Multichannel: a big word that is currently being hotly debated everywhere. But what does multichannel actually mean and how can it be simplified for a retailer?
First of all, multichannel means that retailers sell their products not just through one, but through several channels in parallel. On the one hand, this can be your own online shop that is branded with your own brand, and on the other hand, the products are sold on various marketplaces, such as eBay or Amazon. But an “offline” shop, i.e. a store, can also be included. So what happens to a retailer if he decides to sell on multiple channels and what should be regulated beforehand?
Time management
Time is money - this is well known, but it becomes even more important when the portfolio is expanded, new markets are approached or new channels for selling products are added. In order to implement everything – and do it in a well-structured manner – time management is crucial. Therefore the first motto is: Time management is self-management!
This is easier said than done, but it’s the crux of it all. If you take it seriously, it’s less about managing time and more about how retailers approach the tasks that arise and how they are organized. As soon as tasks or new projects start with new platforms, many questions and obstacles arise. If there is a good structure and overview, further channels can be considered. However, if chaos exists, a new channel with new tasks will only create more chaos and less overview.
Will there be more problems and more work with more platforms?
The biggest challenges in implementing and building a multichannel concept are primarily process-related. All processes and activities that occur in a single online shop (or sales on just one marketplace) must be carried out and considered twice or several times in parallel when selling on several channels:
- Legal certainty and texts
- Portfolio or article maintenance
- Inventory and warehouse management
- Order processing, invoicing, customer communication
- Shipping, logistics, tracking
In addition, when operating several sales channels at the same time, the focus and efforts in terms of marketing, design, maintenance, etc. are not distributed over just one platform, but directly over several platforms, which often affects the quality of the individual channels. Every channel is specific and retailers cannot address their customers in the same way everywhere, even though (unfortunately) many retailers still do it that way today.
More sales and a greater reach are created
On the other hand, there is the unmistakable advantage that more channels also mean more customers and consequently more sales. Regardless of the fact that large marketplaces charge high commissions, the bottom line is that there is a correspondingly sustainable margin provided that more profit remains. Retailers simply reach many more customers.
But increasing reach is not the only advantage of multichannel or marketplace sales. Especially in combination with your own online shop, marketplaces and the placement of products on them represent a marketing opportunity that should not be underestimated, especially for young and unknown companies: appropriate branding (especially on platforms like eBay, which is very… offer a lot of design space) directs the buyer’s interest away from the actual product and towards the retailer behind it.
We want more!
Although there are many other pros and cons for and against multichannel commerce, in the end most of them can be boiled down to one simple statement: “More channels, more of everything!”
So more effort and probably more problems, but also more customers and more sales. Do I even want that? Leave my comfort zone? Or what is the right decision? Is there even a blanket answer?
Online trading is a very competitive environment characterized by a “winner takes it all” mentality. Growth is imperative in order to survive in the market. There are currently so many providers that retailers can easily get lost if they are not represented more than once.
For this reason, no online retailer (with the exception of pure FBA freaks) can afford to actually only serve one channel: Even one of the largest online shops in Germany, Zalando, now sells via Amazon. The solution must therefore be to keep the effort and problems that arise in connection with the topic of multichannel as low and insignificant as possible.
Order processing, merchandise management, automation
This is exactly where Billbee comes in. “With our software (web application as software-as-a-service), we want to help small and young retailers in particular to address exactly these problems, the efficient solution of which was often only reserved for large companies,” says Renée Kreijkes, Marketing Lead at Billbee.
The primary goal here is to minimize or avoid duplicate tasks as much as possible and to enable them to be processed from just one platform. This includes invoicing, customer communication, shipping and further processing in additional systems such as: B. Accounting. If a large part of these tasks can then be automated, inventories can be synchronized and the parallel listing of new products in several channels is simplified, a large part of the additional effort mentioned above will already be a thing of the past. Users achieve additional time savings if:link Billbee with GetMyInvoices . The receipts created in Billbee can be imported directly into GetMyInvoices and organized together with documents from any other sources and/or automatically transferred.
About Billbee:
Billbee offers a comprehensive but easy-to-use order processing, inventory management and automation solution for sellers who sell products via one or more (online) channels. All relevant processes in the retail environment, from customer communication to shipping and after-sales, can be mapped by Billbee or directly connected and integrated partners. In terms of both its complexity and its price, Billbee is also attractive for smaller companies. Billbee was founded as a GmbH in January 2015 by managing director Jan Krause.
Curious? In the 30-day free, non-binding trial period you can put Billbee through its paces – and then decide!
