For brands, scaling retail operations means investing money and resources into growing a DTC operation. While selling DTC, brands can determine every step of their interaction with customers, and this method presents a great opportunity to define a brand and its identity. But it doesn’t have to be the only way.
While scaling via DTC can be a solid way for businesses to grow, creating a strategy for selling on marketplaces, too, can present a path towards reliable revenue growth without having to sacrifice any branding and while still maintaining relationships with customers. Unlike selling on a traditional retailer, marketplaces offer brands the ability to expand their reach while still enabling a customer-facing relationship. On these types of retail platforms, the brand is the seller to the end consumer, which presents a unique opportunity for communication with customers and the possibility of building brand loyalty.
First off, the biggest choice isn’t just to sell on a marketplace, but on which one(s). The number of marketplaces has grown in recent years, and brands should know exactly which ones serve their target market and industry. Additionally, some marketplaces are open and accept brands of all kinds with products and sizes of all kinds and types, and some are significantly more selective or niche. Knowing which marketplaces are the right fit for your brand’s identity and audience will have a huge effect on their success on any given platform.
Second, knowing where your competition sells is also an important factor to take into consideration. Impatient shoppers will not wait around when competition is just one click away. Marketplaces should act as an extension of a brand’s own .com operation. Brands can expand their audience, increase sales, and grow revenue, all while offering a streamlined experience on and off their DTC site.
Depending on the industry that a brand focuses on, might mean different requirements set by the marketplace. This might mean having a specific breadth of SKUs, image requirements, or product formatting requirements. A brand that sells something like pillows or kitchen appliances may only have a few items, while an apparel brand, on the other hand, will likely have dozens more SKUs, and simply having those larger numbers will give them plenty of opportunities for success on a marketplace.
Lastly, knowing how to get the most of the marketplace will be paramount. Simply posting a product on Amazon, which has 100 million Prime members, isn’t enough. It might get seen, but chances are, with so much competition, simply being on the platform doesn’t translate to certain sales. Each platform has its own advertising structure and options, and brands should be aware of these and understand how to best make use of them. Often, retailers offer brands ways to promote themselves through various marketing efforts such as participating in various seasonal events such as promotions and sales.
Picking the right site to sell on is also a huge part of this. Selling your products in a huge marketplace is helpful, but positioning yourself as a leader in a specific segment of a market on a niche site might be an even better way to leverage competition and stand out. Marketplaces give brands the ability to be competitive even amongst competition and they provide a platform for brand visibility and marketing, so selling on them is a great way for brands to give themselves a boost.
If your brand is looking for a way to start selling on a marketplace while either maintaining your current operational load or growing to expand your business, then Cymbio’s automation platform is just what you need. Our system is agnostic, working with any and every data format that brands use, and our one-to-all connection provides the most seamless way to join any marketplace. By cutting down the time-to-live for brands by up to 90%, Cymbio enables quick onboarding, which means more opportunities for selling – and sooner!