Have you ever considered selling on platforms outside of your web site? Have you noticed advertisements and marketing material from your competitors on social media? What you’re witnessing is the rise and new standard of marketing: multi-channel retailing. This marketing strategy enables e-commerce businesses to target customers and sell products outside of their web site, on channels like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, in addition to their brick-and-mortar store. Multi-channel retailing used to be a rising trend, but now it is the new standard for brands to be truly successful. If you want to know more about multi-channel retailing and are wondering how you can get started, keep on reading.
What Is Multi-Channel Retailing?
When a business has an e-commerce selling strategy that targets customers through channels outside its web site, (ex. social media, in-store, direct mail, etc.) this is known as multi-channel retailing. This solution has evolved to include multi-channel selling, where customers can view and purchase products on marketplaces, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, and other mediums.
Why Sellers Should Adopt a Multi-Channel Retailing Strategy
Easily Target Your Audience
Success is not based on just one channel—the most successful brands have a presence both online and offline, and they work consistently to optimize both. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, you need to develop an online presence. If your store operates online, find a way to connect with your audience in-person. Aside from being available to your audience, you should also find ways to connect with them on an emotional level. Consider how your products improve their state of living. How does your product boost their confidence, make their life easier, or solve a problem? Communicate these solutions to your customers, and you will establish a stronger bond with them.
Compete Better in the Market
You should always be considering and strategizing how you can compete in the market. You can do this by ensuring your content is optimized, providing polite and efficient customer service, and making sure your keywords and social media optimization is on point. Another great tip that has worked for many brands, is selling your products via Amazon. By using their user-friendly, well-loved platform, you can optimize your business and sell more.
Gain More Control Over Your Brand
Losing control of your success with your retail business is always a risk, whether you have an offline store or an online store. Brick-and-mortar stores need to rely on repeat visits from customers, and can reach out to their local community, but this can be very limiting to increase revenue. Web stores can get overshadowed by competitors or slammed by sudden Google algorithm updates. To gain greater control over your brand, use a multichannel strategy. That way, your web site will pick up the slack when your offline store is struggling to gain new customers, and your terrific in-person presence can be a great introduction point to drive customers to your online store or web site.
How to Create a Multi-Channel Retailing Solution
Choose the Right Retailers
Your products, customers, and channels you use to target your audience will determine which channels you should sell on. Some options include big box retailers and online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, or Target; or more curated and narrow-targeted retailers like Toys R Us.
Develop a Streamlined Strategy
Getting an omnichannel solution to your marketing strategy is more of the norm now, rather than a new trend. Some of your competitors may have already established themselves online and in-store, which means there’s no time like the present to catch up. This expansion of your presence sounds like a lot of work, but it provides a plethora of new opportunities for growth. The solution can be customized to your brand—so don’t assume there is a one-size-fits-all approach. You can add sales channels, platforms, and inventory in ways that suit your goals. By founding your multi-channel management on a solid foundation, you will achieve success like never before. Make sure the solution you choose takes care of your inventory needs, and adopt a management solution that collaborates between fulfillment, accounting, social media, shipping, and customer service. These management solutions will keep track of all aspects of your supply chain, so you won’t miss a beat.
Choose the Right Third-Party Solutions
Handling all these operational and marketing needs can be overwhelming without the right manpower, so using a third-party logistics (3PL) provider can do a lot for your business. Multi-channel marketing works best when your supply chain is in sync, but it takes a lot of work to get your products on the right channels, without getting stalled by connectivity or system issues between your marketing and your fulfillment. If you want to grow globally, or are expecting a high growth volume this year, you may not be able to juggle all the moving parts on your own. Therefore, choosing the right 3PL partner is the key to streamlining your marketing solutions with your background operations.
How Lean Supply Solutions Can Help
As mentioned, a 3PL provider can help you manage your operations so you can focus on making your business and brand more accessible to your online and in-store shoppers. These providers can help you manage your inventory management, shipping, receiving, returns, deliveries, and more, so you save time and money and speed up your success and revenue. If you’re looking for the right company to partner with, Lean Supply Solutions is the answer. We rise to the challenge of meeting our clients’ needs through our services which include product fulfillment, warehousing and distribution, e-commerce fulfillment, warehouse pick and pack, and order fulfillment. Lean Supply Solutions can offer consistent, accurate, and quality results. To learn more about outsourcing to our 3PL distribution team or to ask any questions, contact us today.
