Remember that scene in Thank You For Smoking where Nick Naylor the tobacco lobbyist argues with his son Joey about whether chocolate or vanilla is the better ice cream? It’s a perfect analogy for the age-old debate in ecommerce: “Should I sell on eBay or Amazon?” or “Is a marketplace better than my own online store?”
The truth is that whole debate is a bit of a red herring.
Just like with ice cream it’s about freedom and choice.
As an ecommerce entrepreneur you want your products in front of as many potential customers as possible.
You need to be everywhere building a multichannel ecommerce empire.
Multichannel Ecommerce: The Future of Selling
Multichannel selling is about having your products available across multiple platforms: ecommerce platforms marketplaces and even offline channels.
In the past multichannel often meant having a physical store and an online presence.
But today it’s about expanding beyond that embracing the diverse landscape of marketplaces.
Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of managing a multichannel business let’s break down those different channels.
Understanding the Channels of Multichannel Selling
Think of these as different avenues to reach your customers:
Ecommerce Platforms: This is your online shop – your digital storefront where you control the look and feel tell your brand story through your own blog and take orders directly. You can build your own customer list for email marketing something that’s not always possible on marketplaces.
Hosted Ecommerce: You pay a company to manage the technical side of your store. They handle server configuration coding and security. You access your store through a web browser and manage everything from design to launching to running it. Shopify and BigCommerce are two popular examples.
Self-Hosted Ecommerce: You take on the responsibility of managing the server hosting and website code. This offers greater customization but requires technical expertise either from you or your team.
Marketplaces: These are platforms that connect third-party sellers with buyers. The marketplace handles order processing and makes money by driving traffic and charging fees to sellers. Think Amazon eBay Etsy Rakuten and Jet.
Offline Sales: Don’t forget about the traditional channels – trade shows physical stores and local markets. While online retail is growing about 90% of retail sales still happen offline!
Mastering the Multichannel Ecommerce Strategy
Now let’s talk about how to build and manage a successful multichannel ecommerce business.
The core idea is to leverage the strengths of each platform to reach the maximum number of customers.
Step-by-Step Guide to Multichannel Selling
Here’s a step-by-step approach:
Step 1: Embrace Amazon FBA
Amazon FBA is your order fulfillment powerhouse.
It’s the backbone of your operations ensuring your customers get their products quickly and efficiently.
Step 2: Expand to Other Marketplaces
Get your products in front of even more customers by listing on other relevant marketplaces.
Different marketplaces attract different types of buyers so make sure you choose the ones that align with your target audience.
Step 3: Launch Your Own Ecommerce Platform
Create your own brand identity and build a direct relationship with customers by setting up an ecommerce store.
Shopify is a great option because of its user-friendliness and strong design themes.
This gives you the opportunity to build a higher margin per product compared to marketplaces.
Step 4: Integrate Inventory Management
Use a system like Stitch Labs to keep your inventory data consistent across all your stores and marketplaces.
This prevents out-of-stock situations and helps you make better decisions based on sales trends.
Step 5: Streamline Fulfillment
Amazon FBA automatically handles your Amazon orders but you need to manage fulfillment from other platforms.
Stitch Labs offers a “Fulfillment with Amazon” feature that lets you ship orders from other marketplaces using your existing Amazon FBA inventory.
Step 6: Track Your Finances
Integrate your accounting software like Xero with your inventory management system to get a clear picture of your sales and financial performance.
The Future of Multichannel Ecommerce
The future of multichannel ecommerce is bright and here’s why:
The Rise of Software Ecosystems: Companies like Microsoft and Oracle used to dominate with their all-in-one suites. Now the trend is to use best-of-breed software solutions that work together through APIs.
For example you could use Amazon FBA for fulfillment TaxJar for sales tax management Xero for accounting and Stitch Labs for inventory management.
These interconnected services create a powerful system for running your business.
The Power of Integration: The more companies develop specialized ecommerce software the more opportunities you’ll have to integrate them into your existing system.
The Marketplace Boom: As online marketplaces continue to grow the sales tide will rise for all sellers. This means your multichannel strategy becomes even more important.
Mitigating Risk: A multichannel approach diversifies your revenue stream protecting you from potential risks like marketplace changes account suspensions or changes in your physical store’s traffic.
Embrace the Future of Selling
So the next time someone tells you there’s only one right way to sell online remind them of the chocolate and vanilla analogy.
True success in ecommerce is about giving customers choices and offering your products wherever they choose to shop.
It’s about embracing the power of a multichannel strategy and building an empire that reaches every corner of the digital landscape.
This is the future of selling and it’s exciting.