Creating a curated audio marketplace takes more than just uploading files and setting prices. Sonniss understood that early. Their goal wasn’t to be another generic sound library. It was to build a platform that would attract industry leaders.
As a result, they created a digital marketplace trusted by AAA game studios, film production houses, and sound professionals worldwide. Amazing, right?
This case study explores how Sonniss built and scaled a vendor-powered audio marketplace using WC Vendors while staying highly specialized, organized, and growth-ready.
About Sonniss: A Premium Audio Marketplace For Professionals
Sonniss is a curated audio marketplace offering premium-quality sound effects libraries. Their catalog features work from over 300 sound designers and field recordists from around the world.
Since launching, Sonniss has built a reputation for industry-level quality and reliable delivery. Their curated library includes tens of thousands of professionally captured sounds. Many of these are used in major productions for games, films, and TV.
“If you build something valuable for a specific group, and you support it properly, word spreads naturally.” — Tim McHugh, Founder of Sonniss
Clients include names like Ubisoft, CD Projekt Red, Disney, NBC Universal, and countless indie developers who rely on top-tier audio.
Sonniss is a trusted digital marketplace built on relationships, reputation, and a strict curation process. Each submission is vetted. Each vendor is guided through a professional onboarding workflow. This level of care has set them apart in a crowded space.
The goal wasn’t to build a massive repository of files. It was to build a home for the best in sound design.
With that foundation in place, let’s take a closer look at the products that make Sonniss stand out.
What Sonniss Sells: Professionally Curated Sound Libraries
Sonniss specializes in professional audio equipment collections, offering a massive selection of royalty-free sound effects libraries for creators, studios, and developers.
Their library covers categories like:
- Ambience: Backgrounds, environments, and subtle textures (779 libraries)
- Animals: Wildlife, domestic, and exotic animal sounds (135 libraries)
- Cartoon: Stylized sfx full of character and energy (77 libraries)
- Creatures & Monsters: Roars, screeches, growls for horror and fantasy (100 libraries)
- Footsteps: Diverse footstep sounds for every terrain (96 libraries)
- Game Audio Bundles: Curated packs built for developers (142 libraries)
- Guns: Realistic firearm recordings from all calibers (143 libraries)
- Horror: Scary sound effects for terrifying scenes (114 libraries)
- Interfaces: Clicks, swipes, UI tones (123 libraries)
- Vehicles: Cars, trucks, aircraft, engine sounds (714 libraries)
They also offer bundled packs and deals, helping buyers get studio-grade sounds at reduced prices. Whether you’re building a cinematic scene or designing a mobile game, Sonniss helps you find the right home audio tools without clutter.
As we’ll see next, supporting this kind of curated marketplace takes a vendor system built to scale.
Why WC Vendors Was The Right Fit For Sonniss
Before WC Vendors, Sonniss relied on a mix of plugins and manual workflows to run their WooCommerce marketplace. It worked, but only up to a point. Scaling meant finding a more organized and automated solution.
They chose WC Vendors because of its vendor tools, customizable dashboard, and proven structure for a WordPress marketplace plugin.
“WC Vendors gave us a solid framework to build on. It saved a lot of time on custom development.”
For a curated audio platform that already had high standards, WC Vendors offered flexibility and control without getting in the way.
That foundation enabled Sonniss to improve both vendor experience and back-office efficiency.
Key WC Vendors Features That Support Audio Marketplaces
To understand how Sonniss maintained quality while growing their marketplace, let’s explore the specific WC Vendors features that made this possible.
Vendor Dashboard Designed for Control
Sonniss uses the WC Vendors dashboard to give each vendor access to their own store management hub. Vendors can submit new sound libraries, check sales, and update their preferences without asking for help.
This is especially helpful when working with hundreds of contributors across different time zones.
Custom Vendor Onboarding and Preferences
Their vendor experience is structured through custom onboarding stages. New vendors fill out a 6-step preferences form covering their contact details, branding, and permissions.
The platform handles EU VAT compliance, uses Amazon S3 for secure file hosting, and offers full order history and analytics, all from the frontend dashboard.
“Several vendors told us the new dashboard feels much easier to use. Uploading libraries is faster and more enjoyable.”
Flexible Commission and Payout Setup with Stripe
Sonniss originally used PayPal Mass Payments. But with WC Vendors, they added Stripe for marketplaces to support vendors in countries where PayPal isn’t available.
This small change had a big effect. It removed a manual, error-prone process and helped expand vendor reach.
“Now with Stripe Connect fully integrated through WC Vendors, that entire process is automated.”
Vendor Experience Built for a Specialized Marketplace
Sonniss’s focus on audio equipment and cinematic sound libraries meant they needed fields that generic WooCommerce marketplaces didn’t support.
Using WC Vendors, they extended the vendor submission system with custom product fields like sample rate, bit depth, metadata, and gear used.
The result: a WooCommerce multi vendor marketplace tailored to audio professionals, not general-purpose sellers.
Why Vendors Choose to Sell on Sonniss
Sonniss offers:
- A simple and secure vendor application process
- Low commission rate (only 40%) with transaction fees covered
- Full ownership of deliverables
- Existing customer base of professionals
- Flexible pricing tools for premium or budget libraries
This combination makes it easy for new vendors to list their sound products and get discovered, all while keeping control over pricing, branding, and rights.
With the system running smoothly, let’s review the impact of these upgrades.
Performance Improvements: Early Results From WC Vendors
Sonniss has already seen time savings, fewer support emails, and increased vendor satisfaction. Here’s a breakdown of what changed:
| Metric | Before WC Vendors | After WC Vendors |
|---|---|---|
| Payouts | Manual via PayPal | Automated with Stripe Connect |
| Vendor support | Frequent tickets | Significantly reduced |
| Onboarding | Manual setup | Structured self-service form |
| Submission speed | Slower, inconsistent | Faster and more intuitive |
“One of our biggest wins was migrating everything without downtime. No vendor complaints, no major issues — just a better system.”
These results support the bigger idea: curated marketplaces thrive on reliability.
Why Curated Marketplaces Work In The Audio Space
Curated marketplaces offer distinct advantages in specialized industries like audio. Rather than focusing on volume, platforms like Sonniss emphasize clarity, professionalism, and trust.
Sonniss didn’t simply open the gates to every vendor. Instead, they chose to:
- Curate their catalog to maintain consistently high standards
- Standardize vendor submissions to reduce friction and improve consistency
- Provide vendor clarity through structured onboarding and guidelines
- Earn buyer trust by vetting content and creators before publishing
- Scale with purpose by protecting their identity while expanding
This intentional structure attracts top sound designers and meets the expectations of professional buyers. Consequently, the platform has earned a reputation for reliability and quality.
This approach has allowed Sonniss to grow steadily without compromising its values. Moreover, it proves that a curated model is not only sustainable but also scalable in niche markets.
Sonniss is a compelling marketplace example of what’s possible when curated content meets a structured WordPress multi vendor marketplace setup. You don’t need to compete on size if you lead on experience.
Now, if you’re thinking about starting your own platform, let’s wrap up with advice from the Sonniss team!
Advice From Sonniss For Building Your Own Audio Marketplace
If you’re thinking about launching a home audio marketplace, sound library platform, or any other vendor-driven product store, here’s what worked for them:
- Start with a structure. The vendor system matters, and it affects every part of your operation.
- Automate what slows you down. Payments, reports, and onboarding should not eat your time.
- Curate intentionally. You don’t need thousands of products if your best 100 are what people buy.
- Use tools that grow with you. WC Vendors helped them replace a patchwork of plugins with one solid foundation.
“If you’re building a vendor-based marketplace and want something reliable that works out of the box, but also gives you room to grow, WC Vendors is a strong choice.”
Their success shows that with the right tools, even highly specialized ideas can scale.
Conclusion
Sonniss shows what’s possible when a curated content model is supported by the right tools. By choosing WC Vendors, they created a scalable vendor-powered audio marketplace that continues to attract top-tier creators and buyers alike.
Explore the full story:
- About Sonniss
- What Sonniss Sells
- Why WC Vendors Was the Right Fit
- Key WC Vendors Features
- Early Results from WC Vendors
- Why Curated Marketplaces Are Ideal
- Advice From Sonniss
If you’re planning to build or scale a WordPress multi vendor marketplace, WC Vendors provides the structure, vendor experience, and automation needed to grow confidently. Explore WC Vendors Pricing and Features today.
