How to Convert an Event Management Website Into a Multi-Vendor Marketplace
Ashik Sarker
20 minutes read 
What’s the easiest way to make money from an event website? Just a simple conversion!
Well, you can convert your event website to a multi-vendor event management marketplace and get a sales commission for each event. If you want to know how to do it, then you have the right blog. In this blog, we will cover how to convert an event management website into a multi-vendor marketplace easily.
Let’s dive into it.
What is an Event Management Website?
An event management website refers to a functional website that presents event-related information such as event details, tickets, speakers, sponsors, dates, venues, etc. So, users can know the information as well as confirm their participation.
An event website may have multiple pages for multiple pieces of information, like a speaker list, attendee list, schedule, and so on. If the events are multiple days or repeated, then they can have recurring ticketing features.
What is a Multi-Vendor Marketplace?
A multi-vendor marketplace is a specialized marketplace that allows users, as vendors, to sign up and manage a store on the same website. This means that under a single website, users can manage their own individual shops, while customers of the website will have access to all the stores.
For example, Amazon is one of the best multi-vendor marketplace platforms. You can sign up and start selling products on the site. Another ideal example is the Eventbrite events marketplace. It’s a multi-vendor event marketplace. You can sign up and manage your events there.
A multi-vendor website is a modern idea that brings new ways of shopping. Users get a number of products together and shop smoothly. Vendors can make a new store without managing technical parts. And the site owner can manage the hassle and make a profit for each sale.
Why is the multi-vendor Event Marketplace Important?
The multi-vendor event marketplace is important for its nature. It brings a lot of advances, such as easy management, better traffic, and, most importantly, the option to make a marginal profit. Here are the list of benefits you can get if you consider leveraging the power of multi-vendor event marketplace-
- Easy Management: For the vendor, nothing technical is required to add a new event. It allows users to think more about their events and participants. For example, you can create a conference marketplace. People who have upcoming conferences and meetups can submit the conference details with the ticket.
- More Events, More Traffic, More Revenue: When you are creating a multi-vendor event website, you are allowing your community members to create and manage their events on your website. Whenever someone is promoting their event, they are promoting your site too. Ultimately, it increases your site’s traffic.
- Reduce Average Cost: No one needs to create a whole new website for each event. Users can get full event management features as a vendor and submit the information with some simple steps. Eventually, it will reduce the operational costs for the event organizers.
How to Convert an Event Management Website in to a Multi-Vendor Marketplace
In order to convert event management websites to a multi-vendor event marketplace, you will need to follow five simple steps. Starting with installing plugins, then adding vendors, submitting events, and managing the marketplace. We assume you already know how to build a basic event website.
(01) Install Required Plugin:
For the multi-vendor Event Marketplace, you will need three main plugins. WooCommerce, Dokan, and Eventin.
- WooCommerce: It’s a WordPress eCommerce plugin and is needed to enable selling features on any WordPress website. Moreover, Dokan multi-vendor fully depends on WooCommerce, while Eventin is partially dependent on it.
- Dokan: It’s a popular multi-vendor WooCommerce plugin that powers 60,000+ multi-vendor websites around the globe.
- Eventin: It is a popular event management plugin developed by Arraytics. The plugin is powering up 10,000+ event websites at this moment with 4.7 average ratings.
As Eventin is our own plugin, let’s share some more information about this amazing marketplace event manager plugin. It offers anything and everything that you need to organize an event. Here are the key features:
- multi-vendor Event Marketplace
- Unlimited Single or Multiple Events
- Simple Schedule Management
- Maintain Recurring Events
- Unique and Segmented QR Code
- Showcase Speakers/Organizers
- Multi-tier Ticket Pricing
- Unique Attendee Management
- Event Management Website Template
- Event Calendar View
- Detailed Analytics Report
- Event Countdown Timer
Eventin brings a multi-vendor event marketplace feature. The most unique features—the first of its kind! For this solution, we integrated with Dokan multi-vendor at Eventin.
Not only that, Eventin offers a range of more lucrative features with its PRO version. By clicking on the button below, you can check out what other unique things Eventin PRO can offer.
(02) Add Event Vendor on the Marketplace
Once you install the plugin, you are not ready to add vendors to the site. As it will be an event multi-vendor marketplace, you will need to add an event vendor. From the dashboard, you can add vendors easily.
So, each vendor will have a dedicated profile page along with the submitted event information. They can update and delete the existing events from their panel. They can also manage the ticketing for each submitted event.
(03) Submit Event from the Vendor’s Dashboard
In the last step, the vendor you have added will be able to access the accounts and start submitting the events. To enrich the marketplace, vendors need to submit events.
(04) Manage Event Multi-Vendor Marketplace
Your event multi-vendor marketplace is set to go. It’s ready to operate, and now you can set the revenue ratio, cost and profit, vendor management, and so on. Don’t forget to start marketing in order to make more sales.
Important Note: If you do not have a website but want to build a multi-vendor event marketplace, then you can still follow the above steps. The same steps are enough to build an event marketplace from the scratch.
Want to Learn More?
➡️ How to Choose the Best Event Management Plugin for Your Website | Read More
➡️ Multi-tier Ticket Pricing for Events – Create multiple types of tickets and set different price | Read More
➡️ Google Meet Vs Zoom: Which One Is Best for Your Next Event? | Read More
Multi-Vendor Event Marketplace FAQ
Do you have some questions about the multi-vendor marketplace? Well, we have to cover it too. In this section, we have added some frequently asked questions with direct answers. Please check and contact us if we missed your question.
How do I create a multi-vendor website?
To create a multi-vendor website, you need a multi-vendor plugin. Depending on your needs, you can use Dokan multi-vendor, Eventin, or a similar plugin. These plugins enable the vendor and marketplace management features. The above blog explains more details on how you can create a multi-vendor website.
How much does it cost to build a multi-vendor marketplace?
Building a multi-vendor website was hugely costly. But thanks to the WordPress plugins that make very cost-effective multi-vendor solutions nowadays, the best part is that some of the multi-vendor plugins have a free version that you can use to get started.
So, apart from the domain, hosting, and design costs, you can get started for free. If you have development sense and want to give it a try, then 100 bucks is good to go. Purchase domain hosting, and you can download WordPress, themes, and plugins from the WordPress directory.
What is the difference between a marketplace and a multi-vendor?
A marketplace is usually a single-vendor marketplace in which a single business owner operates the business. On the other hand, the multi-vendor marketplace is a hub of the marketplace that contains multiple businesses under a single umbrella. Finance and profit in a single marketplace are usually handled by one party. However, in a multi-vendor marketplace, the site owner handles the payment and provides a profit share among the vendors.
Is WordPress good for the multi-vendor marketplace?
multi-vendor websites usually have huge numbers of visitors, thousands of transactions, and a lot of technical problems. So, many believe that WordPress might not be good for multi-vendor websites. But modern WordPress is stable, secure, and updated. Moreover, WordPress has multiple popular multi-vendor plugins, like Dokan for eCommerce and Eventin for the event marketplace. So, we can say that WordPress is good for multi-vendor marketplaces now.
Is a multi-vendor website profitable?
A multi-vendor website is not only profitable but also scalable. According to “marketgrowthreports”, it is expected to expand at a CAGR of 3.84% during the forecast period, reaching USD 72735.25 million by 2028! The market is big, and the profit is also expected to be big. As a website owner, you can make a profit for each conversion that happens on the website.
