There is a simple enough answer to this question. Multi-channel ecommerce is a business model that sees a company’s goods sold on multiple sales platforms. But of course, understanding the benefits and how it really works is a little more complicated.
The reason why a business (especially smaller ones) might want multiple sales channels is simple. The main ecommerce site of small business is likely to have only a limited amount of traffic, and it’s likely to still be in the early stages of drawing traffic to the site – and turning those visitors into customers.
Other ecommerce platforms often have much more traffic than is typical for a small ecommerce site, and so the multi-channel strategy is the path towards more sales and faster growth.
But there is one key element of the multi-channel marketing strategy that we haven’t mentioned yet. This is that all the sales platforms of a multi-channel strategy are connected. The appearance of your products on other sales platforms should ideally include a link back to your main website.
Of course, the customer can just buy the product on the third-party platform, and this highlights the need for a great website that offers more than just the product.
Drawing Traffic to Your Main Site
Azola Creative, an Ecommerce Website design service, advise that the best way to draw traffic to your own site when your products are appearing elsewhere is not only to have a well-designed and user-friendly site, but also to offer more than just the product on it. After all, if a customer is buying your product elsewhere, why do they even need to come to your site?
There are a few things you can try here, many of which are not at all expensive or difficult to set up. Offering a blog on your website is a very good move, not only because it gives customers another reason to come to your site, but also because such content can be optimized for SEO and draw traffic to your site through that means as well.
Of course, the ultimate goal is to create the kind of brand identification that sees customers coming to your main site first. This will probably not happen with just one sale but repeat customers will notice that the products they buy come from the same company.
Furthermore, if that company is well represented on the third-party platform, customers can identify with the brand even without visiting the site. Once that has happened, they are much more likely to come directly to you the next time.
Benefits of the Multi-channel Strategy
So, that should give you a good idea what the multi-channel approach is and what it can offer. Here follows some further benefits:
Improves Conversion Rates
Conversion is when a customer interacts with your company in some sort of way. This can happen on third-party platforms, and there is always the option to communicate with them directly through these platforms.
Diversifies Risk
If you only sell through one channel, your eggs are all in one basket. Especially for small businesses, some fatal flaw with your sales channel (or some unexpected problem) could seriously disrupt sales (unless you are selling elsewhere).
Better Brand Exposure
Touched on above, it is worth stressing that for small businesses you can simply reach many more people through alternative platforms. And that does not just mean sales, it means brand exposure too.
Ultimately, the multi-channel sales model makes perfect sense for small companies with limited reach through their main site. And as the company grows, there is still a benefit to be seen in simply having more ways to reach customers.
