Worried about huge costs involved in setting up an ecommerce marketplace? Thanks to technology, it has brought the much-needed innovation in the ecommerce ecosystem that greatly reduced the cost required to set up an online multi-vendor marketplace.
One such cost-effective marketplace solution is YoKart, which gives the perfect opportunity to aspiring entrepreneurs to start an ecommerce marketplace swiftly. I decided to review and understand every nook and corner of this ecommerce platform to help you make an educated decision before choosing a platform to build your online marketplace. Let us begin with the review of YoKart to see the “what’s” and “why’s” of this platform.
Table of Contents
YoKart Review: Overview
YoKart is a self-hosted and license based marketplace solution. The platform is replete with in-built features that come at a very economical price. YoKart has three layers of security system, which makes it to the enterprise-level platform. It also offers SSL encryption, which encrypts all the data transmitted to and from the server.
As written at YoKart’s website, the platform offers 12-month free technical support (no 3rd-party customization is done). On reading the online reviews at Capterra, Software Advice, & other sites, I found that people are satisfied with the features and Yokart’s before & after-sales service.
I explored YoKart by considering many use cases and found that it is suitable for SMBs as well as large enterprises. The advantage with YoKart is that scaling is not a problem, which enables you to start small and grow your startup in a big firm as your business evolves.
UX/UI Design
In terms of UX & UI, YoKart stands high among all the multi-vendor ecommerce platforms. The interface provided makes it easier for the owner of the store and vendors to keep track of their respective activities. There are four interfaces, which can also be used and observed in the demo of YoKart. The four interfaces are as follows:
- Frontend
- Buyer view
- Admin view
- Vendors view
All four views share the same design scheme but differ in logic and functioning. The entire platform, being responsive in nature doesn’t hamper the UX and provides a seamless experience across all screen sizes. For a higher conversion rate, the platform provides easy and streamline checkout. It enables consumers to pay in the currency of their choice as the platform comes with 15 in-built payment gateways and cash on the delivery module. Also, any other payment gateway can be integrated into the system.
For a better experience of buyers & sellers, YoKart offers both Android and IOS apps to them.
Pricing & Business Model
The business model of YoKart is license based means you have to pay once and the system will be forever yours. Unlike Saas based solutions, you don’t have to pay monthly fees or transaction fees per product sale.
There are 3 self-hosted plans, which start at $1299 (Go Quick), $3999 (Go Custom Lite), & $6999 (Go Custom)
Except for design, features are the same in all the packages. In Go quick, you will get default design, whereas in Go Custom lite & Go Custom, you will get a custom design.
Another great reason for choosing Yokart platform is that it offers free Digital Marketing Consultation Services for 6 months in all its self-hosted plans.
One thing that I found very interesting in their pricing section is “Flexible Payments Terms” which means the marketplace owner has the flexibility to make payments in the milestones.
Admin and Vendor Friendly Features
All the vendors can see detailed reports about the products being sold and take necessary actions to implement a better business strategy. The platform offers product catalog and bulk import/export features for easy product uploads without any coding.
Vendors or sellers can easily update product names, descriptions, SKU, quantity, model, images, etc. in a few clicks. The platform offers a smart in-built product review management system to collect and manage buyer reviews.
In addition, YoKart constantly undergoes improvements. In its latest version, Yokart claims that the platform can handle up to 500k products.
As a marketplace owner, you can earn revenue through commissions, subscriptions, and advertisements. You can easily manage seller subscription packages from the backend & can swiftly check sales summary, users, traffic, & revenue reports in the intuitive admin dashboard.
Helpful Features for Marketing
YoKart comes with many marketing aids to make lives easier for a marketplace owner & sellers. 91% of buyers prefer to revisit a website that offers discount coupons. With YoKart, you can manage discounts easily by going under CMS management followed by selecting discount coupons.
Smart product recommendation is another highlighted feature in the platform wherein customers can see a list of the recommended product. This list is determined on the basis of products that are most viewed, added to the shopping cart, marked favorite, added to wish list, etc. The platform is in-rich with SEO optimization features. In addition, there are marketing features in the system like Affiliate management, blogging, product share and earn, etc.
In-Built Integrations with Third-Party Tools:
Another important aspect to look into an ecommerce platform is, how easily it can be integrated with third-party tools & apps. While reviewing YoKart, I found it comes with many in-built third-party integrations tools, for example, Google Analytics, Mail Chimp, Google Maps, Shipstation, Stripe, etc.
Conclusion:
What are the pros of YoKart?
- Amazing UX/UI design and experience
- Comes with Mobile apps, In-built payment gateways, & third-party integrations
- Lifetime license, zero transaction charges
- Easy product management and can handle up to 500k products
- Fully customizable and flexible solution
- Marketing Aids to make life easier of a marketplace owner & sellers
What are the cons of YoKart?
While reviewing Yokart, I didn’t find below features and benefits:
- No free themes
- No addons yet
- No to social commerce
Overall, YoKart is an ultimate platform to start B2B or B2C multi-vendor marketplace. The platform provides all the important features at an economical price.
Comparing its features with other multi-vendor marketplace platforms like CS-Cart, YoKart can easily be qualified as the most user-friendly and customizable ecommerce platform. Since it offers easy scalability and intuitive user experience, YoKart can be considered as the right platform for launching an ecommerce marketplace.
