Dokan WordPress Review: Best Multivendor Marketplace Plugin

When creating an online marketplace the number one hurdle entrepreneurs face is developing the multivendor marketplace itself. Multivendor marketplaces are highly complex platforms because they are supposed to have unlimited vendor stores that serve as miniature websites within the broader marketplace environment. Dokan WordPress Plugin is one of the top multivendor plugins that promise to create a complex multivendor marketplace minus the coding requirements.

Dokan WordPress is an official WordPress plugin that works within the WordPress environment to create a multivendor marketplace. You can download this plugin similar to any other WordPress plugin and use it to create a multivendor platform within a few minutes. Entrepreneurs that would normally have to hire developers or learn to code in order to build a multivendor marketplace over several weeks or months can now do it with the Dokan plugin quickly.

Despite being around for almost a decade a lot of WordPress users still aren’t aware of Dokan and its capabilities. Creating a WordPress based multivendor platform is just one aspect of Dokan as it lets you manage and effectively grow your marketplace within its ecosystem. This Dokan WordPress review covers all the common questions people have about this plugin. On top of that, we will explain various features, pricing plans, and alternatives to Dokan WordPress so keep reading.

What Is the Dokan WordPress Plugin?

Dokan WordPress Plugin has been available since 2014 but with the growing popularity of online multivendor marketplaces, this plugin has started getting more attention than ever. The company behind Dokan is called weDevs and they have been constantly improving and adding new features to Dokan over the past decade.

This plugin doesn’t just stop at the multivendor marketplace creation but its main features and functionalities come in handy when running the marketplace. Everything from adding vendors, creating stores, managing products, order shipping, and everything in between can be taken care of within the Dokan Plugin interface.

As per our experience with Dokan Plugin, we couldn’t find any area of managing a multivendor website that is not taken care of by Dokan. This tool really is an all in one multivendor marketplace solution that goes beyond the simple ecommerce store creation and focuses on the multivendor platform aspects of ecommerce.

There are over 60k multivendor websites running on the Dokan plugin that goes on to show how this plugin really does what it promises.

How Does Dokan WordPress Plugin Work?

Dokan Plugin has a direct dependency on the WooCommerce plugin and it uses this plugin as a base to create a multivendor platform. Even if you don’t have a WooCommerce plugin on your WordPress and end up downloading Dokan it will automatically install WooCommerce before you can start using it.

The setup process for Dokan is as simple as it gets all you have to do is follow the setup process and follow along the necessary steps to create a marketplace using Dokan. You can also skip the setup wizard and commence the setup manually.

Once you have set up the marketplace all that is left is to start marketing it to attract vendors. Approve seller’s profiles and the marketplace will start making money for you in the form of commission from sales. It really is that simple to set up a marketplace using Dokan and anyone with minimum technical knowledge can create a marketplace for themselves.

What Are Some Key Features Of Dokan Plugin?

Dokan WordPress Plugin considers the needs of the admins running the platform, and the vendors who actually sell on the marketplace. So you will find features for both parties built into the Dokan Plugin and you normally won’t need external add ons because this plugin takes care of all key aspects of running an online marketplace. We have categorized the features of Dokan into three different categories and here is the breakdown of features from each category:

Features For Owners/Admins

Analytics And Reports

Admins are responsible for maintaining the marketplace and keeping it in good shape. They can’t keep a marketplace working as it should without knowing the stats and profits being generated by the multivendor platform.

Dokan plugin comes with analytics that tell the admins about the sales, products, earnings, and the number of vendors currently working on the platform. Admins also get reports on individual stores and how much revenue is being generated by each one.

Run Promotions

Admins can select products from stores that need exposure and promote them on their platform using the promotions feature. This feature is ideal for promoting products that have a lot of potential and need a push to get picked up by the customers.

Vendor Management

With the Dokan plugin admins have complete control over who is allowed to sell on the platform and they can actively control how a seller can sell as well. By that we mean the admins can set privileges or access restrictions for sellers so they can only access features or functionalities that are active for them.

In addition to setting permissions and access for vendors admins can also see the particular analytics of each store. So in short, the Vendor Management feature by Dokan keeps the control of the marketplace in the hands of the admins.

Commission Rates

Dokan allows admins to set different commission rates for each seller or a universal commission rate that stays consistent for all stores on the marketplace.

The flexibility of choosing your desired commission rates makes it possible for owners of the platform to maximize their profits.

Managing Withdraw For Vendors

Admins can control the earning withdraw for vendors with the withdrawal feature that lets them set the frequency of withdrawal for vendors. All admins have to do is specify whether they want vendors to withdraw funds on a quarterly, monthly, Biweekly, or weekly basis and the withdrawals will be automatically made after the set period for vendors.

Features For Vendors

Product listings

Dokan WordPress plugin gives vendors full control over how they want to list their products on the marketplace. In addition to the ability to modify each product’s details one by one vendors can also choose to modify a batch of products at once.

Analytics And Reports

Similar to admins vendors also get to keep track of everything that is going on in their stores with the analytics and reports features.

Vendors can see how much revenue their store is generating and also see the performance of each product on their marketplace.

Order And Shipping Management

Managing orders and shipping them is a major part of running an online store and the Dokan plugin offers vendors a full overview of when they receive an order and related details. Vendors also get to choose how the order is delivered making sure that the delivery mode aligns with the product’s nature.

Dokan Plugin Pricing

Since the whole idea behind using a tool to build a multivendor website instead of hiring professional developers for the job is to save cost. But the Dokan plugin doesn’t just save you the cost of building a multivendor marketplace but it also lets you manage the website throughout its lifespan. So considering the value this plugin brings for the admins the pricing plans for the Dokan plugin are fairly reasonable.

There are a total of 4 pricing plans for the Dokan plugin available today. Here are all the details of each Dokan pricing plan to help you pick one that fits your budget and needs:

Starter Plan

The starter plan gives admins and vendors of the marketplace access to some basic tools needed to create and run an online marketplace. If you are just starting out in the online marketplace venture then this plan is good for testing the waters. The Starter Plan for the Dokan plugin costs $149 per year and it lets you connect one domain and gives you access to 3 modules.

Professional Plan

The Professional Plan by Dokan is a more advanced plan with access to a lot more features compared to the Starter plan. If you are planning on expanding the number of vendors on your marketplace then the Professional Plan is ideal for you. This plan costs $249 per year and it lets you connect 3 domains and gives you access to 22 modules.

Business Plan

The Business Plan comes equipped with all the features you need to treat your multivendor marketplace as a serious business. This plan gives you access to almost all of the features of the Dokan plugin with only a few features excluded from the list.

Business Plan costs $499 per year and it gives you access to 5 domains and lets you use 38 modules.

Enterprise Plan

Enterprise Plan is the most premium Dokan Plugin plan you can buy with access to all the features of the plugin at your disposal. The great thing about this plan is that it gives you access to priority support which can come in handy in case you run into any issues.

Enterprise Plan costs $999 per year allows you to attach 20 domains and has 38 modules at your disposal.

What are Some Dokan Plugin Alternatives?

Dokan Plugin may be a comprehensive option but there are certain situations where it may not be a suitable option for creating multivendor marketplaces. One of the scenarios is where you want to set up a marketplace for organizing auctions.

So it is best to know about the Dokan Plugin alternatives so you can buy a plugin that works best for your usage scenario. Without further ado here are some Dokan plugin alternatives you should know about:

MultiVendorX

MultiVendorX is a freemium plugin for WordPress that lets you create multivendor marketplaces using the supporting extensions. It does most of the things that you expect from Dokan with similar features but to unlock all its features you have to buy one of MultiVendorX premium plans that costs $15 for the basic plan.

WC Vendors Marketplace

Ideal for creating marketplaces that sell digital as well as physical products the WC Vendors Marketplace is a solid competitor of Dokan. You can also sell subscription based products using WC Vendors which is a major advantage of this plugin. The premium plan for WC Vendors Marketplace costs $199 per year.

YITH WooCommerce

YITH WooCommerce is an advanced multivendor plugin that lacks the simplicity of Dokan but gives more control to those with some technical knowledge. This plugin costs $99 for the base plan and offers additional plans with access to advanced features.

WooCommerce Product Vendors

WooCommerce Product Vendors is offered by WooCommerce and it allows smooth integration with the ecommerce plugin. With that said Product Vendors lacks the wide range of features that you can get with Dokan.

Related: Dokan Alternatives

Conclusion

Dokan is by far one of the best plugins for creating and managing online marketplaces and you can’t go wrong by choosing it to build your next multivendor platform. It is rich in features, easy to use, and offers affordable pricing.

The biggest strength of this plugin is the team of developers that constantly improve it and add new features to make it an industry favorite. So if you were looking for the best multivendor marketplace plugin then Dokan is definitely a top contender for this title.