Bilingual Arabic–English multi-vendor marketplace for a web agency

The challenge

A web agency in the Middle East was building a multi-vendor marketplace for its client, a bilingual Arabic and English shopping site where independent sellers list and sell their own products. The store already ran on OpenCart with a premium theme, and the agency chose our multi-seller extension as the marketplace engine.

The standard extension needed adapting. Seller sign-up asked for more information than the client wanted, product entry felt overwhelming for first-time sellers, and seller pages had to work properly in right-to-left Arabic. The client also wanted tighter account security before inviting sellers onto the platform.

What we did

• Installation. We installed the multi-seller extension on the client's domain and configured it alongside the existing theme.
• Step-by-step product entry. We split the seller product form into guided steps and added a matching step-wise product-add link in the admin panel, with clear error messages when a category was missing.
• Simpler seller onboarding. We removed fields the client did not need, made the last name optional and adjusted auto-approval settings.
• Arabic and right-to-left support. Seller pages were adapted for right-to-left layout, and we gave the agency the language-file locations plus a search tool on the server so its team could translate remaining strings.
• Account security. We added three security features: password-strength rules, seller email approval and a notification email when a password is changed.
• Seller self-service. Sellers can now delete their own products and images without admin help.
• Fixes. We resolved seller-side issues including a database error on forgotten-password requests and a logo-position notice.

Tech stack

PHP, MySQL, OpenCart, vQmod, Journal theme