COVID-19 has impacted thousands of companies and hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs. However, a sector of the business world that has been hit even harder is nonprofit and governmental organizations where exhibitions and grants are the main source of funds because exhibitions have been canceled due to the inability to have large gatherings.
At this point in time, many companies are just trying to stay alive rather than turn a profit. A lot of them are also trying to build or expand their online marketplace, if they haven’t already, since almost everyone is spending more time online since they have no where to go. There are many types of software that are emerging or have existed to help companies gain the traction that they need through their online marketplace and one of those is CS-Cart Multi-Vendor.
CS-Cart Multi-Vendor is a professional on-premise multi-vendor software that has helped build over 1,000 successful online marketplaces. During this pandemic, CS-Cart knew that companies would be suffering and wanted to give back to the community. So, instead of the original pricing of the Multi-Vendor feature at $1,450 and Multi-Vendor Plus at $3,500, CS-Cart has been supporting non-profit and governmental organizations by providing them with free licenses to their online marketplace solution.
They launched their support campaign in April 2020 and are giving NGOs and governmental organizations the opportunity to get the license until October 2020. As mentioned before, companies are moving towards online marketplaces because they can create a new source of funds for their brand. With CS-Cart’s Multi-Vendor license, nonprofits can launch marketplaces to help local artisans and small entrepreneurs move their sales online and survive. Additionally, governments can also use it to build marketplaces to support economic growth in the region.
Multi-Vendor has become the most popular solution for online malls in the world and users have rated it 4.7 out of 5 for good reason. It is perfectly suited for any kind of online marketplace, from an all-in-one shopping mall to a mix of a marketplace and a social network; it has the most feature-rich shopping cart platform; it has the richest documentation and video tutorials so companies can easily learn how to manage and configure their internet marketplace and impart their knowledge to their online shopping vendors. Not only does Multi-Vendor offer an online marketplace for desktops, they also offer a mobile app that can be fully synced with the existing online store.
As there are many parts that go into Multi-Vendor, there are key features for both admins and vendors. An admin is the head of a Multi-Vendor marketplace and they are the ones that control everything from vendors, orders, income, payouts, aesthetic, etc. They are essentially the manager of the entire online marketplace and they have the ability to add other admins and set privileges for them. Other features include; an advanced vendor payment system, a configurable vendor plan, multiples levels of administrative access, a flexible product approval system, an advanced order management system, and detailed statistics and reports. Vendors are also another important part of an online marketplace; they are the ones who sell on the platform. A Multi-Vendor marketplace can have an unlimited number of vendors and to become a vendor, candidates just need to fill in the application, get the admin’s approval, and start showcasing their products on a common storefront. Market vendors have their own mini-store with features that are common to any online store. Other features include; a separate vendor panel, 26 built-in translations, real-time and manual shipping calculations, comments and reviews, and vendor account balance, sales reports & statistics.
Since April, regarding non-profit and governmental organizations, over 75 have received free CS-Cart Multi-Vendor licenses. Some include the Makueni County government in Kenya that has launched a marketplace allowing regional farmers and traders to sell products directly to the market without a middleman, the Greet for Cause Foundation in Pakistan building a marketplace to revive micro-economic activities and save people from poverty, the Vector Group in New Zealand opening a marketplace to support MSME during and post-lockdown, and Yumbles, a multi store that offers hand-made food directly from top independent UK producers and each vendor is an indie food maker.
In order to get a free CS-Cart Multi-Vendor license, all nonprofits and government organizations need to do is fill out a form, tell CS-Cart about their nonprofit, give them their official website link, and attach scanned copies of the documents that confirm their nonprofit status. Regardless of whether it is an NGO or a company seeking to grow their online marketplace, the features are the same. They will also receive technical support 15 hours a day including Saturday and Sunday and each support engineer undergoes special training, so they know any question and will have always have a solution. With all these features and their effort to make the platform as easily accessible as possible, it is no question why CS-Cart is the best choice for any type of organization or company to create and develop their online marketplace.