Ecommerce Marketplace Platforms Shortlist
Here’s the list of the top ecommerce marketplace tools that I’ll cover in this article.
- BigCommerce
Best open source eCommerce marketplace platform solution
- Nautical Commerce
Best for an on-demand multi-vendor marketplace platform
- WCFM Marketplace
multi-vendor marketplace plugin for WordPress with commission types
- Aleran Connected Commerce
Best for a plug-and-play ecommerce system
- VTEX
Best for B2C digital ecommerce
- Spryker
Best for a headless, cloud marketplace platform
- Paragon Commerce
Best for people-driven commerce
- Ultra Commerce
Best for an agile ecommerce solution
- Mirakl
Best for enterprise-level ecommerce marketplaces
- Pepperi
Best for consolidating omnichannel sales on a single platform
Ecommerce is big business—and growing fast! Online retail sales now amount to 4.9 Trillion U.S dollars worldwide and these numbers are forecast to grow by over 50% within the next four years. So if you’re looking to get a piece of the action, there’s still a lot of opportunity available.
Ecommerce marketplace platform software can help you turn the opportunity into profit. In this article, I’ll review the best software applications in this niche to save you the headache of endless research. You can take a shortcut and discover the top picks right here.
Comparison Criteria
What do I look for when I select the best ecommerce marketplace system? Here’s a summary of my evaluation criteria:
- User Interface (UI): I look for tools that employees at all levels will find easy to navigate.
- Usability: I expect to see ecommerce marketplace software with a feature layout that’s well considered.
- Integrations: I’m seeking tools that integrate easily with the tools that online sellers regularly use.
- Value for Pricing: I look for ecommerce marketplace platforms that offer more bang for your buck.
Ecommerce Marketplace Key Features
- User-friendly seller portal: Making the experience of building catalogs, inserting products, and organizing orders as easy as possible.
- Order management system: Helping sellers keep track of orders, regardless of the sales channel.
- Intelligent search: Advanced features to help buyers find products they may wish to buy.
- Customization: Allowing sellers to customize layouts to highlight their branding.
- Content management system: CMS built into the platform to help sellers communicate key marketing messages.
- Product pages: The system should include well-designed product pages that help buyers understand the product and its features.
- Product recommendations: Recommending related products to cross-sell and increase overall sales.
- Ratings & reviews: Generating social proof through robust options for user-generated content.
- Multiple payment options: Payment gateway choices, giving buyers the option to pay using the method that suits them best.
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Overviews Of The 10 Best Ecommerce Marketplace Platforms
Here’s a brief description of each ecommerce marketplace solution with some noteworthy features and screenshots to give a snapshot of the user interface.
BigCommerce
Best open source eCommerce marketplace platform solution
BigCommerce is an eCommerce platform for online businesses. The platform provides users with a powerful suite of features that help them build an effective online presence, attract more customers, and increase sales.
Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for users to customize their store’s look without needing any technical knowledge. The platform provides robust security measures like SSL encryption, so customers feel safe buying from a user’s store. Users can manage all sales channels from one place without needing multiple accounts or logins. They can also connect with leading shipping carriers for real-time shipping quotes and analytics tools such as Google Analytics for tracking customer behavior on their websites.
Because the platform is open source, the staging environment allows businesses to preview and test changes before they go live, ensuring that any changes made to the online store won’t affect existing customers already shopping there. With this feature, companies can verify that all the website buttons, menus, and shopping cart checkout processes are working correctly before making major updates to the site.
The platform’s faceted search feature allows users to quickly locate specific items using filters such as item name, color, price, and size. The facets intersect so users can narrow their search according to whatever criteria they require for their desired product, making it easier than ever to find what they need efficiently.
Other features include marketing tools such as coupons and discounts, payment options including PayPal and Apple Pay, shipping integrations with major carriers like UPS and FedEx, and inventory tracking capabilities. The platform integrates seamlessly with most common eCommerce platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy.
Nautical Commerce
Best for an on-demand multi-vendor marketplace platform
Nautical Commerce is a modern platform designed specifically for multi-vendor ecommerce. The native self-service tools make it easy for vendors to sign up, while the API helps with importing products from existing catalogs. The software equips you with content management tools to facilitate catalog and inventory control.
Automated record-keeping tools assist experts in organizing and storing operational data. The reporting and analysis tools give real-time visibility into process flows to drive better decision-making.
Nautical Commerce also provides visibility into market trends in your niche.
Nautical Commerce integrates with ecommerce platforms such as Shopify and ShipStation.
Nautical Commerce offers customized pricing on request.
WCFM Marketplace
multi-vendor marketplace plugin for WordPress with commission types
WCFM Marketplace is a feature-rich multi-vendor marketplace plugin for WordPress. It leverages the power of WooCommerce to offer a full range of ecommerce features. Features include coupon management, product import/export, support tickets, and membership subscriptions.
WCFM Marketplace handles invoices and shipping labels to make order fulfillment easier. You can also set commission rules and payout options for digital sales reps or secondary vendors that sell through your platform.
This tool integrates with ecommerce tools such as WooCommerce, Elementor, Foo Event, and WPML.
The Core WCFM plug is free.
Add-ons can be purchased to increase functionality.
Aleran Connected Commerce
Best for a plug-and-play ecommerce system
Aleran is a B2B ecommerce platform tool. Using this platform, you can manage all channels and revenue sources from a single dashboard. Features include sales order management, commission structuring, and task automation.
You can add new selling channels, key accounts, and channel partners to capture more revenue and scale. Aleran supports headless commerce, providing a full set of endpoints to attach to any front-end experience.
The front-end may be mobile, social, IoT, marketplace or a custom development.
Aleran provides native integrations with many ERP, CRM, WMS, and 3PL services.
Aleran offers customized pricing on request.
VTEX
Best for B2C digital ecommerce
VTEX is a cloud-based ecommerce solution that helps businesses manage online stores and multi-channel digital commerce. This multi-vendor platform offers a white-labeling option, so sellers can create their own custom web pages, banners, and landing pages.
VTEX allows sellers to manage SEO for any product listing using metatags, custom URLs, canonical tags, and 301 redirects. Other features include promotions management, web analytics, and customer communication management. Sellers can connect all their stores and warehouses, orchestrating all orders from every channel in one place. They can also generate additional sales using live shopping and conversational commerce.
VTEX integrates with popular business systems such as Google Analytics.
VTEX offers customized pricing on request.
Spryker
Best for a headless, cloud marketplace platform
Spryker is an ecommerce software platform designed for managing B2B, B2C, and other digital marketplaces across multiple interfaces, devices, and customer touchpoints. Thanks to the white-labeling capabilities, organizations can create personalized online store designs to handle products, stocks, or catalogs.
The software includes a content management system featuring templates with predefined slots. These allow sellers to easily update product SKUs, product category IDs, page titles, and ecommerce website elements. Additional features include split delivery, GDPR compliance, and configurable modules.
Sellers can also leverage wishlists, ratings, and discount tools. Various reporting and analytics options give managers insights into customer emails, revenue, product performance, and other metrics.
Spryker integrates with business applications such as PayPal, LiveChat, and TrustPilot.
Spryker offers customized pricing on request.
Paragon Commerce
Best for people-driven commerce
Paragon is a SaaS commerce platform for companies that work with direct sellers, affiliates, influencers, distributors, and ambassadors. The software offers seller tools, a flexible commission engine, and compelling incentive features. This platform can be configured to meet your specific needs. Partners get the tools they need, from simple sign-up to a mobile-first web office.
Paragon provides for advanced product types and is able to handle returns, refunds, and exchanges. Easy-to-use admin tools help you manage customers and sellers effectively.
This tool integrates with business tools such as ShipStation, SendGrid, and Twilio.
Paragon offers customized pricing on request.
Ultra Commerce
Best for an agile ecommerce solution
Ultra Commerce is a headless, agile ecommerce platform for everything from B2B manufacturers to D2C and retail, food, and beverage. Features include support for subscription commerce, selling tools, analytics, and automation.
Ultra Commerce creates an entire ecommerce ecosystem, covering everything from search to shipping. The software integrates with back-office, accounting, and pricing systems to provide a complete shop-to-ship solution.
Ultra Commerce supports headless commerce, meaning that you can create an aesthetically pleasing storefront experience without encumbering the backend mechanics of ecommerce management. Technical features include full-coverage APIs, accessible development environments, and starter kits.
Ultra Commerce integrates with business applications such as Authorize.net, Click & Buy, and Google.
Ultra Commerce provides customized pricing on request.
Mirakl
Best for enterprise-level ecommerce marketplaces
Mirakl is an ecommerce marketplace platform designed to help enterprises scale rapidly. Businesses can invite sellers into the shop ecosystem using self-service tools, including tailored onboarding flows.
They can also define advanced payment workflows and set up granular commission grids. Sellers follow an intuitive wizard to map their products to catalogs, leveraging various integration methods according to their needs. They can access their own command center to manage KPIs and fulfill orders.
Mirakl offers enterprise-grade security so that large organizations know their data is secure.
Mirakl integrates with major business applications such as SAP, Salesforce, and Stripe.
Mirakl offers customized pricing on request.
Pepperi
Best for consolidating omnichannel sales on a single platform
Pepperi is a cloud-based platform that unifies B2B ecommerce, sales force automation, and trade promotions to increase sales and margins. Core features include sales automation, retail merchandising, mobile CR, order management, and route accounting.
Pepperi consolidates omnichannel sales on a single platform and helps companies manage trade promotions across all sales channels. As a single-platform solution, it helps companies manage sales processes, order taking, ecommerce, and the management of customer information.
Admins can customize workflows, business rules, forms, and the dashboard to suit specific requirements. The platform also supports ecommerce business owners by handling catalog listings, debt, price lists, discounts, and sales performance.
This tool integrates with many different business tools, including Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle, Salesforce, and Sage.
Pepperi offers customized pricing on request.
The 10 Best Ecommerce Marketplace Platforms Summary
Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | BigCommerce Best open source eCommerce marketplace platform solution | 15-day free trial | From $29.95/month | Visit Website |
2 | Nautical Commerce Best for an on-demand multi-vendor marketplace platform | Not available | Visit Website | |
3 | WCFM Marketplace multi-vendor marketplace plugin for WordPress with commission types | Not available | Free To Use | Visit Website |
4 | Aleran Connected Commerce Best for a plug-and-play ecommerce system | Not available | Visit Website | |
5 | VTEX Best for B2C digital ecommerce | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
6 | Spryker Best for a headless, cloud marketplace platform | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
7 | Paragon Commerce Best for people-driven commerce | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
8 | Ultra Commerce Best for an agile ecommerce solution | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
9 | Mirakl Best for enterprise-level ecommerce marketplaces | Not available | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
10 | Pepperi Best for consolidating omnichannel sales on a single platform | Not available | Visit Website |
Other Ecommerce Marketplace Systems
Here are a few more that didn’t make the top list.
- Skynamo - Best for wholesale ecommerce operations
- Movista - Connects retailers, brands, service providers, and distributors
- CS-Cart Multi-Vendor - Best for starting a multi-vendor ecommerce marketplace fast
- Sellacious - Best for optimized ecommerce storefronts
- Web-Cart - Customizable ecommerce marketplace solution
- Yo!Kart - Agile multi-vendor marketplace
- Uppler - Best for B2B ecommerce
- Dokan - WordPress-based ecommerce marketplace platform
- Fast Commerce - quick way to get a marketplace up and running
- Marketplacer - Best for enterprise-level marketplaces
What Do You Think About This List?
Those are my recommendations for the best ecommerce marketplace platform software. But are these really the very best options? We’d love to hear your opinion, so let us know in the comments below.
While you’re here, I suggest you also check out our article on the best ecommerce platform for small business, plus our picks for the best ecommerce software.
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