In today’s digital era, reaching customers where they prefer to shop is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. With countless marketplaces online, it has become even more essential to adapt one’s business strategy. This is where Multichannel eCommerce comes in, offering an interesting strategy that meets this specific challenge. Let’s dive deeper into how it works and why it matters.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction to Multichannel eCommerce
2. Benefits of Multichannel eCommerce
3. Challenges in Multichannel eCommerce
4. How to Succeed in Multichannel eCommerce
5. Future Trends in Multichannel eCommerce
6. Summary

Introduction to Multichannel eCommerce

Definition

Multichannel eCommerce is the practice of selling products across multiple online platforms like Amazon, Shopify, and TikTok Shop. This selling strategy helps businesses reach a broader audience by meeting customers where they prefer to shop. As an example, imagine you’re a shop owner selling leather goods. If you only sell them from your store, you are limited to the customers who walk in. But what if you sell them on Amazon, Shopify, TikTok Shop, and also your own website? That’s Multichannel eCommerce!

Multichannel vs Omnichannel

Multichannel eCommerce means selling across various platforms independently, but Omnichannel eCommerce focuses on establishing an interconnected customer experience across all sales and communication channels.

Here is an example:

Store A sells products in its physical stores, website, and mobile app. However, each channel operates independently. If you buy something online, you can’t pick it up in the store without starting over the process.

Store B also sells products in its physical stores, website, and mobile app. Unlike Store A, Store B offers integration between the different platforms. For example, you can buy online and pick up in-store. Everything is linked, making it easier and more convenient for the consumer.

Retailers with three or more channels achieve a 19% engagement rate, compared to 5.4% for single-channel retailers -CapitalOneShopping

Benefits of Multichannel eCommerce

Challenges in Multichannel eCommerce

1) Managing Inventory

Keeping accurate stock levels across multiple platforms can be hard, leading to overselling or stockouts. Overselling is when inventory levels are not updated across all platforms correctly, and thus, selling products that are not readily available to be shipped. On the other hand, stockouts occur when such discrepancy in inventory levels results in products running out of stock, causing a business to miss out on potential sales.

2) Keeping Your Branding Consistent

Maintaining a cohesive brand voice, design, and messaging across different sales channels is crucial but often challenging. Ensuring that the tone, visuals and messaging align with your brand’s identity becomes a challenging and headache-inducing task.

3) Coordinating Orders and Shipping

Selling on different platforms means that orders are coming from different directions. Packaging and shipping for such orders can be confusing since each platform may have its own requirements when it comes to packaging and labeling. Yet again, more headache-inducing problems arise.

4) Data Overload

Getting important sales and customer data from various sources can be challenging. Further, compiling this data into a single report would be extremely time-consuming. Think about it, if Shopify, Amazon, TikTok and Magento each produced its own set of sales data for you to view, how can you have a unified overview of your business?

Caption: 95% of marketers say that they know how important multi-channel is for targeting, but only 73% have a multi-channel strategy in place - Iterable

How to Succeed in Multichannel eCommerce

1) Use Centralized Tools

Consider using tools that act like a master control panel for all your sales activities. These tools enable you to manage orders, inventory, and listings across multiple platforms via a single interface. This results in consistency and accuracy in your business operations.

Example tools:

• Shopify - Integrates with marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay
• Onecart - Helps process orders, track inventory and manage listings across many platforms

2) Use Integrated Customer Relationship Management(CRM) Tools

A CRM system is like a digital address book that allows you to track who bought what and from where. This helps you to send the right messages and offers to the right customers. Having said that, modern CRM tools do more than just store customer data—they analyze buying preferences, behaviours, and interactions that give you better insight of how you can better engage with your customers.

3) Keep Branding Consistent

Design your pages so that they look consistent across all your selling platforms. Make sure to use the same logo, color, and tone everywhere. This is extremely important because it gives reassurance to your customers that they are dealing with a reliable business, no matter where they shop.

An Additional Strategy for Multichannel eCommerce

Connect centralized tools with other essential business applications. By linking such systems together, you can create a seamless workflow that connects sales, accounting, inventory, and customer management processes. For example, you can connect Onecart to Quickbooks to automate sales invoice generation. Click here to learn more. For other features and integrations, visit our features page.

Future Trends in Multichannel eCommerce

1) Social Commerce

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are allowing users to shop directly. It’s basically online window shopping. There is currently a mix of entertainment and sales, live-selling events allow influencers or brand representatives to showcase products and drive instant sales.

2) AI for Personalization

AI tools are now even more capable of providing product recommendations and delivering timely customer experiences via chatbots. It’s crucial to stay ahead by embracing AI tools that are revolutionizing the eCommerce world.

Summary

Using a Multichannel eCommerce approach is key for any business that wants to grow and succeed. It helps you reach more customers and expand your reach. While managing orders, inventory, and listings can be challenging, tools like Onecart make the process easier and more efficient. By staying consistent and using the right tools, you can achieve success as an eCommerce seller.

Ready to simplify your Multichannel eCommerce operations? Try OneCart today!