Fact – Software is the backbone of your Online Marketplace Website. You do not want to get it wrong. Isn’t it? Many marketplace businesses fail just because they did not spend time researching the available software platforms and understanding the pros and cons of each one.

Choosing the right website platform saves you a lot of time, money, and effort. The two core characteristics of a good marketplace website platform are:

   1. Scalability

   2. Performance

You would never want to spend a ton of money on a business plan that is uncertain (every business, for that matter, is uncertain). So, it is always best to choose the readymade-kind-of marketplace software tool which could be used to validate your business idea.

As your early users start giving feedback about your marketplace, you need to constantly make changes to your platform. This means that your software should be scalable. Furthermore, the platform that you use to build your MVP should be able to work without any glitches. Otherwise, you get frustrating user experience, leading up to bad reviews.

Choosing an Online Marketplace Website platform that is appropriate for your business plan is a daunting task, as there are multiple solutions in the market. Here, we will discuss the three most popular website platforms available in the market today – Shopify, Wix, and WooCommerce. Each platform is best in its way depending on the kind of marketplace you choose. Let us quickly check some important points such as use, design, and pricing.

Shopify

Shopify offers you a14-day free trial to test all the features before investing in it. You can continue using Shopify after the trial period by upgrading your plan. Each plan gives you an option to sell unlimited products along with various marketing tools. The premium plan provides you with features such as third-party shipping calculations and lower credit card fees.

Shopify imposes transaction fees except for the Shopify payment option. Moreover, Shopify Payments supports only 7 countries. The basic plan offered by Shopify has lesser options. Features such as reports, gift cards, fraud analysis, and real-time shipping rates are included under costlier plans.

Verdict – Its ease of use is good, and you can start selling online right away, but it is too expensive to customize and scale for marketplace business model websites.

Wix

Wix has a diversified collection of templates that may fit your website plan. It offers free hosting and customization of your store. Wix is mobile friendly and offers a dedicated mobile editor. Wix reduces the complex technicalities involved in building a normal platform for B2B or B2C websites. There is no coding involved and it is easy to customize.

However, Wix is not specifically made for online marketplaces. Customizations of Wix platform could involve hiring high-level programmers. It could be costly because Wix developers are still not found in abundance. Furthermore, Wix does not exceed the SEO, flexibility, cost, and most importantly the ownership requirements as do some other platforms.

Verdict – Good platform for normal B2B or B2C websites, but not specifically made for online marketplaces.

WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free, customizable, and open-source eCommerce platform that is built on WordPress CMS, which is source & easily accessible. Designing your marketplace website on WooCommerce could be one of the best options for you. You can let your creativity flow with limitless scalability and customization options.

WooCommerce has all the features required for the functioning of the new web-shop from listing of new products to orders and billing. And the best –WooCommerce is one of the fastest-growing eCommerce communities. With more than 3.8 million websites across the globe using WooCommerce, it is by far the most used platform for selling online. These numbers are sure to fascinate you.

Some of the main features of WooCommerce include easy customization, built-in-blogging facility, tags, and attributes, product ratings and reviews, product sorting and filtering, location customization such as currency and language setting. And the best part is that you own the code of your website unlike Shopify & Wix.

Verdict – It could easily be turned into marketplaces using pre-existing modules. Also, it’s easier and cheaper to customize and scale. Therefore, it is our platform of choice for building online marketplaces.

When selecting your marketplace platform, it is best to understand the most important requirements that you would need to get started. Also, consider both the short-term and long-term challenges that you could face in your marketplace competitive landscape.

Selecting the wrong software might result in you wasting time, money, and efforts. Consider different platforms – technical characteristics and complexity – to determine which software you should be using for your Online Marketplace Website.

We can help you build a great online marketplace website at a very reasonable price. Contact us to discuss your requirements and we will be glad to help you grow your business.