The case for a multi-vendor marketplace in Kandy
Kandy is a second largest city in sri lanka, where around 120,000 people live and shop, and one of the markets in Sri Lanka where we build multi-vendor marketplaces.
The local economy is driven by tourism and tea industry, and commercial activity concentrates around the city centre.
Logistics are supported by Highway links, which matters when you promise customers fast delivery.
Sri Lanka's online shopping is growing quickly, especially gift delivery and diaspora orders. Reliable island-wide delivery and LankaQR payments build trust.
For a business in Kandy, the opportunity is to own the customer relationship: your own multi-vendor marketplace keeps your margin, your data and your brand, while marketplaces and social channels become additional sales routes instead of the only one.
What makes a Kandy store feel local
A store that works in Kandy respects local habits as well as local law. These are the details we configure first.
Currency and pricing
Everything a Kandy shopper sees — price, tax, delivery fee, refund — is in LKR, written the local way.
Language and content
Content can be produced in Sinhala, Tamil and English, so a Kandy customer reads the store in the language they use at home.
Local trust signals
We add the payment logos, courier names and policy pages shoppers in Kandy recognise: Visa and Mastercard and LankaQR and delivery through Sri Lanka Post.
Domain, phone and contact
A .lk domain (or your own) builds local trust and search relevance. Click-to-call and WhatsApp buttons use the +94 calling code so customers reach you without dialling errors.
Talent and partners nearby
Kandy draws on University of Peradeniya, which means plenty of local staff, interns and technology partners to run the store after launch.
A multi-vendor marketplace built around your Kandy business
Kandy businesses tell us what they sell and how they want to sell it; our engineers turn that into a custom multi-vendor marketplace, an admin system and a mobile app shaped around their operations.
In Kandy we typically work with industry-specific marketplaces, regional seller networks, B2B supplier platforms and service-provider marketplaces, and with sellers in categories such as fashion, electronics, gifts and groceries that have strong online demand in Sri Lanka.
We start with a requirements meeting, show you a working demo within 24 hours, and only then propose scope, milestones and budget.
Features of your multi-vendor marketplace in Kandy
These are the building blocks of a multi-vendor marketplace. We scope them with you, so you pay for what your Kandy operation needs.
Vendor onboarding
Application, document verification, agreements, approval and seller dashboards with team access. Couriers such as Sri Lanka Post, Domex and Koombiyo plug in alongside your own fleet for Kandy orders.
Catalogue governance
Listing templates, moderation queues, category rules, image standards and duplicate detection. Multiple stock points in Sri Lanka are supported, so a Kandy order ships from the nearest one.
Commission engine
Commissions and fees by vendor, category, product or transaction, with promotions funded by either party. Dashboards break sales down by product, customer and neighbourhood of Kandy, so you see what to promote.
Order routing
Split carts, vendor-wise fulfilment, shipping rules, service areas and delivery tracking. Storefront language, imagery and navigation are set up for Kandy shoppers and available in Sinhala and Tamil.
Settlements
Payout calculations, reconciliation reports and integration with split-payment providers where permitted. Catalogues come in from spreadsheets, ERP exports or supplier feeds, so your Kandy team keeps its current way of working.
Trust and support
Ratings, reviews, returns, disputes, seller performance scores and customer-support workflows. Payment steps are built around Visa and Mastercard, LankaQR and FriMi and Genie wallets, the options shoppers here already trust.
Who we build for in Kandy
Popular online categories in Sri Lanka include fashion, electronics, gifts, groceries, tea and spices and home. Local demand in Kandy is shaped by tourism and tea industry, so we often design catalogues and B2B ordering around those sectors. In Kandy, we most often build multi-vendor marketplaces for:
Industry-specific marketplaces
For industry-specific marketplaces, we usually start with catalogue governance, then add split-payment and escrow providers once orders are flowing.
Regional seller networks
Catalogue, pricing and fulfilment rules designed for regional seller networks in Kandy, connected to the systems you already use.
B2B supplier platforms
B2B supplier platforms get commission engine plus settlements workflows tailored to their operations.
Service-provider marketplaces
We map how service-provider marketplaces sell today and digitise it end to end — from enquiry and order to payment, dispatch and repeat purchase.
Institutional procurement platforms
For institutional procurement platforms, we usually start with trust and support, then add search and recommendation engines once orders are flowing.
Artisan and curated brand marketplaces
Catalogue, pricing and fulfilment rules designed for artisan and curated brand marketplaces in Kandy, connected to the systems you already use.
How Kandy customers pay online
A store that serves Kandy should let customers pay the way they do offline: Visa and Mastercard, LankaQR, FriMi and Genie wallets and Koko BNPL.
We integrate suitable gateways and providers for your business category and merchant eligibility, handle payment status, failed-payment retries and refunds, and keep sensitive card data with the provider rather than on your servers. All amounts are shown in Sri Lankan rupee (LKR).
Business buyers around the city centre often want invoices or bank transfer, while consumers lean on Visa and Mastercard. We support both flows.
- Koko BNPL
- LankaQR
- Bank transfer
- FriMi and Genie wallets
- Cash on delivery
- Visa and Mastercard
Shipping, couriers and local delivery in Kandy
Your multi-vendor marketplace can book shipments and share tracking with Sri Lanka Post, Domex, Koombiyo, Pronto Lanka and Prompt Xpress, or route orders to your own riders and stores across Kandy.
We set up shipping zones, cut-off times, free-shipping thresholds, cash-collection rules and returns so the promise on the product page matches what your team can deliver.
Connectivity in the area — Highway links — makes regional and national dispatch from Kandy practical.
Marketplaces vs. your own multi-vendor marketplace in Kandy
Daraz.lk, Kapruka and ikman.lk are where many shoppers in Kandy start, which is why sellers list there. The trade-off is commission, limited branding and rules the platform can change overnight.
NNT Mart gives you a channel you own: your domain, your customer list, your pricing and your brand. Where it helps, we connect product feeds and orders from marketplaces so stock stays in sync and your team works from one dashboard.
Tax, invoicing and compliance in Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan VAT is 18% after the 2024 reforms, administered by the Inland Revenue Department.
Two frameworks shape the build: the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022, being phased in, and the Consumer Affairs Authority Act No. 9 of 2003.
Our job is the engineering: price display with tax, invoice numbering, cookie and marketing consent, return and terms pages, role-based access and logs. Legal and tax conclusions stay with your own adviser in Sri Lanka.
Add a mobile app for Kandy customers
Separate buyer and seller apps let customers shop and track orders while vendors manage listings, accept orders and see payouts from their phones.
One backend serves the website and the apps, and the apps ship under your own Google Play and App Store accounts — so what you change once appears everywhere.
Order alerts, offers and abandoned-cart reminders go out on Kandy time (UTC+5:30), in Sinhala and Tamil if you want.
- Analytics and BI
- Tax and invoicing systems
- CRM and helpdesk
- Logistics aggregators
- Split-payment and escrow providers
- WhatsApp and push notifications
- Search and recommendation engines
- KYC and business verification
Integrations above are examples; we connect any system that offers a suitable API, database access or approved import and export process.
Launch roadmap and success metrics
We launch the journeys that create value first, then add depth. A typical roadmap for a multi-vendor marketplace in Kandy:
| Phase | What goes live |
|---|---|
| Pilot marketplace | Seller onboarding, catalogue, checkout, order routing and basic payouts. Configured for LKR, Visa and Mastercard and Sri Lanka Post from the start. |
| Govern and grow | Moderation, commissions, promotions, reviews and dispute handling. |
| Scale | Buyer and seller apps, new categories, cities and service areas. Reviewed against how Kandy customers actually buy. |
We track active sellers, GMV and take rate, listing approval time, order defect rate, seller payout accuracy and buyer repeat rate on a live dashboard from day one, so Kandy results are visible, not promised.
Working with our team from Kandy
Kandy runs on UTC+5:30, the same clock as our engineering team in India. With three 8-hour shifts we are available 24×7, so meetings, demos and urgent fixes happen in your working hours.
Project communication is in English; storefront content can be produced in Sinhala and Tamil. You get a named lead, direct engineer access and an NDA if you ask.
Our head office is in Chhapi, Gujarat, with an office in Hyderabad and representation in Nigeria, South Africa, Ethiopia and Zambia; Kandy clients are served remotely with on-site workshops when the project needs them.
