Benefits of Highlighting Vendor Products in Your Marketplace

Creating an online marketplace means you need to make sure vendors’ products get noticed. It doesn’t matter if you are just starting out or running an established marketplace; highlighting certain products can give vendors the visibility they need to stand out in a crowded market.

In any marketplace, there are always thousands of products. However, not all of them will get the attention they deserve.

To help your sellers succeed and boost their sales, Dokan’s Product Advertising module allows vendors to highlight their products in a customizable, effective way.

In this blog, we’ll walk you through the benefits of vendor product highlighting, how the Dokan Product Advertising module makes this process easy, and how you can set it up for your marketplace.

So, let’s get started!

How Vendor Product Highlighting Benefits Your Marketplace and Vendors

Vendor product highlighting is a simple yet powerful tool that can have a significant impact on both your marketplace’s success and your vendors’ growth.

Here’s why it matters for any marketplace:

1. Increases Product Visibility
2. Drives More Sales for Vendors
3. Enhances the Customer Shopping Experience
4. Promotes Featured and Exclusive Products
5. Motivates Vendors to Improve Product Listings
6. Creates a Competitive Edge for Your Marketplace

Now, let’s describe them in detail one by one!

1. Increases Product Visibility

When products are highlighted, they stand out from the rest of the listings in your marketplace. By placing them in prominent locations, like the top of product lists, on special pages, or in dedicated advertisements, you ensure that these products catch the eye of potential buyers.

This increased visibility can be the difference between a product getting lost in the crowd and getting the attention it deserves.

• For vendors: A product that’s prominently displayed is far more likely to be seen and purchased. For example, featuring seasonal products or new arrivals can help generate excitement and interest right away.
• For the marketplace: Highlighted products create a dynamic shopping environment, encouraging customers to browse more, which could lead to higher average order values.

2. Drives More Sales for Vendors

Exposure drives sales. The more a product is seen, the more likely it is to sell. By showcasing certain products through highlighting, you allow them to reach more customers, which directly translates into higher sales.

• For vendors: They can promote specific products they want to sell more of, such as new arrivals, discounted items, or best-sellers, thereby increasing their chances of generating sales.
• For the marketplace: You’ll see more transactions overall, which benefits the entire platform. As vendors sell more, they are more likely to stay active, invest in their stores, and continue contributing to your marketplace’s success.

3. Enhances the Customer Shopping Experience

Product highlighting helps improve the shopping experience for your customers.

Instead of overwhelming them with hundreds or thousands of products to scroll through, featured products act as a curated selection that directs their attention to the best options. Customers don’t need to dig through endless pages — they can find top picks, best-sellers, or newly launched products instantly.

• For vendors: Being featured in a way that catches the eye of customers helps increase trust. Customers are more likely to buy from featured listings because they feel they are being shown the best options.
• For the marketplace: It improves customer satisfaction and retention by making the shopping process smoother and more enjoyable.

4. Promotes Featured and Exclusive Products

Highlighting products isn’t just about putting popular items in the spotlight; it also provides vendors with the opportunity to showcase exclusive or limited-edition products.

Vendors can feature seasonal items, special promotions, or any product they want to bring attention to helping them drive sales during important sales periods or special promotions.

• For vendors: It allows them to manage which products are seen first, creating a way to boost high-margin items or special promotions. Vendors can even advertise products that are unique to their store, giving them a competitive edge over other sellers.
• For the marketplace: Featuring special or exclusive products creates a sense of urgency for customers, driving them to make quicker decisions. This can lead to faster sales and more buzz around your platform.

5. Motivates Vendors to Improve Product Listings

Vendors know that in order to get their products highlighted, they need to put in extra effort to make those products stand out.

This might include improving their product images, writing better descriptions, or offering competitive pricing. This focus on improving product quality and marketing ultimately raises the overall standards of the marketplace.

• For vendors: The chance to have their products highlighted pushes them to ensure that their listings are well-optimized, making them more likely to attract buyers. Over time, this results in higher-quality product offerings across the marketplace.
• For the marketplace: As more vendors improve their listings to get their products featured, your platform’s reputation for quality products grows. This can also lead to better customer reviews and increased word-of-mouth referrals.

6. Creates a Competitive Edge for Your Marketplace

Not every marketplace offers a feature to highlight vendor products, and by providing this opportunity, you create a unique selling point (USP) for your platform.

Vendors are more likely to join a marketplace that offers this level of exposure, especially if they want to get their best products in front of more potential buyers.

• For vendors: Having access to a product highlighting feature gives vendors the ability to compete effectively on a marketplace. They can market their best items, creating a stronger presence in the marketplace.
• For the marketplace: A marketplace that offers opportunities for vendors to get more exposure will stand out from competitors. By providing exclusive tools like product advertising, you create more value for your sellers and attract a higher volume of high-quality vendors.

How Dokan’s Product Advertising Module Enhances Vendor Product Highlighting

Dokan’s Product Advertising module is specifically designed to make product highlighting seamless for both marketplace admins and vendors.

It offers a wide range of customizable features that allow vendors to get their products in front of more customers and increase their chances of making sales.

1. Easy to Activate and Set Up

The process of setting up the product advertising feature is simple and quick. As an admin, all you need to do is:

• Enable the Product Advertising Module: Navigate to WP-Admin → Dokan → Modules and activate the feature.
• Configure the Settings: Go to Dokan → Settings → Product Advertising and choose how you want to manage advertising (e.g., number of slots available, expiration periods, costs, etc.).

This simple setup helps get the advertising system running with minimal effort, ensuring both you and your vendors can begin highlighting products with ease.

2. Vendor-Friendly Advertising Options

Vendors can choose to feature their products by either purchasing advertising space directly or as part of their subscription.

• By Admin: If the admin decides to feature a product, the cost option won’t apply. The admin has full control over which products are highlighted.
• By Vendors: If the admin allows vendors to purchase advertising, they can do so directly from the product listing or product edit page. This means vendors can easily advertise their products without additional steps.

3. Customizable Advertisement Settings

The advertisement settings in the Dokan Product Advertising module provide a high level of customization:

• Advertisement Slots: You can set how many products can be advertised at a time, with the option to have unlimited slots.
• Expiration Period: You can set a time limit for how long the advertisement will be active, creating urgency and driving more immediate sales.
• Advertisement Costs: Admins can set a fee per advertisement or offer free advertising depending on the platform’s strategy.
• Display on Top: Advertised products will appear at the top of category pages, product listings, and even vendor stores to ensure maximum visibility.
• Featured Product Status: Once a product is advertised, it will be automatically marked as featured, drawing more attention from customers.

4. Real-Time Performance Tracking

The module allows admins to track the performance of featured products in real time. You can easily view key metrics like:

• Product Views: See how many customers have viewed the advertised product.
• Ad Expiry: Track when advertisements will expire, allowing you to manage ad renewals effectively.
• Category and Tags: Track which types of products are getting more traction through advertising, helping you refine your promotional strategies.

This level of real-time insight makes it easy for marketplace owners to stay on top of what’s working and adjust their advertising strategies.

5. Easy Vendor Subscription for Advertising

For marketplace owners who want to provide an added perk for premium vendors, the module allows vendors to advertise for free under certain subscription plans.

Admins can enable the “Enable Advertisement in Subscription” feature, allowing vendors to benefit from product advertising as part of their subscription pack, without needing to pay extra.

• Subscription Packages: The subscription settings let vendors know how many products they can advertise based on their plan, simplifying the process and providing more value for paid subscriptions.

6. Manage and Remove Advertisements

Admins have full control over deleting or expiring advertisements at any time. Whether it’s to remove outdated promotions or ensure fairness, this feature provides flexibility in managing your marketplace’s advertising ecosystem.

• Admin Control: You can manually expire or delete any advertisement directly from the Dokan Advertising section.

With these features, Dokan’s Product Advertising module makes it easy for both admins and vendors to highlight products and boost visibility in a way that benefits both parties.

Vendors get more sales opportunities, and admins can manage product visibility more effectively. It’s a win-win!

Creating a Fair and Balanced Product Highlighting System

A key aspect of using the Product Advertising module in Dokan is to ensure that all vendors have a fair opportunity to have their products highlighted.

It’s important to avoid favoritism and ensure that the spotlight is distributed evenly, so vendors feel they’re given equal chances to succeed. Here’s how you can create a balanced and fair product highlighting system for your marketplace:

Ensuring Fair Exposure

To prevent some products from being highlighted constantly, while others are left behind, it’s crucial to establish a rotation system. By rotating advertised products, you ensure that every vendor has the chance to feature their products.

• How to Do It:
  • Set a limit for how long each product can be featured.
  • Use a randomization method to choose which products will be highlighted from the pool of eligible listings.
  • You can also feature new products regularly so that fresh listings get exposure too.
• Why It’s Important:
  • A fair and transparent rotation system ensures that no vendor is left out, fostering a sense of community within your marketplace.
  • It also encourages vendors to refresh their product listings frequently, improving the overall quality of the marketplace.

Balancing Organic vs. Paid Features

There’s a distinction between organic product highlighting (based on product performance, reviews, or popularity) and paid advertising (where vendors pay for exposure). Both options have their pros and cons, and a balanced approach is key to a successful product highlighting system.

• Paid Features:
  • Pros: Vendors can pay to get immediate visibility for their products. This can be especially useful for new products, seasonal promotions, or high-margin items that need quick attention.
  • Cons: Paid exposure can skew visibility toward vendors with more money to spend. If overused, it could also lead to a less engaging shopping experience for customers who feel bombarded by ads.
• Organic Features:
  • Pros: Products are featured based on performance metrics like customer reviews, sales numbers, or inventory levels. This method highlights high-quality products and improves customer trust in your platform.
  • Cons: It can take time for products to gain traction organically, and some vendors might feel they are not getting enough exposure unless they pay.
• How to Use Both Effectively:
  • Implement a hybrid system where organic highlighting is prioritized, but paid promotions are available for vendors who want to boost their visibility. This ensures that all vendors have a fair chance to be noticed while still offering opportunities for those who are willing to invest.
  • Consider allowing seasonal paid ads during peak shopping times like holidays, and rely on organic features during off-peak times.

Using Performance-Based Features

One of the best ways to feature products in a balanced and unbiased way is by using performance-based metrics such as sales, reviews, and customer ratings. This allows the system to automatically highlight products that are performing well in the marketplace.

• How to Implement Performance-Based Features:
  • Use product ratings and reviews as criteria for highlighting top-rated items.
  • Sales volume can also be a good indicator of which products should be featured. Products with more sales or high engagement should receive more exposure.
  • Implement a popularity ranking based on the number of views or purchases within a given timeframe. This helps bring attention to products that are generating buzz or interest.
• Why It Works:
  • Performance-based highlighting not only helps vendors with high-quality products gain exposure, but it also builds trust among customers, as they are more likely to engage with products that have already been rated or reviewed positively.
  • It encourages vendors to improve their product quality and focus on customer satisfaction, as it directly impacts their visibility on the platform.

Empowering Vendors and Boosting Marketplace Success

Adding a fair and balanced product highlighting system in your marketplace can elevate the shopping experience, increase sales, and foster a healthy environment for both vendors and customers.

By offering equal exposure to all vendors, balancing organic and paid features, and using performance-based metrics, you create a dynamic platform where the best products shine based on value, not just investment.

Dokan’s Product Advertising module simplifies this process, allowing you to manage product visibility with ease. Whether you’re highlighting top performers, giving vendors a platform to showcase new products, or offering paid advertising opportunities, you’re setting up your marketplace for success.

So, let’s get started! Empower your vendors, engage your customers, and create a more profitable marketplace with the Product Advertising module today. Ready to feature your products in style?