Top Multi-vendor Platforms to Start an Online Store like Amazon, Ebay
Ankush Mahajan — March 20, 2019 — March 20, 2019
Search for world’s largest eCommerce store on Google, you will find that most of them are the multi-vendor marketplaces. The huge success of online multi-vendor marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Ebay, etc. has encouraged aspiring entrepreneurs to start a multi-vendor online store. However, starting a multi-vendor marketplace is not a walk in the park. You need to build a fully functional online store where the number of vendors can operate under a roof without any hassles.
So today, I have decided to compare the top ecommerce platforms that help you build a multivendor online store like Amazon & FlipKart without any technical knowledge.
Based on my research for top multi-vendor marketplace platforms, I found these 4 multi-vendor ecommerce platforms for comparison:
- Cs-Cart
- Yokart
- X-Cart
- Apattha
These are the popular names in the multivendor industry, before I started; let me give you a brief introduction about each platform:
CS-Cart is a very popular name in the multivendor industry. You can start a self-hosted multivendor marketplace with CS Cart easily.
YoKart is a dedicated multivendor marketplace platform that has gained a lot of popularly in short period of time. You can start both hosted and self-hosted marketplaces with YoKart.
X-Cart is a popular open source platform. With X-Cart you can start a single or multivendor ecommerce store easily.
Apptha is basically an extension by which you can start a multivendor marketplace swiftly with your word-press, Magento, or Joomla online store.
Let’s Start the Comparison
Features:
I have compared features that must have in a multi-vendor marketplace. In Addition to, I compared features of each platform that is available in their base package.
- Features Available in YoKart $ 1299 Package
- Features Available in CS-Cart $ 1450 Package
- Features Available in Apptha with extensions
- Features Available in X cart $ 1495 package
Pricing:
CS Cart:
- $ 1450- A Self Hosted Solution
- $ 3500- A Self Hosted Solution with more features
- Enterprise Package – Pricing is not mentioned on the website
Yokart:
- $ 250 – a hosted solution
- $ 999 – a Self-Hosted solution
- $ 1299 – a Self-Hosted solution with new features like product catalog, multilingual, & multi-currency.
- $ 2999 – A Self-hosted solution with Partial Custom Design option
- $ 5999 – A Self-hosted solution with Fully Custom Design & Pre Launch Marketing option.
Yokart provides free installation on all the packages.
Appatha:
- $ 799 – A marketplace solution
X-Cart:
- $ 1495 – A Self Hosted Solution
- $ 5995 – For enterprises with more features
Technical Support:
In the starting period of any startup, good technical support is very necessary. So, you need to hire an ecommerce company that has an active customer support team and additionally won’t charge you for support.
- YoKart provides 1 year free technical support. The technical support mediums are phone calls, email, Skype, & WhatsApp chat.
- Cs Cart provides free customer support for 90 days. After that, you’ll have to pay for technical support.
- X-Cart provides 1 year free technical support but that is in $ 5995 package. If you’ll buy any other package, you have to pay for technical support.
- Apptha provides 3 months free support. After that, you’ll have to pay for technical support.
Mobile Apps:
Nowadays many people like to buy products through mobile apps because mobile apps offer a more user-centric experience.
- Cs-Cart offers mobile apps for customer shopping but not for vendors and admin. Regarding the mobile apps price, it is $ 90 for one month without source code. In package of $ 3500 (Multivendor Plus) customer shopping mobile apps (Without source code) are included.
- Yokart offers mobile apps for customer and sellers. Regarding the price, it is $ 499 (one time price) for each app without source code. For with source code mobile apps, you have to contact YoKart team.
- X-Cart also offers mobile apps for customer shopping but not for sellers and buyers. The mobile apps price information is not written on their website.
- There is no information about Apptha mobile apps on their website.
Customizability and Scalability:
At the point of starting a new venture, it’s nearly impossible for anyone to predict when her business will outgrow the expectations. When in future, the orders will increase, and when you may want to expand your business to new regions. Such questions get answered only when you reach (or are close to) the expansion stage.
- Cs-Cart has the developers in many countries, so customization is easy in CS-Cart.
- YoKart is a fully customizable eCommerce platform. However, finding YoKart developers on the web is not easy. You have to contact YoKart team for any customization work.
- X-Cart is also a customizable platform and you can consult with X-Cart team for customization work.
- You can customize your marketplace built with Apptha. However, customization cost could be on the higher side.
Free Demo:
- Cs-Cart offers 15 days free use of its multivendor marketplace. You have to contact CS Cart team for that.
- YoKart doesn’t offer a free trial period but you can check the live demos easily (without contacting YoKart team) to get through the system.
- For free demo in X-Cart, you have to contact their team.
- There is no free demo option with Apptha.
Conclusion:
Depending on your requirements and budget, you can choose the best platform from the above solutions to start a multi-vendor online store like Amazon, Etsy, Flipkart. If you want me to compare any other multi-vendor eCommerce platform with the above solutions, please let me know in the comment section.
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