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magento or opencart for multiseller marketplace

by egytrade2013
16 replies
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Hi all, i am planning to start a multiseller multivendor marketplace website. Products in the website will be in the thousands range. I have read that magento is more capable for dealing with more complex startup marketplace than opencart. I have read about the difference between magento and opencart for my purpose. I think i have some novel ideas that will need some coding work. However, i have one main concern regarding deciding the more convenient software for adding a number of features in its code. I do not think there are there ready-made modules for my request. The question is which one, Magento or Open Cart, is more easy to play with its code. I have a feeling that it is opencart. However, the extra features that magento is providing are very attractive. Please share your opinion. Thanks
#magento #marketplace #multiseller #opencart
  • Profile picture of the author egytrade2013
    Ok, after reading the whole thread "http://www.warriorforum.com/building-ecommerce-sites-wholesale-drop-shipping/756333-do-not-use-magento-your-ecommerce-site.html"

    and reading how much is easy to customize the code of opencart. "OpenCart is built very cleanly and in a very minimalistic manner so making changes is easy for anyone familiar with PHP and the MVC pattern. "

    Taken into consideration that i will have to do some not trivial custom coding , i have DECIDED to go with OpenCart.

    I will test if my idea is valid commercially by using OC by building the website with the exact (no more ..no less) required features to market my idea, then if it shows potentiality, i would go and get the best work done for what ever it takes. ... This is my decision..

    Thanks .
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    • Profile picture of the author egytrade2013
      Now, i have another question
      To decrease the number of products that OpenCart has to handle, i am thinking to have a wordpress landing marketing page that sort out visitors and redirect them to departments. I wanted to assign each opencart to specific department. So, one for digital, one for cosmotics, one for books, one for software, etc.

      What are the challenges for such architecture and do you think it is worthy trying.
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  • Profile picture of the author javarog
    Why dont you use the multi - vendor extension for opencart
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    And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

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    • Profile picture of the author egytrade2013
      Yes, i am going to use it as i stated in my first post. However, i am expecting to have tens of thousands of products under many departmental categories. I am worry that opencart would not be able to handle in terms of speed/performance and administration

      That is why i came up with the idea of having an individual opencart for each department to divide up the load. I am not sure if it is a valid idea. However, i would like off course to still able to share customer, log-in, etc information among all daughter open-carts.

      It might be stupid idea or a good idea that has many challenges. I just want to know what are the associated challenges, other alternatives, how to circumvent this anticipated massive product listing associated problems.
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      • Profile picture of the author upakarti
        Think big then Magento is the option.
        As business perspective, Magento has rich features to support best ecommerce business operation. However, coding and programming will be the challenge for any customization.
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  • Profile picture of the author javarog
    If you really think that you are going to have Amazon sized site then there is two options, one would be Magento Enterprise and the other would be custom made site, either way its going to be a expensive build.
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    And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

    Abraham Lincoln

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  • Profile picture of the author egytrade2013
    @javarog, I have an idea that might go big or might fail. I am planning to test it on a niche first using opencart. Then, i will decide from there. I believe migration later, if needed, would be possible and manageable. My challenge now is how to define my niche. The idea is to limit the exposure of my idea during testing. I am thinking to select certain department to start with such as computers, bedding, toys, ...etc. I do not want to be spammed with massive product insertions. so i might limit the number of product listing based on the seller group. For example, free subscription can post 1-5 products, 10$/month can post 5-25 products, etc. these numbers only for the example.

    I am aware that it requires much more than a good idea to succeed. I am aware also that failure might come from many different angles regardless of the quality of the business model. I am trying now to define the anticipated challenges. However, i think opencart with some coding customization would be more than enough to test my idea. The decision was made. ( OpenCart + Multiseller Multivendor module/extension + some coding)
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  • Profile picture of the author javarog
    I wasnt trying to burst your bubble but trying to give you a reality check, now it sounds like you are on a good track to start smart with a plan that doesnt have that much of a financial pain up front. I wish you calm seas and good luck on your endeavor
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    And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.

    Abraham Lincoln

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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      I know one company that is using Magento and 2 years after they launched, they can't get their shipping algorithms to work right. I have yet to use the multi-vendor extension for Opencart but have heard good things.

      As for a landing page. I wonder if you are making things more complicated. Within the home page of your site, by clipping in the open cart widgets you should be able to do multiple categories on the home page.

      For example, instead of Featured Items, New Items, On Sale Items, you can have category A, Category B, Category C.

      Otherwise, at least the way I am reading how you wrote your post, you will have to do multiple open cart installations. HOMEPAGE.com > HOMEPAGE.COM/Store1 >HOMEPAGE>COM/Store2 etc. Did I read it wrong? And in this case I am not sure if you need the milt-vendor extension.
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      • Profile picture of the author egytrade2013
        Originally Posted by OnlineStoreHelp View Post

        I know one company that is using Magento and 2 years after they launched, they can't get their shipping algorithms to work right. I have yet to use the multi-vendor extension for Opencart but have heard good things.

        As for a landing page. I wonder if you are making things more complicated. Within the home page of your site, by clipping in the open cart widgets you should be able to do multiple categories on the home page.

        For example, instead of Featured Items, New Items, On Sale Items, you can have category A, Category B, Category C.

        Otherwise, at least the way I am reading how you wrote your post, you will have to do multiple open cart installations. HOMEPAGE.com > HOMEPAGE.COM/Store1 >HOMEPAGE>COM/Store2 etc. Did I read it wrong? And in this case I am not sure if you need the milt-vendor extension.
        Yea., i have a natural inclination to complicate things and i am trying to do my best to overcome this habit. I got your point regarding using OC homepage itself to function as a landing marketing page. I will discuss this with my programmer once i clarify all other aspects of my business model. Thanks for your suggestion.

        Also , i know my English is a bit confusing " my apology due to it is my second language". However, your understanding is correct. I am thinking to use multi installation of OC. I do not know if this technically sound or not. but this what i meant exactly. I will discuss also this point with my programmer and inquire how would the multiseller multivendor will work if we decide to go with the OC MULTI installation.

        I think i have a novel business model that need to be deeply studied from my side to make sure it is sound. However, if it has a potentiality, i will be between two worries.
        1- To select a small product category niche to be able to handle first and then once tested and proved working, i could extend.

        2- To start using all categories but select the number of sellers to each category, and then modify my rules later. Each has its own challenge.

        Honestly, i am still working on the whole picture. Still some points are vague in my head. I have till March to make sure i got everything clear and written in details.
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  • Profile picture of the author BacklinksPlus
    I do some magical things with opencart. Been using it for years. Hit me up if you need help
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  • Profile picture of the author phpg
    How exactly multiple installations of openCart simplify things? Unless they are distributed across multiple servers, they won't really increase performance, but if they sit on different servers, they will be much harder to admin.

    You'd better get more powerful server, use general optimization methods (faster web server e.g. nginx, php accelerator e.g. APC and so on), and use some openCart-specific optimizations (there are extensions for that, also it's default database structure is not optimized at all).

    And which multi-vendor extension are you going to use?

    OpenCart's own extension market on openCart.com is in fact multi-vendor shop, so you have real live example and proof-of-concept, that it can be done and work fine.
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  • Profile picture of the author Etoot
    Magento is the best ever option for making multiseller marketplaces.
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    Etoot - Social Shopping
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  • Profile picture of the author emidelicious
    I would definitely go with Magento, think about scalability point of view, in future you will need to expand and grow more functionality, thats where Magento is easy. Dont think about now, but for future.
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  • Profile picture of the author kates59
    Magento is one of the best platform for eCommerce business. You will find hundreds of extension that will help you in enhancing your site performance. I would suggest you select Magento
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  • Profile picture of the author Etoot
    Magento is the best option! I have personal experience.
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    Etoot - Social Shopping
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