Dokan Cloud Review: Easy eCommerce Site Creation with Great Opportunities

Launching an online store can feel overwhelming. From choosing the right platform to figuring out how to manage inventory, process payments, and handle customer service. That’s where Dokan Cloud Shop comes in.

Designed to simplify the eCommerce experience, Dokan offers a cloud-based solution that promises to make building and running an online store more accessible.

But how well does it live up to that promise? In this review, we’ll deeply dive into Dokan Cloud Shop’s features, ease of use, and pricing.

If you’re an entrepreneur or an established business looking for a more easy online store solution, this review will help you decide if Dokan Cloud Shop is the right fit for your eCommerce journey.

A Quick Dive into Dokan Cloud Shop’s Background

Dokan’s journey began with the Dokan plugin, a powerful tool that enabled entrepreneurs to transform their WooCommerce stores into multi-vendor marketplaces. Over the past decade, it has garnered over 50,000 satisfied customers and a stellar 4.6-star rating on WordPress.org. Dokan helped users create vibrant online marketplaces with ease, empowering vendors and buyers alike.

However, as with many self-hosted solutions, there were challenges. Dokan’s reliance on WordPress and WooCommerce meant that any updates or security fixes to these platforms could affect the stability of Dokan, requiring users to wait for updates to ensure continued functionality.

Recognizing the need for a more scalable, secure, and flexible solution, the team at Dokan set out to build something that would overcome these limitations.

The result? Dokan Cloud Shop — a cloud-based platform designed to simplify eCommerce and eliminate the dependencies of traditional plugins and self-hosted systems.

But while Dokan Cloud Shop is a powerful stand-alone eCommerce solution, it also carries forward the legacy of Dokan’s marketplace roots. With the Marketplace Addon, users can still create multi-vendor marketplaces within the cloud environment, offering the same powerful features that made Dokan so popular in the first place.

This addon allows store owners to manage multiple vendors seamlessly, just like the original Dokan plugin, but now with the added benefits of cloud infrastructure , security, scalability, and simplified management.

Building Dokan Cloud Shop and its Marketplace Addon wasn’t an overnight task. The development and marketing teams at Dokan spent two years perfecting the platform, ensuring it would meet the evolving needs of modern entrepreneurs.

Dokan Cloud Shop marks a bold new chapter for the Dokan brand, taking the marketplace features that have powered countless online stores and expanding them into the broader eCommerce space.

Who Should Consider Using Dokan Cloud Shop?

Dokan Cloud caters to a wide range of users, from individuals and small businesses to established enterprises. It offers a user-friendly, scalable, and feature-rich platform for creating and managing online marketplaces. Here’s a breakdown of who would benefit the most from using the Dokan Cloud platform:

1. Entrepreneurs Prioritizing Ease of Use

Dokan Cloud shines for those who want a user-friendly platform with minimal technical setup. Its intuitive interface and streamlined setup process make it ideal for those who are new to creating marketplaces or prefer a hands-off approach. Entrepreneurs looking for simplicity and efficiency in setting up their online marketplace will find Dokan Cloud a great solution.

2. Businesses Anticipating Growth

Dokan Cloud’s scalability is a major advantage. If you anticipate that your marketplace will attract a significant number of vendors or experience high traffic volumes, Dokan Cloud’s infrastructure ensures smooth performance even during surges. With Dokan Cloud, your platform is ready to grow as your business expands without worrying about hosting or performance issues.

3. Businesses Looking for Customization Options

Dokan Cloud also appeals to businesses looking for customization in their marketplace. With flexible options for adding features, integrating third-party apps, and tailoring the user experience, Dokan Cloud allows businesses to create a unique marketplace suited to their specific needs, without the complexity of managing everything on a self-hosted platform.

4. Businesses Concerned with Security and Compliance

Organizations that prioritize data security and regulatory compliance will find Dokan Cloud a valuable tool. With air-tight security measures and streamlined compliance with tax regulations, Dokan Cloud takes care of server maintenance and updates. This ensures your platform adheres to best practices, reducing the risk of security breaches and making compliance much easier to manage.

5. Companies Seeking to Streamline Operations

For businesses looking to simplify their operations, Dokan Cloud offers a centralized solution. From product management to order tracking, inventory oversight, and vendor management, Dokan Cloud provides all the necessary tools in one place. This centralized platform saves businesses time and effort, allowing them to focus on scaling their operations rather than managing multiple disconnected systems.

Key features of the Dokan Cloud Shop solution

Dokan Cloud is making a strong impression with its impressive feature set. They’re showcasing Dokan’s commitment to empowering marketplace owners with a state-of-the-art eCommerce solution. Let’s have a look at the features Dokan Cloud has rolled out so far.

1. Extensive Dashboard and Report Filtering

A strong dashboard is a cornerstone of any successful eCommerce platform, and Dokan Cloud Shop delivers just that. The platform offers a comprehensive dashboard with advanced report filtering capabilities.

Store owners can easily monitor their performance by tracking key metrics like earnings, customer numbers, orders, and products sold. Additionally, the ability to filter data by day, month, or year ensures that users can dive deeper into trends and performance patterns, helping to make data-driven decisions.

2. Exclusive Page Builder with Ready Templates

One of the standout features of Dokan Cloud Shop is its exclusive page builder, a first for the platform. This feature allows users to easily customize their online store without needing technical skills. The drag-and-drop builder, similar to popular tools like Elementor, offers over 20+ widgets, advanced styling options, and custom CSS.

With a variety of pre-designed themes like Pulse, Lumen, Vivid, Verge, Nova, and 40 more, store owners can quickly create a professional, visually appealing storefront that meets their needs and design preferences.

3. User-friendly Product Management

Product management can often be a cumbersome task, but Dokan Cloud Shop simplifies this process. The platform supports both physical and digital products, providing flexibility in the types of items you can sell.

There is a dedicated section for SEO optimization of product listings, helping store owners boost visibility and attract organic traffic. The streamlined product creation and upload process ensures that users can easily manage their inventories and showcase products effectively.

4. Easy Shipping and Tax Management

Handling shipping and taxes can be complex, but Dokan Cloud Shop makes it straightforward. With custom shipping profiles, store owners can define various conditions and parameters to suit their specific needs.

For taxes, Dokan Cloud Shop allows easy creation of tax rules based on countries and states, ensuring compliance with local and regional regulations. Whether it’s compound tax, zip tax, or shipping tax, the platform offers the flexibility to tailor tax policies to meet your business needs.

5. Live Chat Integration for Better Communication

In today’s digital world, real-time customer communication is key. Dokan Cloud Shop offers seamless live chat integration, allowing store owners to connect with their customers instantly. Integrated with WhatsApp, this feature enables easy and direct communication with customers, addressing inquiries, providing support, and fostering stronger relationships.

The integration enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty by offering personalized, on-demand support.

6. Email Integration with MailChimp

Email marketing is vital for nurturing customer relationships, and Dokan Cloud Shop makes it easier by integrating with MailChimp. This allows store owners to automate order confirmation emails, welcome emails, and marketing campaigns.

The integration streamlines communication and helps foster a positive customer experience by providing timely and relevant information.

7. SMS Integration with Twilio

For those looking to reach customers via SMS, Dokan Cloud Shop integrates with Twilio, a popular SMS platform. This feature allows store owners to send order updates, delivery notifications, and promotional messages directly to customers’ mobile phones. SMS offers a more personal communication channel and ensures customers stay informed throughout their shopping journey.

8. Insightful Store Analytics

Dokan Cloud Shop offers Google Analytics 4 (GA4) integration, providing powerful insights into customer behavior. With GA4, store owners can track important metrics like page views, session duration, bounce rates, and conversion rates.

These analytics help store owners understand how customers engage with the site, identify areas for improvement, and optimize their store for better performance.

9. Payment Integration for Smooth Transactions

For any eCommerce platform, a reliable payment system is a must. Dokan Cloud Shop offers multiple payment gateway integrations, including PayPal, Stripe, and cash on delivery.

This diversity ensures that customers have multiple payment options to choose from, making transactions smooth and secure. The integration of these trusted payment systems helps reduce abandoned cart rates and enhances the overall shopping experience.

10. Easy Coupon Management System

Discounts and promotions are powerful tools for increasing sales. Dokan Cloud Shop includes a comprehensive coupon management system that allows store owners to create and manage coupons for specific products, categories, or the entire store.

You can track coupon usage, set usage limits, and create expiring coupons to create urgency and drive conversions.

11. Built-in SEO Tools to Boost Your Search Rankings

Visibility on search engines is crucial for any online store. Dokan Cloud Shop includes built-in SEO tools, allowing users to easily optimize their store for search engines.

From tweaking meta descriptions to configuring product-specific SEO settings, the platform removes the guesswork from SEO, helping stores rank higher on Google and attract more organic traffic.

12. Support Pin to Provide Help Securely

Dokan Cloud Shop prioritizes security, especially when it comes to providing customer support. Instead of sharing sensitive login details, store owners can generate a Support PIN that allows the support team to access their store securely.

This feature ensures privacy while still allowing for fast and efficient assistance.

14. Bank Gateway and New Payment Gateways

In addition to the popular PayPal and Stripe gateways, Dokan Cloud Shop has added Paystack and Payfast as payment options, expanding its global reach.

The Bank Gateway option enables store owners to accept manual payments via bank transfer, catering to customers who prefer offline payment methods.

15. Product Bulk Edit

Managing large inventories is now easier than ever with the Product Bulk Edit feature. This allows store owners to make changes to multiple products at once, saving valuable time and reducing the effort needed to update product listings across the store.

Read: How to Configure Dokan Cloud Shop

How to Create an eCommerce Store with Dokan Cloud Shop

So we are at the business end of our article. Now we are going to show you how to build an online marketplace from scratch using the Dokan Cloud marketplace platform.

Here are the steps-

• Step 1: Signup to Dokan Cloud Platform
• Step 2: Complete the Setup Wizard & Onboarding Process
• Step 3: Configure Your Business Details, Domain Name, etc
• Step 4: Create Categories and Brands for the Products
• Step 5: Configure Shipping
• Step 6: Set up the Payment
• Step 7: Configure the Tax Settings
• Step 8: Design Your Store with Page Builder
• Step 9: Add Integrations
• Step 10: Configure Other Settings and Launch Your Online Store

Now let’s see the steps in detail-

Step 1: Signup to Dokan Cloud Platform

First, you need to sign up for the Dokan Cloud platform to get started. Dokan Cloud offers a 14-day trial period. So you will get plenty of time to explore and test the available features before you make your final decision.

Also, after purchase, you will only need to pay $1 per month for the first 1 month. This will give you time to test whether your idea is market-fit.

While signing up, you need to add your email address and set a password.

Dokan Cloud will take a few minutes to set up the online store and you will get a message that your marketplace is created.

Step 2: Complete the Setup Wizard & Onboarding Process

You need to complete the setup wizard to start your eCommerce store. Choose the Standalone Shop option, and add the necessary information like your store address, business name, etc to finish-

You can read the documentation on the onboarding process to get a better idea.

Step 3: Configure Your Business Details, Domain Name, etc

In this step, you need to configure your store name, business details, brand, custom code for your site customization, vendor onboarding settings, etc.

Go to Settings–> General to find these options-

Step 4: Create Categories and Brands for the Products

Create categories for your products. That way, when you upload the products, you can choose the categories for their products. Also, you need to create brands if you are planning to sell branded products.

Go to Products–> Categories to create categories-

And Products–> Brands to create brands–

Step 5: Configure Shipping

Shipping is a very important part of any online store. And it is quite complicated as well. However, the Dokan Cloud makes it easy to configure shipping.

All you need to do is create a shipping profile and shipping types from Settings–> Shipping–

Step 6: Set up the Payment

Dokan Cloud offers various payment methods including Stripe, PayPal, Paystack, Mangopay, Bank Payment, etc. You will get the payment method based on your location.

You can set payment method from Settings–> Payment–

Step 7: Configure the Tax Settings

The Dokan Cloud platform has an amazing tax feature that can handle tax settings for any location. You can find all the tax-related settings from Settings–> Tax-

Step 8: Design Your Online Store with Page Builder

Yes, the Dokan Cloud has a page builder that will help you design unique eCommerce store for you to standout.

The page builder has all the necessary blocks to design your shop page, home page, header, footer, single product page.

Go to Design–> Themes and click on the customize button of your activated theme-

Step 9: Integrations

Dokan Cloud has integrations for live chat, analytics, email sending, and SMS gateway. You will find all of them in the Integrations section-

Step 10: Configure Other Settings and Launch Your eCommerce Store

You are almost there. Now you need to configure other settings like SEO, Notifications, Teams, etc and you are one your way.

Now you are ready to launch your eCommerce store.

Marketplace Addon: Dokan Clouds’ Amazing Versatility

The Dokan Cloud Marketplace Addon enhances the Dokan Cloud Shop by enabling the creation of a multi-vendor marketplace. This addon allows store owners to manage vendors, products, and orders in one place, providing a simple way to run a marketplace.

With easy vendor management and product listing tools, it offers a smooth experience for both store owners and vendors, all within the secure, cloud-based platform.

Before we move into the tutorial on how to create a marketplace with Dokan Cloud, let us see the difference between Dokan Plugin vs Dokan Cloud.

Dokan Plugin vs. Dokan Cloud: What makes them different?

Dokan Plugin is a feature-rich WordPress extension, while Dokan Cloud is a standalone cloud-based platform that operates independently from WordPress and WooCommerce. The Dokan team maintains both platforms and caters to user needs while offering flexibility and control for marketplace establishment and management.

Users should consider factors such as their familiarity with WordPress, scalability requirements, and desired level of control when choosing between Dokan Cloud and the Dokan Plugin for their multivendor marketplace. Here’s a quick comparison table between Dokan Cloud and the Dokan Plugin:

Topic	Dokan Plugin	Dokan Cloud
Platform	WordPress plugin	Standalone cloud-based eCommerce platform
Dependency	Relies on WordPress and WooCommerce	Independent of WordPress and WooCommerce
Flexibility	Offers flexibility in customization and control	Provides a user-friendly platform with minimal technical expertise required
Feature Richness	Feature-rich with a large community and support	Evolving platform with new features being added gradually
Updates and Maintenance	Users may face compatibility issues with WordPress and WooCommerce updates	Maintenance and updates managed by Dokan team
Scalability and Performance	May experience performance issues with scalability	Offers scalability and performance advantages over WordPress-based solutions
Ease of Use	Requires some technical expertise for setup and maintenance	Provides an easy-to-use platform with minimal setup and maintenance required
Control	Users have control over customization and updates	Maintenance and updates managed by the Dokan team

Read more about Dokan Cloud vs Dokan Plugin.

How to build a Marketplace using Dokan Cloud

You can easily build and manage a marketplace using Dokan Cloud, leveraging its intuitive interface and powerful features. Follow the below steps to create a thriving online marketplace.

1. Set up Your Store in Four Simple Steps

You need to complete the initiation of your marketplace by opening a Dokan Cloud account. You’ll see the following screen after signing up to the platform.

Give a suitable name to your marketplace and hit the “Start Creating Marketplace” button. You need to answer three questions in the next step to continue creating the marketplace. These pieces of information are essential for the Dokan team to serve you better.

Hit the Next button to complete the final step of store creation.

Provide a complete address of your marketplace including City and Postal Code. Then click Finish to complete the process.

You’ll see the list of your sites upon successful completion of the marketplace creation process. In our case, we created a test marketplace as shown below in the image.

2. Explore the Dokan Dashboard and Other functionalities

Dokan Cloud currently offers ten menus in the admin panel. Each menu comes with effective configuration options. The dashboard shows an overview of your overall marketplace activities. You’ll see a graphical presentation of Gross Sales, Net Revenue, Commissions, Refunded Amounts, New Customers, and Orders.

3. Create a New Product or Update the Existing one

You can sell both physical and digital products using Dokan Cloud. No matter if your product has multiple variations like different sizes and colors, Dokan Cloud allows you to sell online without any hassle.

It also lets you see the Search Engine Listing Preview of the product. This helps you optimize the product for SEO by making necessary changes.

4. Handle All Your Orders from a Single Place

Dokan Cloud organizes all your orders in six tabs- Completed, Processing, Pending, Failed, Cancelled, and Refunded. Each order will be available under the suitable tab depending on its status. You can also search for the order details by typing the order ID or customer name in the search bar.

5. Create Subscription Plans for Vendors

As an admin, you can create subscription plans by defining the billing and subscription plan-specific conditions. You can also allow custom features and capabilities of vendors under the subscription plan such as product publishing, coupon creation, SEO optimization, and reporting.

6. Manage Your Vendors and Customers from the Admin Panel

The Vendors and Customers menus have the list of all vendors and customers available at your marketplace. You can manage them simply by clicking on the options from the left sidebar. Currently, Dokan Cloud has the list of all active and inactive customers and seven vendor categories as follows:

• Active
• Inactive
• Pending
• Vacation
• Suspended
• Blocked
• Hold Payout

You can also search for the vendors and filter them based on status, vendor’s joining date, region, and store rating.

7. Connect with Third-party Services if Needed

Dokan Cloud lets you integrate your store with additional services, apps, and plugins to enhance the functionality of your marketplace. You can enable live chat, manage marketing campaigns with Mailchimp, send SMS notifications, integrate Google Analytics 4, and migrate your store to Dokan Cloud from various multi-vendor marketplaces easily.

8. Configure the General Settings of your Marketplace

Most customers don’t want to create a new account to buy a product. You can allow guest checkout from this section. Also, Dokan Cloud allows you to control the marketplace visibility in four ways. You can hide your store behind a “Coming Soon” notice, keep your site visible to only logged-in members, keep it public to anyone, or discourage search engines from indexing the site.

9. Configure Your Preferred Payment Options

Currently, Dokan Cloud integrates well with all major credit card payments through the Stripe gateway. You can also provide your customers with more ways to pay by enabling the PayPal payment option. These two are the most popular payment gateways worldwide.

10. Define the Payout Options for your Vendor

You can configure both auto and manual payout options. In the case of the manual payout, vendors can request a payout and then an admin has to approve it for disbursement. You can also define a minimum balance required for the vendor to request a payout.

11. Take Control of Your Store’s SEO

Dokan Cloud addresses your SEO needs in every possible way. You can optimize titles, site URLs, and meta descriptions for general web pages and social handles from here. It also lets you control advanced SEO including site verification and sitemaps.

12. Complete the Other Required Steps to Build Your Marketplace

We have skipped a few setting options in this Dokan Cloud review, but we checked them all. Each option is functional and highly effective. You can define shipping rules (i.e. flat rate) to provide different shipping rates for different selections of products.

Dokan Cloud comes with page editors and themes to help you customize your store’s outlook as per your needs. It also lets you manage countries and rules where and how you collect taxes. And, finally, the setup guide lets you complete setting up the marketplace if any step goes missing.

Pricing of Dokan Cloud: Your one-stop eCommerce solution

Dokan Cloud offers flexible pricing plans catering to various marketplace needs to ensure affordability without limiting options. Features and pricing vary based on the selected plan. You can choose from four distinct pricing tiers:

For Dokan Cloud Shop-

• Launch: Starting at $15 monthly, accommodating up to 5 staff. (+1% of your revenue)
• Pro: Starting at $36 monthly, accommodating up to 15 staff. (+0.75% of your revenue)
• Advanced: Starting at $157 monthly, accommodating up to 50 staff. (+0.5% of your revenue)
• Elite: Customized Plan

For Marketplace addon-

• Basic: Starting at $69 monthly, accommodating up to 100 vendors. (+1% of your revenue)
• Growth: Starting at $129 monthly, providing access for 250 vendors. (+0.75% of your revenue)
• Scale: Beginning at $399 monthly, with limitless vendor capacity. (+0.5% of your revenue)
• Plus: Tailored pricing available for those seeking a bespoke plan.

Excitingly, Dokan Cloud extends a generous 14-day trial period. This allows you to experience the platform firsthand and make an informed decision before committing to a purchase.

Dokan Cloud Review: Our final verdict

Dokan Cloud surely is a strong contender in the multi-vendor marketplace race. It excels in user-friendliness. The intuitive interface and centralized dashboard streamline marketplace management, saving you valuable time and effort. The cloud-based infrastructure ensures smooth performance even during traffic surges. This makes it ideal for marketplaces anticipating significant growth.

Dokan Cloud empowers you with a comprehensive toolkit, including a page builder, subscription plans, communication integrations, and useful analytics to optimize your marketplace for success. Moreover, existing Dokan users can leverage their experience while unlocking the benefits of a cloud-based solution.

Overall, Dokan Cloud is an excellent choice for entrepreneurs seeking a user-friendly, scalable, and secure platform to build and manage their multi-vendor marketplaces. With its features and seamless migration, Dokan Cloud empowers you to focus on growing your marketplace and achieving your business goals.