Turn your store into a marketplace on Shopify without rebuilding your eCommerce platform
Mercur is a multi-vendor marketplace platform that connects to your eCommerce as a Shopify store marketplace extension – adding multiple vendor workflows and marketplace functionality, while Shopify stays your core commerce engine.
- No migration, no replatforming, no vendor lock-in
- No need to pause current eCommerce development
- Shopify stays your storefront, checkout, and payments layer
- Mercur handles vendors, commissions, and marketplace logic
- Built for Shopify Plus and headless-ready setups
Is the Shopify + Mercur marketplace extension setup for you?
This marketplace on Shopify setup is designed for business owners who started with Shopify eCommerce stores for speed and simplicity and are now looking for a scalable online marketplace model – without risking their existing ecosystem.
- You want to open your online store to multiple vendors, partners, or suppliers
- You’re building a curated or brand-led marketplace
- You need control without losing Shopify’s checkout experience
- Your single-store model is hitting growth limits
- You’re exploring new revenue streams beyond owned inventory
- You need to meet marketplace requirements that apps can’t provide
Why choose Mercur as a Shopify marketplace extension
Mercur works as a marketplace platform connected to your Shopify store. It supports your long-term growth without risking changes to your existing Shopify commerce core.
Reduce development and maintenance costs by keeping marketplace logic out of Shopify.
Adding essential marketplace features to a Shopify store requires paid third-party apps and continuous development. With Mercur, you avoid recurring vendor fees and lock-in, while keeping full ownership with open code to customise limitless.
Operate your marketplace on top of Shopify with full platform ownership.
Mercur keeps marketplace responsibilities separate from the Shopify core, with predictable integration points, and no vendor lock-in at the marketplace layer.
Work with classic Shopify storefronts as well as headless frontends.
Mercur connects to Shopify through APIs and event-based communication, so seller accounts, product listings, and marketplace rules remain stable even when storefront technology changes.
Develop your Shopify store and Mercur multi-vendor marketplace independently, without one limiting the other.
Marketplace logic runs in Mercur, so growing numbers of sellers, rules, and workflows do not interfere with Shopify performance or core commerce operations.
Keep your multivendor marketplace running even if your long-term roadmap includes changes to frontend, checkout, or commerce engine.
Mercur remains your engine while Shopify can be replaced gradually, without breaking marketplace logic.
How Shopify and Mercur work together
Mercur does not replace Shopify. Through seamless integration, it extends Shopify with a dedicated marketplace engine. Shopify remains your commerce layer, while Mercur handles everything to meet marketplace requirements.
- Storefront and customer experience
- Checkout, payments, and taxes
- Product base catalog
- Shopify ecosystem and apps
- Commerce backbone
How they communicate
API-first integration
Event-based synchronization Compatible with Shopify Plus and headless setups
Headless-friendly by design
Systems can scale independently
- Vendor and store admin management
- Multi-vendor product offers
- Commission, fees and payout rules
- Order splitting per seller
- Seller onboarding and workflows
Go headless when needed
Frontend consumes Shopify and Mercur via APIs
Full control over marketplace UX and flows
Faster experimentation without touching the core
Discover Shopify + Mercur marketplace capabilities
Shopify’s app ecosystem is powerful, but apps are built to extend stores, not to run multi-vendor platforms.
Mercur fills this gap with a single, consistent marketplace engine on top of an online store. Marketplace logic runs separately, as a Shopify extension, allowing Shopify to stay focused on commerce while Mercur handles multi-vendor operations.
Create a marketplace on Shopify where multiple sellers can offer the same product with different prices, stock levels, and conditions. Product offers stay vendor-specific, while the Shopify catalog remains clean and consistent.
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Give each vendor their own seller's interface to manage products, orders, return requests, advanced tax logic, availability, and add their own shipping rules. Store admins keep full control over marketplace workflows, while merchants manage their daily operations without access to other admins or sellers' profiles.
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Define commission rules, fees, and settlement models, per vendor or category. Handle them outside the Shopify core, reducing custom development inside the eCommerce platform.
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Customers place a single order through the Shopify checkout. Order details are automatically split into seller-specific orders, with separate fulfillment, payment processing, shipping, and refund flows for each vendor.
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Manage vendor registration through structured onboarding workflows. Verification steps, contract handling, and seller activation are designed for automated operations.
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How companies use Shopify + Mercur in practice
If your business model values speed today but needs a platform model for tomorrow – Shopify + Mercur gives you the structure to scale it safely.
This setup is already proven across retail expansion, complex B2B marketplace platforms, and other marketplace models.
A strong brand invites selected partners or manufacturers to start selling through its existing Shopify storefront – under full platform control.
Multiple suppliers sell through one Shopify-based storefront while Mercur manages supplier logic, commissions, and order management.
Why a marketplace is more than Shopify apps
Shopify excels at commerce, but native marketplace support was never part of its core design. Extending it with just a collection of apps leads to long-term complexity and rising maintenance costs.
Mercur allows Shopify to stay great at what it does best, while your marketplace evolves as a product of its own.
- World-class checkout and payments
- Fast storefront development
- Massive app ecosystem
- Sellers are not just “users” or “staff”
- Vendor isolation can’t live in a shared admin environment
- Commissions, payouts, and split orders go beyond app logic
- Marketplace workflows require a system of record
- Logic scattered across multiple apps
- Limited flexibility as the marketplace grows
- Increasing operational and technical debt
- Clear separation of concerns
- Marketplace logic isolated and extensible
- Easier scaling of vendors, rules, and workflows
- Freedom to evolve the marketplace without destabilizing commerce
Marketplace on Shopify store development process
Adding the marketplace to Shopify eCommerce doesn’t have to be a multi-year transformation. The Shopify marketplace extension can be rolled out step by step, starting with a focused MVP.
- No big-bang replatforming
- No need to pause current eCommerce development
- Marketplace can grow at your pace
- Scale operations without rewriting logic
- Stay flexible as the business model evolves
Define your marketplace model, seller types, commission logic, and integration scope with our expertise.
Get a clear split of responsibilities between Shopify and Mercur, aligned with your existing ERP, PIM, and OMS.
Start building your Shopify multi-vendor marketplace today
Before you invest in apps, custom code, or migrations, it’s worth validating the architecture. Connect your Shopify commerce foundation with Mercur to turn it into a scalable marketplace platform.
- Discuss your marketplace model and constraints
- Understand Shopify’s real limits for your use case
- Validate if Shopify + Mercur is the right fit
- Get a high-level architecture recommendation: Shopify + Mercur, Magento + Mercur, or custom
