Agora is a headless commerce platform we design and build around how your business actually works: multi-vendor payments, a proper vendor app, courier-integrated logistics and tax compliance. It's a real platform, not a templated shopping cart forced to fit.
You own the code, the data and the roadmap. No cut per sale, no feature locked behind an enterprise tier.
Off-the-shelf platforms work well until your model doesn't match their assumptions, and a marketplace almost never matches them. As soon as you need to split payments across vendors, give sellers a real mobile app, automate tax for your country, or design a checkout around your own categories, you hit the limits of the templated world and start fighting the tool.
Agora is how we build past those limits. It's headless and API-first: one solid commerce core, used by a public storefront, a vendor mobile app and an operations back-office. You can redesign any one of those, or add a new sales channel, without touching the engine underneath.
Founders launching a multi-vendor marketplace
Brands that have outgrown Shopify, WooCommerce or Magento
Operators who need a real vendor app, not a watered-down admin login
Businesses in regulated markets needing tax and invoicing automation
Teams who want to own their codebase, data and roadmap outright
Each chapter stacks on the last — same as the work itself. Scroll through to see how the pieces fit together.
Marketplaces live or die on the details — commission structure, payout schedules, who approves what, how tax works in your market. We map your operational reality first, so the platform is shaped around how your business actually runs.
A storefront built for discovery, trust and conversion, and a vendor experience that is a first-class product in its own right — not a cut-down admin account. Designed for your brand, not retrofitted from a template.
Multi-vendor payment splitting, automated per-vendor payouts, courier-integrated logistics and statutory tax compliance — the genuinely difficult parts of a marketplace — built production-grade from day one, with testing and observability built in, not bolted on.
You get the codebase, the documentation and the ability to run it yourself. We ship in small steps so you're using working software early, and we keep payments, logistics and tax behind clean boundaries, so a new market or provider doesn't mean rebuilding.
A server-rendered storefront tuned for speed and SEO, designed around your categories rather than a generic grid.
Sellers get a dedicated mobile experience where catalogue, orders and earnings are a first-class product — the place custom builds pull decisively ahead of templates.
An operations back-office and a financial core built with the most rigour, because a marketplace that handles money has to be observable and trustworthy.
We build on modern, mainstream, well-supported foundations so your platform is maintainable by any competent team and still supported in five years.
| Dimension | Agora | Off-the-shelf platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Fit to your model | Shaped around how your business actually works | You bend your model to fit the tool |
| Vendor experience | A dedicated, first-class seller app | A watered-down admin login |
| Payments | Per-vendor splitting, payouts and commission, server-side | Plugin-dependent, often single-seller |
| Tax & compliance | Automated, wired into the order lifecycle, swappable per market | Your problem, or another plugin |
| Ownership | You own the codebase, data and roadmap | Per-transaction tax and platform lock-in |
| Longevity | Reinvent any front-end without touching the core | Breaks on the next template update |
A platform shaped around your model, not a template's assumptions
Multi-vendor payments and payouts handled automatically
A vendor app your sellers actually want to use
Tax and compliance built into the order lifecycle
Full ownership of the code, data and roadmap
A trustworthy core new channels can be launched against
A live, multi-vendor marketplace built and run end-to-end.
See the case studyA bespoke commerce experience tailored to the brand.
See the case studyA custom storefront and vendor workflow built to fit.
Off-the-shelf and templated platforms are excellent until your model doesn't fit their assumptions — and multi-vendor marketplaces rarely do. The moment you need per-vendor payment splitting, a real vendor app, or country-specific tax automation, you fight the tool. Agora is built around your model instead, and you own the result outright — no per-transaction platform tax.
Yes. A single customer payment is split across multiple independent vendors, each paid their share automatically, with the platform retaining commission and any service fees. Commission is computed server-side per order, and refunds — including reversing an individual vendor's share on a multi-vendor order — keep money, stock and tax records consistent.
Yes — a dedicated vendor app is core to the platform, not an afterthought. Sellers onboard, manage their catalogue, accept orders, generate courier vouchers and track earnings from their phone, with honest after-commission figures shown up front. It is a first-class product, not a cut-down admin login.
Yes. Statutory e-invoicing is wired directly into the order lifecycle, with correct handling of consumer receipts, business-to-business commission invoices and credit notes on refunds. The compliance layer is designed to be swappable per jurisdiction, so the same architecture can target a different market without reworking the commerce core.
You own it. You leave with the codebase, the documentation and the ability to run it — no per-transaction platform tax, no feature held hostage behind an enterprise tier, no plugin that breaks on the next update. We favour provider-abstraction over lock-in so payments, logistics and tax can adapt without structural surgery.
It depends on scope — the number of vendor and operations workflows, payment and tax complexity, and how many surfaces (storefront, vendor app, back-office) you need. As industry context, a focused marketplace MVP is typically a mid-five-figure investment, while a full, production-grade multi-vendor build with a vendor app, logistics and compliance runs higher. We don't quote from a price list — we scope it against your model in a discovery call so the number reflects what you actually need.
A focused, launchable MVP is usually a matter of a few months; a full multi-vendor build with a vendor app, courier logistics and tax compliance takes longer. We deliver iteratively — working software early and often — so you see and use real functionality well before the full platform is complete, rather than waiting for a big-bang reveal.
A traditional platform couples the storefront to the commerce engine, so changing the look or adding a channel means fighting the core. Agora is headless and API-first — the commerce engine is separate from the front-ends that consume it, so you can reinvent the storefront, add a kiosk or a B2B portal, or launch a new channel against the same trustworthy core without rebuilding it.
The same capability powers single-brand e-shops, B2B ordering portals with account-based pricing, subscription and recurring-commerce models, and region-specific commerce with local payment rails and tax compliance built in — each shaped around your brand and market, with you owning the result.
Book a discovery call or drop us an email — tell us what you're working on and we'll be honest about whether it's the right fit.
