If you are a business selling physical products and hoping to expand your market reach, it’s no longer enough to set up a brick-and-mortar (offline) store.

According to analysis by Internet Retailer, about 52% of global online sales – about $1.86 trillion worth – in 2018 were made on marketplace sites like Alibaba and Amazon. This means that there are massive numbers of customers (and money!) flowing into online marketplaces. So if you want to stay ahead of the competition, you must find a way to sell your products online. If you don’t, you cannot hope to compete with other sellers who have perfected their own multi-channel sales strategy and are able to take advantage of the enormous potential in the online sales (eCommerce) space.

When you utilise a multi-channel sales approach, you can boost your product visibility as well as your reputation and brand recall. You can also take advantage of these portals’ analytics capabilities to track and measure your sales, review your performance and tweak your strategy accordingly.

So what can you do to break through and sell on online eCommerce platforms? Try these 5 tips to test and refine your own multi-channel approach.

1: Don’t put all your eggs in 1 (online) basket – Diversify

In 2017, Amazon generated $178 billion in e-commerce revenue in the USA. Amazon is hugely successful in other geographies as well. As an online retailer, you can definitely leverage the power and reach of a well-established channel like Amazon. However, you will be better off if you don’t select a single channel. To maximise your product visibility and sales potential, use as many online sales channels as possible and build your resource capability accordingly.

2: But be strategic about your approach

This is a commonsensical but often ignored tip. Cast a wide net but only where your potential customers already shop. Depending on where you are, some eCommerce platforms may be more popular than others. Research the most popular ones and start there (unless you have a very unique product for a select niche of customers that only shop on a particular platform). Even if these platforms are crowded with other sellers, you will still have a better chance of reaching more customers and thus making more sales by volume. Minimise your risk by evaluating each marketplace and experimenting until you find the right niche for your business.

3: Save time and effort – Look for automation through technology

Online Product Information Management (PIM) tools allow you to automate and centralise critical sales tasks like channel, supply chain and inventory management. With these tools, you can  sync all orders and inventory in one place, consolidate the management of multiple platforms into a single dashboard, keep an eye on channel performance and prevent shipping delays. These advantages can help you deliver the best possible customer experience and drive more sales for your business.

4: Understand the buyer’s journey and target consumers at different stages

Every person browsing an eCommerce site is not there to buy. Some people are there to browse and understand the available options while others are there to compare features or prices. This is why you need to understand the buyer’s journey before you can create strategies to sell to them. Then you can invest time and money in creating your social media presence, setting up affiliate marketing links and setting up a blog or website, all in order to engage with potential customers and provide value even before they buy from you. Great images on Instagram or Pinterest, effective SEO on your site or blog, targeted social media ads and useful product descriptions will help shoppers at various stages of their journey and push them towards a purchase.

5: Focus on building and then maintaining a good reputation

A company’s reputation can make or break it both online or offline. Today’s customers have a plethora of options to choose from, so your reputation can determine whether you keep them and convert them into loyal brand advocates or lose them forever. Keep an eye on online reviews and be prompt about responding to them especially if they are negative. Build a community around your brand and provide value instead of just promoting your products. Listen to conversations about your brand and participate in them. When you build a reputation as a brand that ‘cares’, your sales will go up. And you need to do this on every platform you sell on!

What do you think about these 5 ideas to perfect your online multi-Channel sales strategy? Have you tried any of them and succeeded? Leave us a comment here and let us know!