Last Updated: 15th January, 2024
The global eCommerce market generated US $ 16.6 T in 2022 with around 24 million eCommerce websites operational worldwide. According to Statista, user penetration, which is currently at 57.3%, is predicted to reach 66.2% by 2027
Effectively, this means that in just four years, two-thirds of the global population can be accessed by e-retail channels.
Regardless of these numbers, the exciting opportunities presented by the sector are evident with a number of eCommerce startups rising to successful businesses in a short span of time. Lazada, Warby Parker to name a few.
The wheels behind this eCommerce juggernaut are the progression of the tech space and the whole ecosystem that supports the industry. Today, businesses can get started with their own eCommerce marketplace platform in a matter of weeks.
WhatÔÇÖs more, with a no-code marketplace builder, businesses need no coding knowledge, and can get started without having to write a single line of code!
In this blog, letÔÇÖs learn all about the no-code marketplace-building platform.
Legacy eCommerce businesses like Amazon, Alibaba, and others have established their success around providing customer-centric experiences. Moreover, sellers get result-oriented features while the marketplace business itself manages the eCommerce backend operations with purpose-built functionalities.
In doing so, they have made a blueprint.
A blueprint that sets a vision of how eCommerce is conducted.
Accordingly, buyers have their expectations set about online retail, and sellers have ambitions for predictable online channels to reach new customers liaised by the platform.
This blueprint has been moulded into turnkey software like YoKart, Mirakl, Sharetribe, Growcer, and others.
These turnkey software are ready-made no-code solutions that allow entrepreneurs to get started with their own eCommerce marketplace businesses without having to code their marketplace from scratch.
In other words, these turnkey software facilitate ease – and offer aspiring entrepreneurs a simplistic approach to building marketplaces like Amazon, Alibaba, or other popular platforms.
And with the traditional process of hiring development teams lacking universal application and ergo, falls beyond the scope in multiple instances.
No-code marketplace builders have well-defined applications in the contemporary eCommerce space ÔÇò with distinct benefits.
No-code marketplace builders have opened the door for entrepreneurs considering starting an eCommerce business with ease. LetÔÇÖs understand the advantage presented by these
In the dynamic, fast-paced, and ever-evolving eCommerce space, time is of the essence.
Here, an opportunity delayed is an opportunity lost.
Coding a marketplace from scratch will involve multiple discussions with the development team and then a tedious coding process – leading to precious time being used up. With this approach, by the time you launch a marketplace, your initial marketplace survey runs the risk of losing its value.
Moreover, in case you are outsourcing development services, task prioritization will be out of your control, adding another variable, and leading to unpredictable timelines.
On the contrary, No-code marketplace builders allow one to launch an eCommerce business with faster GTM times. The solutions need just to be installed on the servers, and voila, you are good to go.
No Code marketplace builders significantly cut down on the need for resources. While between them, cost variations are considerable. Still, collectively, these undercut manual development by a sizable margin.
With these solutions, you stand to get a higher ROI for your investment. An eCommerce marketplace business entails multiple investment considerations, and the marketplace platform is just part of it. For instance, the development of infrastructure, management/maintenance teams, marketing costs, and others.
Saving your investment capital in the platform development with the help of no-code solutions helps you to allocate the funds available to you with precise prudence.
Coined by ÔÇ£The Lean Startup” author, Eric Ries, a Minimum Viable Product allows startups to gain crucial feedback – directly from early adopters or investors before a big bang launch. Theoretically, MVP is the version of your product with features based on market assumptions. Via this approach, you validate the assumptions in a stepwise process, rather than including them all at once.
In essence, the MVP approach advises startups to test the waters before going full throttle with their business idea. The idea is to wisely use the investment resources at hand with the startup.
While, Minimum Viable Product sounds like a lesser product, but by no means it is incomplete. It is still advisable to launch an MVP with a fully functional product, albeit with the scope of future additions – both in terms of the solutions and the resources available with you.
If you choose the legacy method of developing the marketplace from scratch, you already have committed a major share of the investment to the project. Moreover, pivot points will be harder to identify.
In contrast, a no-code marketplace builder provides startups with a contemporary marketplace that has multiple essential features. And, as mentioned above, at a significantly lesser cost.
Moreover, customizable No-Code marketplace builders give the opportunity to add further features, as identified after the eCommerce marketplace has been launched. The businesses can start with the marketplace solution and customize as further need is identified.
Suggested Read: Understanding pain points in eCommerce
Continuing from the above-mentioned advantage of the MVP approach. Businesses will find the need for customizations and maintenance throughout their eCommerce lifecycle. A no-code marketplace builder makes this otherwise tedious process – straightforward and easier.
Moreover, popular No-Code marketplace builders are developed for universal applicability and get continuously upgraded to include the latest in eCommerce. So, you always get the latest in features with these solutions.
No-Code marketplace builders come in multiple variations. The ideal fit for your business will depend upon the requirements. Some important variables that you need to consider, are discussed below.
Variable: | Option: 1 | Option: 2 |
Hosting Services | Self-Hosted: Solutions that can be hosted over any preferred hosting service. | Hosted: Solutions that are cloud hosted. SaaS eCommerce software falls under this. |
Availability | Readymade: Solutions that are built to provide businesses with an eCommerce marketplace with essential eCommerce features. In comparison, the need for customization is lower. | Open Source: Solutions that are offered as a free download. Typically, the need for customization is higher. So these are also referred to as low-code solutions. |
Marketplace support | Standalone Marketplace Solutions: No-Code marketplace builders that can launch a marketplace out-of-the-box. These do not require any Plugins. | Plugin-based: eCommerce store solutions that need third-party Plugins to launch an online marketplace. |
Business Model Supported | Niche-ready: Solutions that are purpose-built for specific niches. | General: Support all business models. But the scope of customization will be there for niche eCommerce businesses. |
Pricing | One-Time (License ownership) charges: No-Code Platform solutions also come with one-time payment options. | Recurring charges: No-Code marketplace solutions may levy recurring subscription fee, transactional charges, and/or a portion of gross sales on the platform. |
Typically, popular No Code marketplace builders are offered in a combination of any of the above. Moreover, the same parent company can offer different solutions, catering to varying requirements.
Suggested Read: A comparison of Saas-based and self-hosted solutions.
The top No Code marketplace builders are discussed below:
YoKart is a leading No-Code marketplace builder that has been used by 5000+ businesses globally – to power their eCommerce marketplace. These include successful businesses of all sizes in 70+ countries.
YoKart is a highly-rated self-hosted readymade marketplace solution that requires no coding from business owners – before or after the installation. The versatile solution has been built from the ground up to maximize ease and facilitate simplicity of starting (and scaling) an online eCommerce business in the current competitive eCommerce market.
Result-oriented essential eCommerce features for all platform participants are offered pre-built in the software. Furthermore, the software gets regularly updated with the latest features to give businesses a competitive edge. Yo!Kart can streamline workflows to make eCommerce operations easier and faster to manage. Furthermore, fluid and attractive UI, faster & secure performance, and other enhancements give business owners an edge in the competitive space.
In the current eCommerce industry scenario, multiple third-party service providers allow marketplace businesses to offer backend services to their users. For instance, Shipstation, a shipping fulfillment company allows businesses to outsource shipping to them.
To streamline such operations, YoKart offers pre-integrated APIs with the system. Apart from shipping, operations like tax, accounting, marketing, and others – can be handled conveniently with the pre-integrated APIs. Additionally, there are 23+ payment gateways integrated out of the box.
Key Features of YoKart
YoKart Pricing
YoKart is available for a lifetime of use by acquiring its License. Furthermore, the License itself is a part of bundled packages, that are available with a one-time payment, with no charges/fees henceforth. These also include complete source code ownership and essential add-ons like upto 1 year of free technical support*, digital marketing services*, free installation, and more.
Currently, the tiered pricing structure starts from $1249 for GoQuick and goes up to for GoCustom Prime package. Explore pricing in detail here.
The B2B niche in eCommerce has shown immense potential in recent times. According to Statista, the niche is projected to account for 24% of all global eCommerce sales.
Significantly, B2B interactions differ from those in the B2C ecosystem, highlighted by an emphasis on ROI, logic-driven decisions, long-term considerations, flexibility, and more. Hence the need for a specialized B2B ecommerce platform.
YoKart B2B is a Niche marketplace builder for an eCommerce platform that offers purpose-built functionalities that cater exclusively to a B2B user base. It has been developed with years of accumulated expertise in the B2B niche – developing platforms that facilitate seamless online B2B trade. These learnings have been infused into a turnkey No Code marketplace builder created exclusively for this niche.
Furthermore, apart from B2B-specific requirements, YoKart B2B also covers essential eCommerce requirements. It offers an intuitive and attractive UI for the customers, nifty features for sellers to sell and establish their brands, and an efficient API-driven ecosystem for the Admin to seamlessly manage their marketplace business.
YoKart B2B is a self-hosted, readymade, and standalone solution that offers long-term viability to business owners with a scalable system that is tested to withstand high-traffic inflows and multiple product additions with sustained performance.
This high-performing solution also meets global security compliance requirements. It offers versatility with extensively customizable underpinnings that allow businesses to tailor their platform to meet any specific requirements if needed.
Key Features of YoKart B2B
YoKart B2B Pricing
There are no hidden costs as the Yo!Kart B2B has a competitive pricing package of $1,499 along with a lifetime license. Also part of the package is complete source code ownership and add-ons like up to 1 year of free technical support, digital marketing services, free installation, and more.
Sharetribe is SaaS based marketplace solution. It is hosted on the cloud, providing aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to start their own businesses by availing of their subscription plans – Sharetribe Go and Sharetribe Flex.
Sharetribe comes with responsive web apps. With the more cost-effective plan – Sharetribe Go, one can build a marketplace within minutes, albeit with some limitations. Some essential eCommerce features like inventory management, integrations, mobile apps, and more are not part of this package.
Sharetribe Go offers a user-friendly experience. Navigation is easy and intuitive, product information is well laid out. Sellers on the platform can create their own user profiles, list their products, and even interact with one another.
Go also offers customizable filtering and categorization tools to allow individuals and businesses to search with ease. There is also a filtered search.
For more requirements, some coding will be done on the platform. For such requirements, Sharetribe Flex will be the better choice of the two platforms. It will allow business owners to personalize the platform, add integrations, and get access to the complete feature set Sharetribe has to offer.
Key Features of Sharetribe
Sharetribe pricing
Tiered pricing for Sharetribe starts with Hobby at $99/month and goes upto $299/month for scale.
For Sharetribe Flex, the recurring charges are calculated as a sum of a basic $299/mo plus a commission on the transactional volume of your platform.
Mirakl is an online marketplace builder best suited for large enterprises. It is cloud hosted and offered as SaaS. It has been built to provide high performance and various automation that includes seller onboarding, integrating catalogs from third-party vendors, seller invoicing, and more.
The Mirakl system is secure and scalable. It offers a specialized platform that automates operations – helping enterprise marketplaces to scale. Furthermore, an ecosystem of third-party integrations helps the Admin manage eCommerce operations. Additionally, as in the case of YoKart, these pre-integrations further help in launching the marketplace platform faster.
Furthermore, Mirakl allows marketplace owners to dropship and onboard sellers at the same time. Although the same can be achieved in other platforms, it is more streamlined in Mirakl. The marketplace also allows owners to create a network of sellers by integrating API of their online stores with the platform.
Key features of Mirakl
Mirakl pricing
Mirakl pricing is based on the gross sales on the Mirakl-powered marketplace platform.
Growcer is a niche-ready, specialized No-Code marketplace builder that has distinct features allowing entrepreneurs to start a hyperlocal marketplace, like an online supermarket. In that sense, It is a unique solution in this list.
A hyperlocal marketplace is an eCommerce business website that limits the sales of the business within a well-defined geographical region. By following a hyperlocal business strategy, businesses can host products on the platform that are viable for short-distance sales. Some reasons for following this business model could be lower shelf life, logistical impediments, faster consumer requirement cycles, and/or more.
Apart from online grocery, the hyperlocal business model opens up opportunities for sub-niches such as an e-pharmacy, liquor, dairy products, pet food, or a marketplace for similar products.
Furthermore, Growcer adds to the value proposition by being a self-hosted and readymade solution. An extensively customizable system and high scalability also add to the flexibility.
Key Features Of Growcer
Growcer Pricing
Growcer is self-hosted and License based. It is available in four uniquely curated priced packages. Prices for all are available with RFQ.
Yo!Rent is another unique self-hosted eCommerce solution for a specific industry. It is a readymade software that can power rental eCommerce businesses with pre-built purpose-driven features. The leading software has been used in over 70 countries around the world, in a promising niche market.
The industry is booming in the wake of a shift in consumer preference toward renting. According to a study by the JLL group, 70% of individuals, who are born after 1981, (and who participated in the survey), are more inclined towards renting than buying. Based on this trend, rental marketplace startups are mushrooming all over the world.
Moreover, while rental niches like heavy equipment rentals are more viable via sharing marketplaces, many other niches like a fashion rental marketplace, car rental marketplace open up further newer opportunities
Yo!Rent is flexible and has a holistic feature list that allows a renting marketplace to work smoothly. Moreover, Yo!Rent offers tailored solutions for rental niches like equipment rental, vehicle rental, dress rental, and multicategory rental.
Yo!Rent is offered with multiple pre-integrated business APIs and 20+ secure payment gateways.
Key Features of Yo!Rent
Yo!Rent Pricing
The prices for these are available with a quote. The license for Yo!Rent is available with a one-time payment with no recurring or hidden charges. This License delivers rights for a lifetime of use. These also include complete source code ownership.
CS-Cart is another no-code marketplace builder used to power many marketplace platforms. It has many eCommerce features included with the system. It has both SaaS-based and self-hosted solutions. The self-hosted plans give entrepreneurs the choice of choosing hosting providers themselves.
Many eCommerce features such as vendor payout system, advanced order management system, multiple storefronts, and more are part of the solution. These features extend the benefit of No-Code marketplaces, where they can get started with the marketplace without the need for any coding.
Furthermore, CS-Cart offers an app store where several paid add-ons like Facebook Conversion API, Mailchimp, Live currency converter, and others are offered.
CS-Cart is customizable, although, unlike YoKart, it is not supported by an in-house team for customization. For any need of customization, you will have to avail of third-party certified customization services for this solution.
Key features of CS-Cart
CS-Cart Pricing
CS-Cart follows a complex pricing structure. It offers a cloud-hosted solution that follows a tiered pricing structure ranging from $75/mo to $235/mo. Also on offer is on-premises software that is available for $1,250/year to unlimited lifetime access for $12,500.
No Code marketplace software has been used by businesses of all sizes to build contemporary marketplaces. Fortune 500 companies such as Ford Motor co, Coca-Cola, P&G, and many others have adopted a low code or no code development approach for their websites. One widely adopted software is Yo!Kart that has helped numerous businesses establish their multivendor eCommerce marketplace. Some notable examples of successful marketplaces powered by Yo!Kart worldwide are as below:
A wholesale marketplace for distributors and manufacturers in the Americas
A Drug delivery marketplace platform in the Africas.
A marketplace to connect bikers in the United Arab Emirates
A hardware products marketplace in France
With the flourishing eCommerce sector knocking on the doors of opportunity, aspiring entrepreneurs need to be both sure-footed and fleet-footed.
No-Code marketplace builders are literally solutions that can be used as-is.
Based on the blueprint set by established players in the market, they offer entrepreneurs a contemporary and predictable platform – with faster timelines, and at a fraction of the cost.
Top No-Code solutions, including the ones we have discussed in this article (but not limited to this list), offer rich functionalities, with consideration for all platform participants.
The less resource-intensive advantage allows entrepreneurs to build, launch, validate, and scale with complete control.
Q1.: How do I build a marketplace without any coding expertise?
Ans: Developing a marketplace without any coding expertise is feasible by leveraging a user-friendly no-code marketplace builder like Yo!Kart, Shopify, WooCommerce, and more. These solutions offer ready-to-use templates and plugins for your marketplace setup and have in-built eCommerce capabilities. Moreover, you can incorporate multiple payment gateways, manage inventory, and customize features without coding. Besides, you can get in touch with the experts to seek support in building a no-code marketplace tailored precisely to your needs.
Q2. How much does it cost to build a no-code marketplace?
Ans: Building a no-code marketplace can vary in terms of cost on specific needs but leveraging a no-code marketplace builder significantly reduces expenses. It is equipped with all the required elements like payment integration choices, ready-to-use templates, and more. Furthermore, using a no-code marketplace builder like YoKart reduces development time, ensures scalability, and minimizes coding expertise requirements, saving time and resources.