Today I am going to explain what a marketplace in Sitecore OrderCloud is and explain the process of creating a marketplace in Sitecore OrderCloud.
Sitecore OrderCloud offers a variety of functionalities to help segment your audience and create a customized e-commerce experience. OrderCloud provides the ability to set up comprehensive buyer and user groups that mirror your distinct organizational makeup. It also provides flexibility to start with one market strategy and pivot to another within the same Sitecore OrderCloud marketplace instance.
A marketplace in Sitecore OrderCloud is a platform that allows various vendors to sell their goods or services to customers in a centralized online market. It enables business owners to build an online marketplace where different vendors can display and sell their wares while giving buyers a variety of possibilities.
A marketplace built on Sitecore OrderCloud allows vendors to set up their online stores within the platform. Each seller can individually control their product listings, inventories, pricing, and fulfillment procedures. On the other hand, customers can peruse the marketplace, investigate goods from various sellers, add goods to their carts, and make purchases.
Marketplace - At the center of any solution is a single Marketplace. It consists directly of users, groups, and addresses (used mainly for shipping calculations), which should be established ahead of product catalogs, buyers, and suppliers.
Creating Marketplace in Sitecore OrderCloud
Firstly, login into the Sitecore OrderCloud portal (https://portal.ordercloud.io/login).
After login, you will be navigated to the dashboard and there you can find an option to create a new Sitecore OrderCloud Marketplace.
On clicking the “New Marketplace” button you will see a pop-up for creating the Marketplace.
Region - A list of five regions from which you can choose for your marketplace is available. Your Marketplace should be created by default in the Us-West area. If you are working on Sandbox, then All Portal users will continue to have access to create marketplaces in "Us West" Sandbox. This represents the original "Sandbox environment" before Portal 1.0.74 where any user could create a marketplace for free. You may need to coordinate with the OrderCloud support team for the ability to use regions other than "Us West".
Environment - By default, the “Sandbox” environment is selected for the marketplace in OrderCloud. If you want to have any other environment, then you need to contact the OrderCloud support team.
Marketplace Identifier (Optional) – ID is an optional field for your marketplace. ID is a unique identifier for your marketplace throughout the OrderCloud ecosystem. If the ID is left blank, then it will be automatically generated by Sitecore OrderCloud.
Marketplace Name – In this field, you can provide the name of your marketplace.
After filling out the form click “Create Marketplace”. A marketplace will be created for you, and you will be redirected to the Settings tab of the marketplace. Here you can see the API instance and basic information about your marketplace.
These are the basic steps to create a marketplace in Sitecore OrderCloud.
Some Points to Remember
1. Once a marketplace is created in a particular region then the region cannot be changed.
2. Once a marketplace is created with a particular environment then the environment type cannot be changed.
3. You cannot create a marketplace with the same name and ID. These identifiers must be unique across the entire OrderCloud ecosystem.
References
1. Creating your first marketplace - https://ordercloud.io/learn/getting-started/creating-your-first-marketplace
2. What is Sitecore OrderCloud - https://www.addact.net/what-is-sitecore-orderCloud-features-and-benefits
That’s All for Today,
Happy Coding