large orders but enough orders to satisfy, you know, my hobby,so to speak. It’s something that I really enjoy, even when as far as going to direct a garment sublimation, you know, I just enjoy what I do!

Coordinator: Okay, so Larry, tell me how did you, you know, come across WCFM Marketplace? How did you get to know about it?

Larry: So, my initial vision for my website, you know, one the things I struggle with is marketing… Being able to be out there and marketing my website and understanding how websites work… The very first thing you have to understand is you get paint, which puts you up higher on Google; and I have thought about it and thought about it and it actually came, you know, just like it lit up on my head and I realized what I needed to do and that ways I actually take a bunch of guys at myself and I was working at home… small paced, you know, home based businesses – not the big, automated, you know, companies that have automated machines, but the manual printing presses, people that have endured sublimation. I wanted to sit there and develop just one website for everybody to go through and be able to purchase membership, so to speak, to become a vendor… and they would be able to portray products of their own, merchandise… sit there, what I like to call under the dashboard, is more of a portfolio – when you’re looking at the store, you’re looking at their portfolio…

Coordinator: Right! Right…

Larry: Then I wanted them to be able to click on, you know, their Instagram link or their Facebook link, contact them directly through the website or even off the website. So I wanted to find a program or a plugin through WordPress that would allow my vision to actually become a reality!

Coordinator: Okay, so you found WCFM via internet search or did a friend or some acquaintance refer it to you?

Larry: So, I went under the WordPress, you know, that’s the platform I’m using currently. I came from Vistaprint which had limited options and as I was heading over to WordPress, and I was going under the search for plugins, and I just typed in “memberships.” Unfortunately, WCFM was on the second page and I didn’t take the time to try out other options – membership software plugins – and , to be honest, I wasn’t satisfied with any of them! One of the very first ones was Membership Pro; it was one of the very first ones that popped up and I went through all of the information regarding the program and I thought the program would actually be phenomenal! I thought I was going to do exactly what I wanted… and I just had so many issues! Like that the plugin – it actually got to the point where I could not even login to even start!

So when I finally came across WCFM, I ended up installing the plugin and right after that, I mean, there were no issues, no bugs, I was able to login, I was able to put my license key in and, you know, it just blew my mind! Looking at all the settings and the options that WCFM actually offered, and as, you know, they’ve worked to be as transparent as possible, I wouldn’t even say that I’ve used all the settings… There were so many things that I just left blank because I don’t even need them and, to be honest, I don’t even know what they do! Because I don’t need them!

So, yes, WCFM was one of the very first membership plugins that actually offered everything that I wanted plus some, and like I previously mentioned, their settings that I’ve gone through and I know the majority of what they are, but I’ve always left them blank because there’s no need for them in my situation.

Coordinator: Right. Okay, so, what are the addons that you’ve, you know, purchased?

Larry: What was that? I apologize!

Coordinator: I mean, the addons, the premium addons. Have you purchased any premium addon from WCFM Marketplace?

Larry: I actually have several addons that’s off the top off my mind… I can’t tell you what they are… but I can pull them up right now for you! Ummm…. [looking up] I apologize for the wait!

Coordinator: No issues!

Larry: Alright… So, obviously, the very first plugin that I have downloaded and installed and activated was WCFM… let me scroll a bit down… Wow! I have so many! [laughs]

Ummm… So, I’ve added quite a few plugins… WCFM actually offers you so much…one of the things is the number of plugins that are offered go from , you know, you’ve got – and these are the plugins that I actually use and are active on my website – Frontend Manager, Groups & Staff, I’ve got Frontend Manager Ultimate, Multivendor Marketplace… actually are one of the main ones that I use were kind of types of posts to my website shop. I have Multivendor Marketplace-Elementor, which is actually relatively new -I’ve never seen before, until today. I have just actually downloaded and activated the plugin and, you know, for being a website designer-builder, one of the things that kind of aggravated me- but with WCFM, it wasn’t really aggravation- was the inability to customize everything. With the original WCFM, before Elementor or before that plugin, you know, you can go and change the colour scheme, things like that. So, with Elementor, I’m hoping that I can turn around and actually add background colour to it because it’s just being a white colour. So that’s got me excited, I’m a little on edge, I can’t wait! And then I also have Multivendor Membership, which I believe, is the main plugin. So, those are the plugins that I run as far as WCFM…

But when it comes down to WCFM, I mean, everything – the way it’s integrated, the ease of use, the simplicity of the dashboard – it’s one of the very first plugins that never ran through a problem. And I never had to worry about reaching out to WCFM for any issues or any bugs that I’ve been experiencing. And that’s one of the things that have always caught me off guard because having, you know, focused so much on customer service and then not needing customer service… because once you plug everything in and you’re putting you key, you are gaining the simplicity of the interface… It’s just phenomenal! And that just, it always caught me off guard and then having a conversation with you right now about my thoughts on your guys’ plugin… it’s actually got me really thinking why, you know, why do you need me? You know what I mean, it’s just….

Coordinator: For us, each and every customer is as precious as each of our team members! You know, we value you! We are there just because of you guys, just because of your love and support! That’s what, you know, we’ve traded along so long.

So, thank you so much! It’s really inspiring for us to, you know, have you on board!

Larry: Oh, absolutely! I actually love the fact that I found you guys on the first place!

Coordinator: Thanks to that one!

Larry: Always a pleasure!

Coordinator: Okay, so that was really great! Thank you so much, Larry, and have a great day ahead!

Larry: You do the same! Thank you.

Coordinator: Okay. Bubbye!

Larry: Yep!

Coordinator: Okay, Larry! So, I just heard that you have, you know, migrated to WCFM Marketplace. Which platform were you using previously?

Larry: I was using Membership Pro and I would not necessarily say I was using it… I ran into a lot of bugs with the program; things were outgoing after purchase and login screen was blank – it was nothing there. And, obviously, I went through customer support and they told me to do this, this and that… I followed all their instructions. It actually got into the point where it was so bad that I had attempted to get a refund after the 30-day guarantee. Well, I was, during that 30-day period or during that ordeal, I could not access the program… So their service was, you know, in reality, not rendered properly. So, I turned around and I requested a refund and it was just a really bad experience for myself. And I ended up venturing a couple of other membership platforms and none of them were actually offering anything that WCFM had offered. WCFM was actually the last membership program I ran into and after downloading and messing with settings, I actually fell in love with the product!

Coordinator: Okay! So, what was the best thing that, you know, you discovered about WCFM Marketplace?

Larry: Ummm… that’s actually a great question! I can go about for days about this! So, WCFM… the reason I was looking for membership is… my website, the whole idea of my website was uhh… United Promotions – that’s actually the name of the website – unitedpromotions.com… And the idea behind it was that I wanted a bunch of manual printers, small shops that started off with sublimation, directed garment, obviously screen printers, even digital designers… I wanted a simple place for them to be able to go where one website would be marketed through the United States and aloof these little companies can set their market in the same website. And it would actually be posted on Google at a higher ranking because of paints! That was the original thought behind starting any membership program using a membership plugin on my website. And after downloading a few plugins, I realized there are a lot of issues with the idea… The main issue was actually them having access to the backend – I did not want them to have access to the backend of my WordPress. And that was actually one of my biggest concerns.

When I had downloaded WCFM, I went through a lot of the settings and have actually found that you guys eliminate the ability for the user to actually use the backend…. Which was actually great as a setting that you guys have implemented and there was just so much! And it took me a little while to actually go through all your settings – you guys just offer so much in your program and plugin that, you know, even if it’s something that I haven’t implemented on my website, it’s something that I probably could find! As a matter of fact, this morning, I was going through all of the programs I have or the plugins that I have downloaded in the past… and I have just found out that you guys offer a plugin added to for Elementor – which I use! With Elementor, I design my website. So, I had actually just found out this morning, I was updated this past month and just added it. Hopefully, after this interview, I’m gonna go through and mess with those settings and see what I can do as far as customization on my stores!

Coordinator: That’s so nice to hear about, you know, you having such a great experience with WCFM Marketplace. But one thing I’m intrigued with is that… you previously used Vendors Pro, right? So, I mean, you couldn’t actually use it at all! I mean, it had a technical issue and what was the reply from their side once you approached them? That’s really, you know, intriguing!

Larry: I had contacted the technical support via emails and through tickets and they kept, you know, advising me to go ahead and uninstall and deactivate the plugin and then reactivate, update my themes where it could be, you know, it’s not compatible with my theme on WordPress. And I was going through so much stuff – I was changing themes, tallying with which ones are compatible…and none of them worked! And like I had originally previously stated that when I log into their website, it was just blank – there was nothing there! I couldn’t even pull up my… what are those? Meta keys to activate license! So, it was one of things where you can download those plugins but it was useless! It did nothing for you!

So, I ended up contacting them and I got to the point after a couple of weeks that, “Hey, I just want my money back!” You know, this is not doing anything for me and in that time, like I had mentioned previously, I’ve tried other plugins and none of them offered what I wanted. Beside you guys! And it was actually after I found you guys and I found your settings and the ease of use that I said, “Well, I’m not gonna mess with this Membership Pro plugin” – it’s just it’s not useful to me. I paid almost $300 for it and the customer service is just not there! And that’s what are the things that I strive for – customer service. And if I’m not getting what I would provide to my customers, then I don’t want it in the first place!
I went through the process of actually trying to get my money back and they kept postponing everything – “We sent the ticket to the financial department and they’re gonna contact you shortly while we’re turning by…” At that point after I had submitted the ticket, it’s already been past 30-days.

Coordinator: 30 days for refund!

Larry: And this was actually the crazy part – before I finally contacted my bank to do a reverse payment, because they were refusing to even give back to me… so I had done a reverse payment, ended up finally getting the money back and they (the bank) ended with, you know, fighting with all the way to the end for me so I didn’t really had to mess with it.

So that was all taken care of and, like I mentioned previously, I tried other plugins before I found you guys. The plugins I was finding, they were kind of bare – there wasn’t much of customization to it and one of the biggest problems besides from having the problem of backend access to my WordPress, which I did not want… one of the biggest things was that I could not find a plugin that allowed vendors or members to be able to login and post to my store. And that was one of the biggest things I wanted – I wanted people to allow people to login and put in, you know… Allow them to post all their merchandise on my store or on the store website. And that was one of the problems with all of the other programs or plugins.

So, when I ran across WCFM, I had realized that this plugin actually has a lot to offer. And there was actually so much to offer that it took me days to actually go through all the settings, figure out what I can and cannot do with the program… I had set up numerous testing users so as to go through and see what the users can and cannot do on their end! And afterwards, you know, when I set everything up, it allowed them to have access to the backend and I was more concerned about that. And again I went through settings, and after setting, I found that I can actually limit where they’re accessing the backend. And then on WordPress they have that two-bar and I was like if we can move that. So by the end of actually manipulating your guys’ plugin and changing all of the settings to my liking, I actually found that WCFM was exactly what I was looking for!

Coordinator: So, you’re pretty satisfied with WCFM Marketplace, it seems!

Larry: Yes! Yes, I would say it’s one of my favorite plugins out of all the plugins that I do use. Obviously, the Membership, you know, I’m not running through Membership’s programs or plugins. But as far as the ease of use… even, you know… yeah I’m the owner of the website, but I also have a store on my website, you know. I own a store, which is ColorXPrints… and being able to go in and having the options to being able to post my own products… and now that’s actually one of the big reasons why I was so excited about WCFM was the fact that I would not have to take a vendor’s information, their products and actually post it myself! I wanted the website to be able to be run by self or I don’t have to do anything.

And actually it brings me down to another aspect that I do love! WCFM limits, and it’s easy to do it with settings on it, it limits how many products the vendors could actually offer based on their membership status. So, if they’re paying a smaller membership fee, they get less product; if they’re paying a more premium pack, they can have unlimited products. And even to top that off, let’s say you turn around and limit them, then you have an option where they can pay for additional products. It’s really great that you can go in now and be able to select a specific store and change how many products they are limited to, regardless of the global rule – I believe is what they say in the settings – the global rule… you set up your global rules in that membership and then enter the individual member into their store and change from global rule to a user-specific rule and be able to change how many products that user can use. So you can set there as the owner of the site and say that you’re gonna offer this membership to a customer; and if they wanna offer more products, they can pay for the Play kinda thing, like plug-n-play. And you can go into their vendor-specific and change how many products based on how much they’re paying for.

Coordinator: Since you’re, you know, so satisfied with WCFM Marketplace, if I tell you that on a scale of 1-10, how likely are you to recommend WCFM Marketplace to, you know, other entrepreneurs who might, you know, run a similar business or any other kind of a new startup? So, how likely are you to recommend WCFM Marketplace?

Larry: I would, and this is a non-biased aspect of it, you know, I’m not trying to be biased about it, but it would definitely be a 10! Based on my… and really it comes down to my experience with Membership Pro…

Coordinator: Yeah! I mean, that’s really weird, you know. I mean, I have heard of stories of other clients who have used any other marketplace solutions and, you know, they did have technical glitches, or you know, bad support – that was their reason to, you know, switch to WCFM Marketplace. But, I mean, it’s the first case that I’ve heard where you haven’t even, you know, properly used Memberships Pro and then you had to have, you know, face such a lot of issues. So it’s really weird from that side!

Larry: Yeah! And when you actually look at it, would I ever try Membership Pro even in the future? The answer is, you know, a hands-down NO! The reason behind it is not necessarily what they have to offer, and it seemed like they had everything that I wanted. But when I found WCFM, that offers everything that I want at a really good price, and then you’ve got the customer service… And that’s you know, like I’ve mentioned, that’s one of the biggest things I look at. And if the customer service is not there, then I couldn’t mess with it.

Coordinator: Thank you so much, Larry! That was really great talking to you! It was a pleasure, you know, hearing about your experience and I mean, a lot of entrepreneurs will now, you know, get to know the reason why so many people choose WCFM Marketplace. And thank you so much for our love and support, I mean, that means a lot and your positive words mean a lot!
And I just hope that you never ever face such difficulties with WCFM Marketplace – we’re always there to, you know, help you out if you find any kind of issue. So I just hope you never face any such issues further. And thank you so much! It was great talking to you!

Larry: Always the pleasure! And I do appreciate the time you’ve given me today to actually allow other people to learn a little bit more of my experience and what you guys actually have to offer. I think this, you know, your program is phenomenal, and I can’t wait to continue using it in future.

Coordinator: That’s the real point of this interview, you know. A lot of entrepreneurs, they have a lot of motivational videos to watch out for but, you know, they don’t really have those little nitty-gritties of other entrepreneurs that they have, they feel, the obstacles they face, the problems that, you know, they solve it by themselves… and these are the experiences that they really require to know and that’s what we, as team WCFM Marketplace, we strive to, you know, provide to all the other business people.

Larry: Absolutely!

Coordinator: Thank you so much! Bubbye and take care!

Larry: You do the same!

Coordinator: Okay. So, ummm, Alvaro, let us know something more about your startup.
Alvaro: Okay, ummm… Momenttuns.com is a lone marketplace for having suppliers. We work in Spanish, English and Portuguese. We give the opportunity that all persons of all organizations that have events business can subscribe to our system.
Coordinator: Okay, so how did it start… momenttuns? How did you start momenttuns? What inspired into, you know, starting this business?

Alvaro: Okay, umm… We found one year ago that the market in the event world, all portals and directories are always focused on the big event and wedding planners, but we did not find anything to support the critical mass of event providers who are actually doing the work. This (is) happening everywhere we asked.

So we created the momenttuns.com to give the opportunity to all event providers or event suppliers.

Coordinator: Okay, that’s really great, Alvaro! So, I’m sure, when you started your business there might have been some challenges that you faced, you know. I mean, since you’re doing this business, are you alone… I mean are you alone doing this kind of a business in your area or are there any kind of competition over there?
Alvaro: We find competition from peers and smaller events suppliers. All directories have been catering to biggers – the big ones. But the smaller event providers, we don’t find any solution for them.
So, we started to look in for marketplaces (solutions) in the internet, we were into the most relevant solution in the market. And we thought for many features for them – mainly, we need(ed) a multi-language feature, which can manage any store, a product service catalogue – this is for case management – we asked (for) these features for our solution. We finished the operational prototype was a more difficult technical issue because we need(ed) to integrate many many technical components.
Coordinator: Okay…ummm… So, I mean, finding the right solution for building your marketplace – was that the only challenge that you faced when you started your business? Or were there any other obstacles that you found when you started your business? I mean, we all know that starting a business is not, you know, a child’s play… It’s pretty difficult, it’s very daunting for many new entrepreneurs. So, I mean, what were the challenges that you faced during the initial days of your startup?
Alvaro: The initial time after finding the prototype was trying to create and develop a full marketplace with all components integrated. And all the components was in WCFM. And we had Ultimate, Group & Staff and Product Hub. And these components mostly work with WooCommerce mainly. Because our market is in Spanish and Portuguese.
Coordinator: That’s really great to know about WCFM! So, Alvaro, I’m sure your business would have flourished so much till now in just one year. So I’m sure you you would have reached many milestones and have achieved quite something in your business. So tell me something about your achievements in Momenttuns. Some statistics that you can boast about?
Alvaro: In September of last year, the construction and development was completed. And then a phase went out – the white-out phase face – until January 2020. Because we need(ed) to test all the systems in real environment with real vendors, real traffic… and test all the features and all systems of WCFM. So, by February 2020, we began marketing phase and until today, we have 68 sellers/vendors from Italy, Spain, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil,… Now we have more than 20,000 visitors per month and in our direct social networks we have more than 2,000 followers. We are expecting that at the end of 2020, we will reach 500 vendors with active memberships.
Coordinator: Okay, so you just said 20,000 visits per month! That’s a great number in 1 year! Congratulations, Alvaro!
Alvaro: Thank you, yes! It has been a big, big work.
Coordinator: Yeah! I mean, that’s really impressive! So, Alvaro, do you have any future plans? I’m sure you have some future plans for your marketplace. Would you like to share with us?
Alvaro: Ummm… another plans?
Coordinator: I mean, you must have some future plans for your marketplace… What next? I mean, what are you planning next for your marketplace?
Alvaro: We found in WCFM the main feature we’re moving -the successful cases or blogs or articles. We’re showing it to the database… We’re going to create a knowledge database with course and many content that will give the vendors the opportunity to share their services.
Coordinator: Okay, so this content is mainly for the vendors?
Alvaro: For the vendors… We are creating more content for vendors into (through) WCFM Knowledge Database.
Coordinator: Okay, alright. So, tell me about your team, Alvaro. I mean, are you the only person who’s working in this marketplace or do you have a big team?
Alvaro: I have a real team that was made a few months ago. I have a Commodity Manager, I had a Sand and Sea Manager, and I had a Technical Programmer.

I opened up MSOW… Things were not that well in the beginning but after a while, the business goes on and on everyday and we’re growing up. And now I’m very pleased for my final solution – my final selection was WCFM plugin.
Coordinator: So, how did you come to know about WCFM Marketplace?Ioannis: When I started MSOW, I chose, over searching internet, which is Dokan plugin. But I thought it was the best plugin for its money. I bought it… Okay, I found it and bought it and started developing the projects. But, you know, when you’re starting your business, support is the most important thing. The support from Dokan developers was extremely awful!After that, I tried by searching in internet and I found WCFM. So, I decided to send a message if it’s possible to migrate from Dokan to WCFM. The first time (reply) was about 10 minutes… 15 minutes, and I was impressed! And I started talking with one of your developers and he told me that, first of all, we can create a test site – a test MSOW – and we can migrate from Dokan to WCFM… “I will do it”, the developer of WCFM, “I will do it, you will see it and if you’re pleased with that, you may proceed to buying WCFM (Marketplace plugin). And I said, “okay!” And I created a test site, I gave him the codes to login to backend and, after about 2 or 3 hours, he told me that “we’re ready – you may enter to see what’s going on” and it was amazing! It was amazing!

I bought it without hesitation! And I asked from (one of) your developers to do the same for my live site and she did it… without extra charge!

So, the price of Dokan I had for $499 and WCFM’s price was about $99 for the package I needed. So, as you can see, we have the difference of $400. It was very, very important.

This was the first. The second is the support. Until today, I was very pleased with the support. I didn’t know about, you know, WordPress, C++ and these languages that they use on computers… I have basic experience in this. But I’m feeling that I have my own technical staff, which is you guys – WCFM!

Coordinator: So, how long have you been using WCFM Marketplace?

Ioannis: Recently, in January, I renewed my subscription to another year. It’s my second year now and I’m very pleased! I’m very pleased because except [sic] from the support, I sent a lot of questions, a lot of suggestions to you and some of my suggestions are already available on WCFM! And I’m very pleased for that!

Coordinators: You mean you found that answers in the Forum?

Ioannis: Not only that! For example, I suggested to your developers to create a separate shipping method for its country and it is now available! I suggested to your developers for a live chat and it is available now!

It is very important for us, you know, it is very important for us that we don’t have to mess to solve that technical stuff and we can focus on marketing on how to sell our products.

Coordinator: Okay, so, Ioannis, how did WCFM Marketplace enhance your business? I mean, did it improve in something?

Ioannis: Oh! It’s amazing… It’s amazing! Now I have at least 22 unique users every month… I have about 50 orders per day! The average order is of about €50… it’s something about $55 for you. And I have 40-45 stores… vendors. Now everyday (we) are adding new vendors. It’s amazing because I can focus on marketing, I don’t have to worry about technical stuff. If I have a problem, I can contact WCFM developers and they’ll solve it [snapping 2 fingers] like that immediately!

Coordinator: Okay, so, what do you think is the best thing about WCFM Marketplace, which actually compelled you, you know, to migrate from Dokan to WCFM Marketplace?

Ioannis: First of all, it is very simple! It is very simple for us who don’t have the knowledge for the technical stuff… it’s very simple. Second, it’s translatable! I translated WCFM into Greek language. As I said, the technical support is the most important thing for us. But we don’t have to worry about the technical stuff, technical issues. And of course, you’re updating very often… your plugins. That means that you care about your products… That you always everytime everytime you try to achieve a better ranking, you know.

Coordinator: So, Ioannis, quickly in a scale of 1-10, how likely are you, you know, suggest WCFM Marketplace to budding entrepreneurs?

Ioannis: In the Greece or to everywhere else?

Coordinator: Anywhere… Anywhere in the world…

Ioannis: Okay, anywhere… is about 10. In Greece- 0. Because I work in Greece!

Coordinator: [Laughing] Okay, so you don’t want any competition over there?

Ioannis: No, no, no! I don’t want any competition! If someone asks me about what to do – “I want to create another marketplace in Greece, what to do?” – I’ll suggest him buy Dokan!

Coordinator: Okay, so you have that competitive spirit in you! That’s great! So, Ioannis, it was great speaking to you. Thanks for sparing your valuable time and thanks for trusting WCFM Marketplace. We wish that you succeed in all your future ventures and we keep walking together like this forever!

Ioannis: Thank you very much… Thank you very much!

Coordinator: Thank you so much, Ioannis. Bubbye!

Ioannis: Bubbye!

Coordinator: Okay, so what does Janga Shop sell?

Blaise: Yes, we sell anything that can be sell online like physical product, electronic and so on. And we’ll sell also virtual products – but right now we deliver products that can be delivered in real life.

Coordinator: Okay, so tell me, Blaise, when did it all start? I mean, when did you think that we (you) need to start Janga Shop?

Blaise: Yes, the Janga Shop project started now since 1 year… yes. The website is online since 5 years. And now we’re still working on how to have more sellers on the system.

Coordinator: Hmm… Okay, what inspired you, Blaise, about Janga Shop. I mean, what inspired you in starting up your own business… your own online business?

Blaise: Yes, before starting the Janga Shop project, I was a website designer. So when I advised many people having a shop and invest in eCommerce, most of them (told) us that it was too expensive to them and they don’t have experience to eCommerce. They don’t have also experience on internet! First of all they don’t have any experience on internet… and considering that the financial aspect is too high for them, we chose to implement the marketplace to facilitate how those customers can invest in eCommerce. By starting our personal eCommerce platform, without paying anything, we convince sellers that they pay only when we sell their products to them (customers). Yes, we help sell their products online. So, that is how we started the project… to see how we can facilitate the sellers to invest in eCommerce.

And as soon as we started it, we are seeing that people are showing interest in building their business online right now.

Coordinator: Okay, did you feel any kind of obstacle coming your way when you started your business? Did you, I mean, experience any kind of issues during your initial days?

Blaise: Yes, we have (had) some few issues but with the experience I have, I immediately found the solution.Yes… and using your platform, it helped me fix the issues I had. Those issues I had were specially how to personalize some options to match our environment. And those issues were solved immediately (by you) just by sending an email to (your) support and immediately the information of how to do it was sent very fast.

Coordinator: Okay, so tell me, Blaise, how did WCFM Marketplace enhance your business? How did it help you start with your startup?

Blaise: Yes, before getting your products we find them on online and let me tell you why we choose your product… Because we saw that many people on internet (suggest your plugin)… When we checked the features you proposed, we saw that you have many more features than the initial features we have in our business plan. That is why we chose your solution. And we saw also your solution keep up on orders and we have also the opportunity to test it before buying it. And that is why we started (with) this solution. And concerning any issue, I think that there were not many issues – even if you don’t know anything to make a web design, if you don’t have any level in programming online, yes.

Coordinator: Okay, and Do you think like, since you have been in the IT sector, so things would have been a bit easier for you to understand while you were building your marketplace. So, do you think WCFM Marketplace will also suit those entrepreneurs who don’t really know much about WordPress or aren’t that savvy with computers or aren’t that savvy with this technology? Do you think WCFM Marketplace would be helpful for those people as well?

Blaise: I think that it would be very helpful for those people. They need first of all to know how to use WordPress. If they know how to use the WordPress, there will be a very faster way for them to do business… because you don’t need to (do much)… Just know how to install the plugin. After installing the plugin, you just read the manual to know how to login as a seller, how to login as an administrator, how to manage article and so on. It’s very simple! So, you have many video on YouTube that can help you learn very fast – how to build your website using that marketplace software.

Coordinator: Okay, tell me Blaise, are you alone in this business or do you have a team working for you?

Blaise: Don’t get what you’re saying. Can you repeat the question?

Coordinator: Yeah, sure! I just wanted to know if you’re alone in this business or you have a team that is working for you?

Blaise: I told you, we start(ed) the business since one year. And we’re still doing the marketing to have many sellers on the platform. And after having many sellers, we suppose we’ll have more products on the platform. Now we don’t have many visitors on the website and I think if the business is not starting as we wanted to start maybe because some people are visiting the website now and could not find the article that they need. Okay, but we have many people right now who have tested the platform and made a purchase from the platform. The system, I think, was built to much (of) our ideas. Because the eCommerce here in Cameroon is not working like the eCommerce in other countries. Here, you purchase the product, you want it to be delivered before making the payment…

Coordinator: Oh, so it’s cash-on-delivery over there.

Blaise: Yes, you pay after delivery.

Coordinator: But is there someone else who’s helping you in this business? I mean, anyone else who’s working with you or you’re the only owner and you only manage this entire business?

Blaise: Now, I’m working with a designer so we have 2 in our team right now. And I found on your solution an Affiliate program – that we have. So, I can also say that we have many on our team because those affiliates can be considered as our team because they help in the marketing.

Coordinator: Right!

Blaise: Yes, they can promote products for an e-shop, they can invite sellers to set their shop on the platform and get it (commission) for any sale that the shop that the affiliate referred (to). They get commission from that shop online. So, I think that with that solution, we don’t need to have a fixed employee that will have a fixed salary. Here, with Affiliate program, many people can decide to have more money or not – that depends on them. And they can manage their timetable easily.

Coordinator: Okay, do you have any final suggestion, any advice for our viewers?

Blaise: Any advice… I think that I would just congratulate your team and encourage them to work together to give our solution more flexible solution so to keep our business working better. And to give all possibility to improve, yes. And if (compared to) any other solution, your support is always near us to understand, to have feedback or to have any suggestion… And I think if (compared to) any solution, for any suggestion, we have to do an email and request that facilitate that… and they’ll keep working as they’re now. Keep answering very fast (for) any issue that we have on the platform, so keep doing what they’re doing now.

Coordinator: Okay, that’s so great to hear that from you, Blaise, and thank you so much for being here and I’m sure a lot of people, a lot of entrepreneurs will be really moved by your story and will really take note from your journey. And that would really help them in their future ventures. And we, Team WC Lovers, really wish you all the very best for all your future ventures.. Thank you so much, Blaise!

Blaise: Okay, thank you very much!

Coordinator: Yeah! Bubbye!

Blaise: Okay, Bubbye!

But at some point my brain kicked in a little bit and I said okay, but what is the risk involved in that? And that is pretty much that everyone that’s in this reefing hobby is also growing corals. So, if you have your own coral farm then you’re pretty much competing with everyone that’s in the hobby… and that was basically the idea where I said, okay, how about bringing all those people together to one platform and also support those people with challenges, like, having an own web-shop in the first place but also supporting them where there’s like logistics challenges, like, you have to ship corals over Express like next day or something like that… So, yeah, that was pretty much the idea to bring all people together and start a marketplace as business.
Coordinator: Okay, that’s great, Dominique! So, tell me, Dominique, when you started Community Corals or when you were in the process, did you face any kind of hurdles, any challenges, like that?
Dominique: Yeah, definitely! I mean, for start, it was more like I have never heard about WordPress or plugins or things like that… So, it was pretty much -okay, how do I transform an idea to something to really like a product… And that was like the first challenge to really find a solution, a marketplace software on WordPress. But starting that was really like, okay, the first big step was, okay, I have something previous to WCFM times… And it was a good starting point but it was really, like also, technical issues that I was facing from them. So, a lot of functionalities were missing that my vendors were asking for and (it) had a lot of bugs. So, it was a daily struggle to really just fix the daily issues and that was really, like, a tough time – so one year just getting things working somehow and like all the complains coming from the vendors… Fixing that from different types of developers to find what’s the reason for that so a lot of things, yeah!
And, yeah, I have to say that overcoming these challenges were really when I found out about WCFM and also some great new functionalities that I was always searching for… I saw that you already had them implemented and (I) did a lot of tests on them and I pretty much liked it… and from there, things got easier, I can say.
Coordinator: So, would you say that WCFM Marketplace, you know, improvised your site or something? I mean, did it enhance your website, your marketplace, your business?
Dominique: Yeah, like I said it was all those challenges that I would say – there are two components – one is very stabilizing the business and the other one was really like giving it gross opportunity. So, when I talk about stabilization, it’s really would like I mentioned to just get rid of all those bugs, just have a platform that is working as it’s supposed to… That’s really a key thing because I didn’t mention but in the past I was also like two weeks out of business because of some issues over the platform. So, I can say that they’re really a big step forward to have a product that’s really working. I also like, for example, the Enquiry module -I really love it because it has those direct communication from customer to vendor which really helps the admin to not really get involved in everything’s that’s happening but really have direct communication with a customer which really makes things easier and frees a lot of time.
And the second component, as I said like the opportunity for gross like those new functionalities – the biggest one was I was saying that I now have the opportunity to, on vendor level, decide of the shipping options offered by the vendor, where in the coral industry, the big part is not (just) the shipping but also the local pickup. And now I’ve introduced the new membership – just offering the vendors to offer a pickup service for all those people who do not want to ship. So, that gave me a complete new field of addressing the pickup business that also helped a lot.
Coordinator: That’s great to hear, Dominique! Dominique tell me something about your marketplace’s achievements. I mean, I’m sure you would have gone through a lot of achievements during your (marketplace’s) journey! So, just share a few stats or share something notable about Community Corals… Some achievements that you’ve received…
Dominique: Yeah, I have to say that I think the big ones are really when you’re starting… what really kept me was like the first vendor signing up, like the first product that was introduced in the marketplace, he first order that was received and even the first day when you received 2 orders on one day… So, that are really like the milestones that I have celebrated the most, I can say.
But also from day 1, I mean the marketplace is successful and is really growing on a monthly basis like month to month. So that’s a good thing in a growing business that’s creating milestones every month… But the thing what’s sticking with me the most is really like in the coral industry a lot of people are doing as a site also, so now I see a lot of people stated quitting their jobs or at least doing a part-time because they’re getting so much order and they can earn money by just their passion of growing corals… And it’s something that’s quite important to me and I love to be involved in things like that.
Coordinator: Okay, so, lastly Dominique, do you have a big team or a small, you know, a comparatively smaller team and what’s the strength of your team? I hope you’re not alone in this business!
Dominique: Yeah, actually, I am! So, it’s just me and for sure I’m working with contractors here and there. But my team is just me at the end. But, I mean, that’s basically a good thing that a good software solution if you can automate things and things can go pretty well if you do not need to introduce a lot of resources… At least that’s my experience in my scale of business at least.
Coordinator: Yeah, you know, it’s good to hear that you alone are being able to manage it through WCFM Marketplace. I mean, would you say that WCFM Marketplace is really helpful for, you know, people who really don’t know much about WordPress and is pretty much new to this business? So, do you think WCFM Marketplace would help those new entrepreneurs out there?
Dominique: Definitely! So, I mean, that’s the experience that I’ve made… For sure you need to spend some time just figuring out what are the different opportunities because the good thing about WCFM is that you have a lot of opportunities to configure the system so to introduce different kind of processes. And, setting up, that there you need to spend some time figuring out how to configure the system… and if you’ve set this up – that’s not that kind of a big deal – then things can run pretty smoothly, I think.
Coordinator: Okay, so thank you so much, Dominique, for sharing your experience with our audience! I’m pretty sure that all the entrepreneurs out there would really take note from your story and would build their own dream marketplace… through WCFM Marketplace, of course! And Team WCFM Marketplace wishes you all the very best for all your future ventures. You know, we really hope that Community Corals grow all the more successful in coming days.
Dominique: Yeah, also from my side, thank you so much for all the patience that you put into your products… and yeah, this is a great journey and a lot of things ahead of us, I think… So, thank you very much for that and thanks for having me.
Coordinator: Yeah, I’m sure we’ll keep our association forward.
Dominique: Sure, thank you!
Coordinator: Thank you so much, Dominique. We’re signing off for today.
Dominique: Sure!

So, I decided to open my first e-shop to sell my products. After a while, I found out the idea with the help of some friends of mine to create their own e-shops… And it started to grow up in my mind the idea of a marketplace. And that was the beginning. This happens at about 2017.
You know, there was a time for projects to become an idea for a project. And at about 2017, I started my first marketplace.
Coordinator: Okay, that’s great! So, tell me, Ioannis, did you find any kind of difficulty starting your business? Were there any kind of hurdles that you faced? Some sort of obstacles…?
Ioannis: Of course! I had a physical store and I had to convert this to an eCommerce store and I didn’t know much about computers and all these stuff. But WCFM helped me a lot to create, you know, my business… Because this is so simple, it was a great tool for me!
Coordinator: Okay, so… I mean, how did you actually overcome those hurdles?
Ioannis: With patience… and great spirit here [pointing at his head]… Never give up, never surrender. I had a lot of difficulties to become a player in eCommerce. But, you know, a lot of people are thinking that if they create a niche shop to sell and (will) gather a lot of money – no, it’s not like that… E-shop is more difficult than a physical shop. A physical store has clients from the town, the neighborhood. But the e-shop has clients from… umm… all Greece, for example, for me. You know, you need to try to experiment a lot of things… You need to learn the hard way.
Or… If you have a lot of money, you can spend them (by giving them) to a marketing company to sell your things. But, you know, this is very difficult because when you stop spending money, you stop selling. There’s a specific procedure… You need to learn by yourself to gather experience… And as I said, you need to be patient.
Coordinator: Okay. So, Ioannis, what would be your final advice, your main advice to all the budding entrepreneurs out there who’d be listening to you? Like, a lot of people today are thinking of starting their own marketplace – which is a very good thing! But, a lot of them, you know, they find it difficult, they hesitate before starting, they have a lot of queries in their mind. So, what would you suggest to them?
Ioannis: Okay, first of all, every person has his own circle of confidence. First of all, you must go out of this circle. Try it, dare it. Don’t be afraid! This is the first step.
The second step is that you must choose the right tools. You have two ways to do that, to choose the right tools. The first way is to spend a lot of money and buy a lot of tools and then you’ll buy WCFM. The second way is buy WCFM from the beginning. Buy the whole package; do not try to buy only one plugin, buy all the plugins. You gonna need it!
And, it’s my advice to anyone is that do not do that in Greece, eh! I’m here in Greece!
Coordinator: Okay, that was really nice! So, Ioannis do you have any other fellow mates over there or you’re the only person managing the entire business? Do you have a team?
Ioannis: I started my business by myself and now I have 2 employees but we can work from everywhere, it’s internet. I live in Preveza, Greece, and one of my employees is in Athens which is 400 kms from here and the other one is in Thessaloniki which is another 400 kms. But, we can communicate.
Coordinator: Okay, so any future plans for your marketplace?
Ioannis: Yes, as I said I’m selling things in Greece. And 2 weeks ago, I opened up (at) Cyprus which we have the same language. My next step is to go to Italy, to Albania, to Bulgaria… all neighborhood countries. And my final plan is to sell my products of half of my marketplace to all of Europe! And now we are translating our language, which is Greek, to all the other languages.
Coordinator: Okay, Ioannis, all the very best for all your future ventures! We hope that we stay with you for a lifetime. And thank you so much for sparing your time and, you know, sharing your success story with our entrepreneurs who’ll be watching you. Thank you so much!
Ioannis: It was a pleasure for me! Thank you, bye!
Coordinator: Bye!