What Is Multi Channel eCommerce?

Multichannel ecommerce is a strategy businesses use to capture customers’ attention across the many channels they visit to online-shop and explore new brands. 

There are countless places to sell products, from in-store locations and online stores, to social media platforms and online marketplaces. 

Multichannel ecommerce can be more effective in reaching customers than having just one dedicated store. It allows potential customers who have never heard of your brand to find you on their preferred channel and potentially make a purchase.

In this article, we’ll take a look at what multichannel ecommerce is as well as the pros and cons of using this strategy to grow your online business. 

What Is Multi Channel eCommerce & How Does It Work?

Multichannel ecommerce is a customer-centric practice that involves using more than one channel to sell products and services to customers. 

Multichannel ecommerce works by providing several different channels for customers to find you. These channels are not directly connected to each other, but they all represent your business and have up-to-date product information. 

For example, you may sell products and promote your brand on Amazon along with social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. By using more than one channel, you give customers multiple avenues to connect with your brand and purchase products. 

Multi Channel vs Omnichannel eCommerce

Both multichannel and omnichannel ecommerce offer multiple channels for customers to find and engage with your business. The difference comes down to connectivity from one channel to the other. 

Omnichannel ecommerce is when a business has multiple channels that all work together synergistically. A customer can start on one channel and flow seamlessly to another, everything is tied together to make the shopping experience quick and convenient.

As for multichannel ecommerce, each channel is siloed with its own strategy and unique customer experience. Businesses can have multiple channels to reach a wide range of customers, but customers must finish their shopping experience in the channel they are on or start over with another channel.

Benefits & Challenges of Multi Channel eCommerce

Benefits

Increases Brand Visibility

The more channels that you can get your business on, the more people are going to be exposed to it. The more people see your brand and consume your content the more likely they will be to do business with you. Brand visibility is the key to building a memorable brand image and loyal customer base. 

Helps Meet Customer Expectations

With so many brands today using either multichannel or omnichannel ecommerce strategies, customers expect to be able to find your brand on more than one platform. Further, they want the option to purchase products through whatever channel they’re browsing right then and there. 

With multichannel ecommerce, customers don’t need to leave the channel they are already on to make a purchase. This strategy allows you to meet customers where they are, and offers a quick and convenient way for them to do business with you. 

Increases Sales Potential

You can increase your sales potential by offering a complete shopping experience on multiple different channels.

Not only does this approach broaden your customer reach, but it reduces the number of actions customers need to take to complete a purchase because it can all be done in one place. 

This level of convenience makes it more likely that they will go through with their purchase. If a customer needs to transition to your main site or create an account on another platform to buy your product, they may abandon their cart altogether. 

It pays to offer the customer a convenient experience as they will come back time and time again to shop. 

Challenges

Cross-Channel Service

Providing quality customer service can be a challenge when working with multiple different channels. Brands need to be responsive to customer outreach, no matter what platform they’re on. 

This requires businesses to quickly respond to incoming inquiries and customer feedback, while being consistent in messaging and tone. With each channel demanding the same level of attention, guaranteeing quality customer service can take a significant amount of time and effort. 

Unified Branding

While customers love having the ability to access a product on multiple channels, it can be challenging to keep branding consistent between them all.

Branding is the process of giving a meaning to a specific organization, company, products or services by creating a brand in consumers’ minds. It’s a strategy designed by organizations to help people to quickly identify their brand.

Everything from the messaging to design needs to accurately and cohesively represent the brand. Presenting a unified brand across all channels will take planning and ongoing maintenance — something smaller businesses with limited resources may struggle with.

Product Availability

Regardless of how many channels a business uses to reach customers, it can be difficult to keep accurate product inventory information available. This is especially true when there are physical locations as well as online storefronts. 

There will be times when a customer sees a product in a physical location but decides to hold off on purchasing it until they search for it online first. Should they have difficulty finding the product, if the product description or pricing varies, or if the product isn’t available, there will be issues with a purchase. 

Finding a reliable and quality source for products is equally as important as keeping information accurate. When sales increase and product inventory runs low while product demand is high, you want to ensure that you can secure more inventory at the same price point you originally found it.

Multi Channel eCommerce FAQs

What Is the Top Channel eCommerce Brands Sell On?

Amazon is the top channel for ecommerce brands to sell on. Being one of the largest online retailers with a world-class supply chain makes Amazon the ideal channel for brands to sell their products. 

But for these reasons, competition among Amazon sellers is fierce. Sellesta.ai helps sellers increase sales and outperform their competition with its suite of AI-powered tools. With Sellesta, you can easily optimize your product listings for Amazon SEO, monitor customer reviews, and conduct competitive analysis, all on one platform.

What is a Multi Channel eCommerce Platform?

A multichannel eCommerce platform is a collection of software tools that help retailers sell their products on multiple online channels. For example, Shopify, Magento, Adobe and Fabric are a few of the most popular platforms. 

They provide a centralized product and order management platform to streamline inventory maintenance, offer personalized deals, and create a connected customer experience.

Is Multi Channel eCommerce Profitable?

Multichannel eCommerce can be very profitable if done correctly. Brands need to make sure their team can handle staying on top of every channel they branch out to and be attentive to the customer’s needs and any feedback that they provide. 

Improve Your Multi Channel eCommerce Strategy With Optimized Product Listings

Multichannel ecommerce requires strategy and commitment, but ultimately lends to a positive shopping experience that leaves customers satisfied and willing to do business with you again.

To fully take advantage of your multichannel strategy, you’ll want to make sure each of your channels are optimized. When it comes to Amazon, using a tool that automatically generates SEO-optimized product listings makes it easy.  

Sellesta.ai provides a 100-million-keyword database, built-in listing ratings, and customer review analytic functions that will take your listings to the top of the search results. Using artificial intelligence, Sellesta.ai takes a time-consuming task and makes it simple to increase conversions on your product listings.

If you are ready to streamline your multichannel ecommerce business with optimized product listings, it’s time to check out Sellesta.ai.