to add social accounts to their profiles. So, the customers can contact them directly and discuss shipment and payment options. Since modern customers are obsessed with social media, this feature is an essential one.
Besides, this plugin enables customers to give reviews and ratings to the products offered by sellers. This feature helps sellers to get feedback and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of their products.
You, as an admin, can either approve or disapprove the reviews and ratings given by customers. If someone has written an offensive, inappropriate review, you can remove it from your website. If you manage reviews wisely, you will make people trust your platform and increase sales.
Another great thing about this plugin is that it helps to build an SEO-friendly URL structure. It means that using this plugin, you can get your website to the top of Google search results, drive more traffic to your website, and make more money.
Key Features
- Easy-to-use seller dashboard
- Profile management
- Review and rating system
- Supports all types of products
- Complete invoice management
5. YITH WooCommerce Multi Vendor / Marketplace
YITH WooCommerce Multi-Vendor is another excellent plugin. It ensures effective collaboration with vendors. In addition, this plugin allows you to assign different rates to different shops and maximize your potential profit.
Just keep in mind that if you want to get the most of this plugin and this feature, you need to apply your analytical skills and market knowledge. Once you understand which commissioning strategy works for you, you will start making big money.
By choosing this plugin, you will provide your vendor with an advanced editor. What does it mean? Vendors will get a chance to add descriptions of their shops and edit them accordingly to attract more shoppers.
Also, if you pay for a premium version, vendors will get permission to manage product reviews. That will allow them to deal with negative reviews more effectively and increase sales.
Using YITH WooCommerce Multi-Vendor, vendors can create coupons and implement discount pricing strategies. As a marketplace owner, you can choose whether to calculate the commission for the discounted total or not.
Now you may be wondering whether this remarkable plugin has any disadvantages. Unfortunately, yes, it has one significant drawback – it does not have a front-end dashboard for vendors by default. However, you can fix this problem by installing the YITH Frontend Manager, but you will have to pay extra money for this plugin.
Key Features
- Superior reporting system
- Advanced management of related products
- Ability to manage vendor using bulk actions
- Effective review management system
- Compatibility with WordPress Multilingual plugin
Wrapping up
All five marketplace WordPress plugins are effective and worth your money. Feel free to choose any plugin from this list to create a marketplace website of your dreams.
Don’t wait for the “perfect moment” to start designing your marketplace. Download a suitable plugin today and begin working on your project.
Daniela McVicker is a blogger with rich experience writing about UX design, content planning, and digital marketing. Currently, she is the chief contributor at TopWritersReview, an aggregator for elementary students websites where she helps individuals and organizations improve their web content writing, design, and planning skills.
