For five years, Stéphane Picard, a solo entrepreneur from Europe, has organized a weekly farmers’ market in their neighborhood, forming close relationships with local producers and gaining firsthand experience in logistics, marketing, and customer needs.

Over time, a bigger idea took shape: creating an online marketplace where small producers could sell directly to customers. After discovering CS-Cart in October 2024, he aimed to create an inclusive model with individual storefronts for sellers, making high-quality food products accessible and helping producers find their audience.

From Idea to Launch

“The idea came gradually,” he shared. “I seriously considered it two years ago and, after a long search, I discovered CS-Cart in October 2024.”

The market for high-quality food products is already populated by niche players—meat, wine, or fish specialists—and gourmet online shops. But most don’t support direct sales from producers. This left room for a new, more inclusive model.

Implementation, Key Features, and Support

To make the marketplace vision a reality, the entrepreneur needed a platform that could:

• Provide individual storefronts for each producer;
• Support an unlimited number of sellers and categories;
• Avoid fixed subscription fees for admins, sellers, or buyers.

Features such as individual producer shops and multilingual support have proven to be especially valuable.

Individual Producer Shop on CS-Cart, as implemented on Wie Gott In Frankreich

“I think I read everything on the subject,” he said. “I chose CS-Cart because you buy the license once, and then you’re free to evolve the platform over time. It offers great scalability.”

Even with no technical background—and self-described “allergy to the world of PCs from Bill Gates”—Stéphane successfully partnered with shopfreaks.com, used the support team of CS-Cart, and got help from AI assistant Grok.

One of the standout experiences was working with the support service. Stéphane shares: “Precise, friendly, and understanding. Every question found an answer — it’s comforting to know someone is there.”

Expansion and Challenges

The only notable roadblock? Initial integration with Stripe. But this was resolved quickly with the help of the support team.

Achievements and Future Plans

Many small producers don’t have the time, budget, or technical know-how to launch a Shopify store or similar. CS-Cart solves this.  “They’re happy to have their own storefronts. Most wouldn’t be able to set up a shop otherwise.”, – says the owner. 

While specific KPIs are not available now, the entrepreneur noted improvements in:

• Efficiency;
• Seller satisfaction;
• Marketplace scalability.

The entrepreneur sees CS-Cart as a long-term partner in scaling the business:

Advice for New Entrepreneurs

The Wie Gott In Frankreich recommends CS-Cart for marketplace owners who want a feature-rich, customizable solution without recurring fees.

The “Shop Local” feature is increasingly popular now. If you face the similar challenges with no tech background, but eager to build your own local farm food marketplace, feel free to book a free personal consultation to give a chance to your online venture!

Why is Zwanayo so cool? That’s why

Yoan Malong, the project founder, came up with the idea of taking the overall image of the African online marketplace usage experience to the next level. He believes it will stimulate the growth of online shopping thanks to a simplified ordering and delivering approach.  

From Idea to Launch

Launching a full-scale marketplace in Congo was a different experience compared to what Yoan has seen in European countries. On the one hand, the idea was to bring all big vendor names to one place and manage them offering a diverse selection of high-quality products online.

On the other hand, it was necessary to ensure the platform’s ease of use along with order and deliver simplicity. This was especially important, as people in Congo rarely use high-end smartphones, tablets, or laptops.

CS-Cart turned out to be an optimal solution. It comes with a set of built-in features including multi-vendor functionality, split payments, and user groups as a part of the integrated marketplace management system. Although Yoan has some experience in coding and working with WordPress, he eventually opted for CS-Cart as a simpler, faster, and easier-to-manage and customize solution.

Zwanayo, fast-growing marketplace in Congo

Development and Customization

The project went live in May 2022. It took Yoan 2 years from the idea of creating a marketplace to the initial launch. Today, the platform has over 4,000 products on stock and around 10,000 products delivered by 8 different vendors.

Yoan opted for UniTheme2 as the foundation for the marketplace design. However, it was customized to meet the specific needs of the local audience. While the African market differs from countries like Europe or the US, it comes with niche-specific challenges. So, the marketplace required a piece of customization.

Simple checkout process

Expansion and Challenges

Yoan believes the platform will grow into the biggest marketplace in Congo. What’s more, he plans to expand the borders and establish strong online representation in other African countries with no online shopping facilities. Eventually, Zwanayo.com might grow into the largest marketplace across Central Africa.

The main challenge was to find an all-in-one solution that would combine enough marketplace management tools in one place. Apart from WordPress which required extra plugins and lots of coding for customization, Yoan opted for CS-Cart as a unified solution with integration ease, multi-vendor support, and customization features.

Key Features and Support

In Congo, the online banking system is not as developed as in Europe. What’s more, the majority of locals do not have banking accounts, which makes it difficult for them to shop online.  So, Yoan required a fast-operating platform that allows integration of third-party services like online payment platforms and e-wallets. 

Another requirement was to ensure multi-vendor support to manage listing, rates, and other assets in one place, while also delivering a seamless checkout process for users. Although the overall speed could be improved at some point, the platform meets all primary goals in terms of marketplace functionality. It offers enough integration opportunities and flexibility.

Achievements and Future Plans

The marketplace is extending. It attracts more vendors with high-quality products at a reasonable price. Right now, it has around 4,000 products on stock and about 10,000 items regularly delivered by 8 different vendors.

As for future plans, Yoan believes he can cover more locations offering an advanced shopping experience to a wider audience.

Advice for New Entrepreneurs

Yoan recommends focusing on launching the platform first instead of thinking about vendors. This is where CS-Cart can be a foundation of the future business. Considering your target audience and the experience your marketplace will deliver is also crucial.

Conclusion

The story behind Zwanayo.com shows how CS-Cart can help create a customized marketplace that meets business expectations. With a focus on the target audience and their needs, business owners can quickly launch a project with enough potential to become the most influential eCommerce platform in the region.  

CONTACT US

The industry was also lacking in technological advancement, as most fishing tackle shops were not run by tech-savvy individuals. This presented an opportunity to create an online marketplace that could serve the needs of both vendors and customers in the fishing industry.

“There was never a one-stop shop to buy all the different types of fishing tackle that I needed. I had to go to platform A, platform B, platform C. And also the industry itself is not very technologically advanced because most people who run a fishing tackle shop, they are not technologists.”

David Oak, a Cofounder of TackleTarts

From Idea to Launch

The founders started small, building a minimal viable product (MVP) in just 9 months to test the market and see if vendors and customers would be interested. During this time, they scaled the business from £0 to £100 per month in revenue.

Seeing the potential, they then sought investment to build a niche marketplace, which took about a year to develop. This allowed them to onboard more vendors, expand the product catalog, and prepare for growth.

Development and Customization

While CS-Cart provided a good foundation for a multivendor marketplace, the platform required customization to fit the specific needs of TackleTarts. The CEO noted that no off-the-shelf solution can perfectly address every business requirement, so they had to build custom development pipelines to adapt CS-Cart to their model. This included simplifying the vendor panels for better onboarding of new sellers, configuring payment systems (Mango Pay and PayPal), and integrating the review systems (Trustpilot and Google Reviews) to create a modern, standalone management platform.

Expansion and Challenges

As TackleTarts grew, the team faced challenges in scaling the business, such as balancing increased costs with the need for more staff and technology. They also had to continuously optimize their marketing strategies, focusing on key metrics like customer acquisition cost and average order value.

Building trust with both vendors and customers was another crucial aspect, which they addressed through features like the “TackleTarts Guarantee” and integrations with review platforms.

TackleTarts Guarantee Page

Integration with Google Reviews

Key Features and Support

The multivendor capabilities of CS-Cart were a key feature that enabled TackleTarts to onboard a wide range of fishing tackle suppliers. However, the CEO notes that the platform’s vendor panel and product management tools needed to be adapted for the business requirements, leading them to explore building a custom management platform using the CS-Cart API.

Achievements and Future Plans

TackleTarts was able to launch its marketplace within the first year and achieve its first sales on the very first day. Over the course of 2–3 years, the company grew to a significant size, with thousands of products, hundreds of vendors, and a thriving customer base.

Looking to the future, the team is focused on expanding their C2C selling capabilities, improving the vendor experience, and potentially developing a standalone CS-Cart management platform as a SaaS offering.

Achieved first sales on the very first day after the MVP launch.

Advice for New Entrepreneurs

David shares several key pieces of advice for new entrepreneurs:

• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes—experience is the best teacher.
• Carefully consider how much equity to give away when raising investment.
• Customize your platform to fit your business model, but don’t expect it to solve every problem.
• Focus on key metrics like customer acquisition cost and average order value.
• Invest in building trust with both vendors and customers.

Conclusion

These days, TackleTarts is a successful fishing tackle marketplace that was able to confidently launch and scale its business by leveraging the multivendor capabilities of CS-Cart, while also investing in significant customization and development to address the unique needs of their industry. The company has achieved impressive growth, with plans to continue expanding and improving the platform to better serve their vendors and customers.

Do you have an idea for a new online marketplace that could fill an unmet need in the market? We’d be happy to discuss your marketplace concept and requirements with you to determine the best solution for bringing your vision to life. Please share more details about your idea, and our team can explore the feasibility, identify key features, and outline a plan to get your marketplace up and running.

Let’s talk about your project!

Recently, we have found out about a large online marketplace in Bangladesh called Cellsii.com. This marketplace is based on our multi-vendor platform CS-Cart Multi-Vendor. What’s interesting about this project that it began not so long ago—in 2018—and immediately gained popularity in the country. The marketplace is pretty big now with almost 10,000 products (the catalog grows daily) and 63,000 Facebook fans. But the marketplace owner S.M. Mamunur Rasid still calls it a startup.

We have contacted S.M. Mamunur Rasid and asked them to tell their business story: how they made a decision to create an online marketplace in such a competitive environment, how they started, and what challenges they overcame. This interview will come in handy for all the startuppers who building their own eCommerce business and still have doubts and concerns. Have no more!

S.M. Mamunur Rasid, the Cellsii.com marketplace owner

— How did you start and from what? What’s the background of your marketplace?

I sold the first product at the beginning of 2016 from a Facebook page. I was still doing a job in a private organization. At the same time, also engaged with different freelance works related to digital marketing, content, website, etc. That is how life could have been passed quite well. But I always wanted to do something on my own. In 2005, during my student life, got my first part-time job in a daily newspaper to update their news content and freelance report writing about ICT. Gathered primary experiences on content, digital marketing, web tools from there, which had helped me a lot further to understand different aspects of business, especially eCommerce business.

I was not associated with any offline shop or business. There was no chance at all. I feel comfortable doing works or anything online. At the beginning of 2016, for the first time imported some products from abroad and advertised on Facebook, and managed to sell a hand bracelet. That was an amazing experience. I still can remember that moment of the first sale. Then launched an eCommerce website in 2017. The site was slowly getting richer. I quit my job in December 2017 and started a full-time business in the new year of 2018.

— How did you actually make a decision to start such a big online project? I mean, it’s not an easy job neither it’s an easy decision to launch an online marketplace.

In 2012, I started a digital marketing service on a freelance basis and served more than 500 small and large organizations and individual entrepreneurs. While doing this job, I learned about many established companies and entrepreneurs who have little idea about digital marketing, business web tools, and technics though it is very important. But I had no money to launch a business of my own. Started from zero! Only had a dream of doing something. Then determined some goals and objectives:

• The project can go slowly
• Each and every work will be done carefully
• Dealing with a customer will be 100% transparent and honest
• From one or two products, it will be thousands, will exceed millions.
• From one or two customers it will be innumerable.

That’s how it started.

— What were the main reasons to launch a marketplace? What problems did you aim to solve with a marketplace?

I had a tendency to find out solutions to any problem through technology. Dhaka is one of the busiest cities in the world. I find no reason in going to a shopping center after crossing a terrible traffic jam. Moreover, people are very busy these days. So online shopping is a simpler solution. Though the e-commerce journey started long ago in Bangladesh, very few e-commerce, f-commerce work with the commitment. Delivery of quality products to the customer at the fastest time with a competitive market price is a big challenge. Cellsii.com sets a goal to focus on these particular aspects.

— How did you plan the launch? I mean, did you invent a strict business plan, marketing strategies, define your final goals? How did you do all this and how much time did it take?

Nothing happened under a strict business plan. I follow “Go slowly and steadily”. Our product selection process focuses on quality issues rather than only sales volume and always tries to deal honestly and fairly with all our valued customers. We work for building a relationship with the customer, not just a customer-seller deal. These are the business motto.

— What difficulties and challenges did you face in the initial stage before actually launching the marketplace to the full? Finding sellers? Meeting law regulations maybe?

It took more than a year when started knowing the ins and outs of the product, product sourcing, finding the right vendor, where to go, which product will be available at the lowest price, customer demand, customer behavior, etc. From the beginning to the present, a certain time of the day is spent for market analysis. It is a very big field of work and it takes a lot of time, effort, and talent to understand each and every segment of it. Once some things were settled, it was a big challenge to coordinate them all.

Whether focus only on a specific category or work with verities, there was confusion. Initially it only worked with smart gadgets but later it started to focus on few more categories. However, only quality products are given priority in all categories till now. Above all, getting the product to the customer in the fastest time is very challenging here. Setting up your own delivery system is a very complex task.

— Did the launch go smoothly? What new challenges did you face after the launch? Was it marketing and popularization of the marketplace or something else?

Of course, the beginning was not easy at all. The field of work there was very large. Everything from set-up the server to marketing, customer care, ensuring the delivery, etc., All these tasks needed comprehensive coordination. We focus more on organic growth rather than paid marketing and follow the necessary practices to popularize the marketplace.

— How soon did you begin to earn with the marketplace after the launch (if you’re already getting profit)? Do you think you could start getting profit earlier?

It is very difficult to start making a profit overnight by launching an e-commerce business. Sometimes that is impossible. Excluding the office rent, staff salary, marketing cost, and related expenses, sometimes it might be very difficult to survive for an e-commerce startup. A lot of things can be easier if you have previous experience in the market and products. If you can handle the marketplace website without hassle, capable to do marketing efficiently, have a well business plan, and minimize overhead cost, it is possible to make a profit in less time.

— What big mistakes did you make running your marketplace? How would you avoid these mistakes now?

The overhead cost of an online marketplace can be almost double that of any offline shop if it is not minimized. But the profit margin from a product will remain the same in both online and offline businesses. It is difficult to survive if someone makes a mistake in this equation. In the beginning, renting an office in the most expensive area of the city was a big mistake for us. It was assumed that the ROI would start coming very soon and the cost-benefit would be adjusted. But the realities were different.

— What would you advise your less experienced colleagues-marketplace owners so that their marketplaces prosper?

Need to know the target market and the marketing very well. Build a hassle-free website so that you can concentrate more on your core business, keep the site up to date with the latest technologies, features and with the fastest server which will help you grow faster. Giving utmost importance to deliver the product to the customer in the fastest time. And gaining the trust of the customer by adopting all sorts of approaches. These are the key to a successful e-commerce start-up.