How to Build a Multi-Vendor Marketplace in Nigeria with Next.js and MongoDB

The Marketplace Opportunity in Nigeria

Nigeria's e-commerce market is projected to reach $10B by 2025. Multi-vendor marketplaces capture the largest share because they aggregate supply and demand at scale.

Data Architecture

Model your core entities: User, Vendor, Product, Order, OrderItem, and Commission. A Vendor belongs to a User and has a settlement account for split payments.

Vendor Onboarding Flow

Build a multi-step vendor registration: business details, bank account, product upload, and admin verification. Gate vendor activation on manual review to prevent fraud.

Split Payments with Paystack

Paystack's Split feature allows you to automatically route a percentage of each transaction to a vendor's subaccount while retaining your commission. Create subaccounts via the Paystack API at vendor onboarding.

Product & Inventory Management

Implement stock tracking with low-stock alerts, CSV bulk upload for vendors with many products, and image upload via Cloudinary with automatic WebP conversion.