As a retailer, if you are still contemplating selling your products via online platforms, you must pay attention to this super important piece of statistics. At a CAGR of 22.9% during 2020-2027, the market size of eCommerce or online shopping is set to reach USD 16,215 billion by 2027. Today, without a doubt, retailers across the globe have registered impressive business growth while selling more products via online marketplaces. The best part here is that you are not restricted to selling to a specific target audience in a particular geography. Instead, you can sell your products to broader audiences across multiple geographies. This blog is all about selling online with an eCommerce marketplace integration solution.
Here are a few benefits of selling via e-Commerce platforms
a. Save costs: As things are already set up on the marketplace, the retailer need only invest a few bucks to get started One can sell on a Marketplace by meeting their requirements, creating product pages, and paying the relevant fees or commissions. This saves on infrastructure costs. Similarly, there are marketplaces that offer logistics services, including Amazon FBA and drop shipping. By not having to pay for shipping and distribution, the brand can increase profits. Also, the marketplace takes care of payment management, reducing banking costs.
b. Start selling quickly: You can easily and quickly get on board with the eCommerce portal of your choice and start selling your products. You pick any parameters, including execution technology, speed or repricing; online leading marketplaces lead the way.
c. Sell 24X7 to a wider customer base: Selling your products exclusively online limits the number of customers you can attract. Depending on who you are, some people may not be able to find you online, while others may be hesitant to give you their payment information or shipping address.
Expanding into new channels, such as marketplaces, increases your sales potential. Besides leveraging the trust shoppers have already established with the marketplace, you can also reach potential buyers who prefer online shopping platforms such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra or Nykaa.
Plus, your selling capabilities are no longer geographically limited as you can sell your products to a growing number of online shoppers worldwide. Isn’t it something revenue-wise beneficial for your business?
An online marketplace enables you to build a stronger brand, increase eCommerce sales and marketing, and leverage social trust more effectively. As a result, your brand will have a stronger customer base and earn more revenue.
But then, how does it happen? What exactly works behind the scenes? The answer is – an eCommerce Marketplace Integration Solution, an application that connects your retail business with popular and leading online marketplaces, also referred to as eCommerce sites.
This blog will walk you through the importance of an eCommerce marketplace integration solution for your online retail business. We will also look at how it will help your scale your business while –
- Streamlining process
- Reducing costs
- Accommodating new customer demands
- Generating more revenues
- Increasing profitability
And yes, it will also guide you on some of the most significant features that you need to keep in mind while selecting an eCommerce marketplace software. Stay tuned.
Your one-stop solution for selling and processing your orders across marketplaces
What is an e-Commerce marketplace integration solution?
Also known as eCommerce marketplace integrator, online marketplace integrator, or simply a marketplace connector, it is an API-based solution that integrates an online marketplace and your platform. For example, you manufacture apparel, but you can’t sell them to a broader range of audiences or somebody thousands of kilometers away from you. You can only reach them by selling via online marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, Myntra, and others. For this to happen, you would need to connect your retail platform with those eCommerce websites/online marketplaces. This is where an eCommerce marketplace integrator solution establishes that much-needed connection. In simple words, if you are looking for something robust to grow your eCommerce business, you would need a smart and feature-rich eCommerce marketplace integration solution.
Riding high on the back of rising online shopping, businesses are increasingly adopting eCommerce marketplace integration. And going by this account, the market size of this solution is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.3% from 2020 to 2027.
Now, to witness the benefits mentioned above while selling via online marketplaces, you need to leverage the power of an eCommerce marketplace integration solutions. Such a software application can help you connect your eCommerce business with several multi-vendor marketplaces. In short, it enables you to become a successful multi-channel vendor for more sales and improved revenues.
Essential features of e-Commerce marketplace solution
An eCommerce marketplace integration solution efficiently ensures the integration of your business with multiple online marketplaces. It automates all the related and critical processes – orders coming in from different portals, keeping an eye on stock levels, third-party logistics, finance & accounting, etc.
First and foremost, look for these two crucial features:
- Simple, plug-and-play solution: You should be able to use it at the earliest without any complex training and lengthy learning curve. Remember, in today’s era of rapid digitization, you are under no obligation to lean on an application that doesn’t help your business go live faster.
- Platform agnostic: Enterprises are moving to the cloud for agility, usability, and cost savings. The eCommerce marketplace integration solution you choose should be compatible, deployed over, and moved to and from disparate cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud, Microsoft Azure, etc., without any operational issues.
Let’s dive deeper and explore other operation-critical features of an eCommerce marketplace software.
- Integrated inventory management: It must efficiently sync your online store inventory with orders you receive from your connected eCommerce marketplaces. Ensure that the solution employs an intelligent proration logic to dynamically allocate stock to your better-performing marketplaces. Most importantly, it should be smart enough to help you avoid selling outdated products on marketplaces with key warehouse management strategies, including First in First Out (FIFO), First Expire First Out (FEFO), and Last In First Out (LIFO).
- Warehouse management: The online marketplace integration solution that you are planning to adopt should allow you to centrally manage/track item levels and locations, most importantly, across multiple online and offline warehouses. It must integrate with RFID, barcode, weighing scale, etc., to offer you item-level visibility. It should eliminate the possibility of duplication and overselling/underselling your item.
- Centralized order management & fulfillment: The eCommerce marketplace integration solution should manage and validate your orders in real-time across all the connected marketplaces. It should empower you with seamless order orchestration via one centralized location. In short, it should enable you to manage your orders for multiple online marketplaces without logging into their extranets separately to handle portal-specific orders.
- Returns and refund management: A competent online marketplace integration solution should have an intelligent reverse logistics feature to efficiently track the returns process – from the moment a customer raises a return or replacement request until you collect and restock that product. Moreover, don’t forget to check if the solution allows you to issue partial or full refunds against the returned items.
- End-to-end logistics management: The solution should help you connect and work with top and reliable carriers/logistics partners to ensure timely delivery of products. It must efficiently handle the flow of products from the supply source to customers and vice versa in case of returns/replacement requests. It must provide you with real-time updates of the shipment so that you are on the top of your game.
- Proactive anomaly detection: Be sure that the solution must have this one of the most critical online marketplace integration solution features. It is a must-have functionality that helps you gain insights into various factors leading to anomalies and downtimes in your operations to prevent them before they happen. It should come with an AI-powered full-stack business observability platform to help you continuously and proactively monitor your end-to-end business process. This will help you make your operations efficient and improve profitability.
- Finance and accounting: It should make invoicing and financial accounting faster and easier by syncing orders, inventory, payments, and returns in real-time. It should efficiently ensure error-free accounting on all transactions across connected marketplaces. Moreover, it must help you comply with local taxation and accounting regulations.
Pro tip: Do look at the Solution provider’s market size, years of experience, domain knowledge, client base, etc., to determine whether you are going for a smart one. Visit their websites and look at their case studies to find out what their existing clients say about their product and support. You may check software review platforms to compare a host of them before making the final move. And yes, try to find out what solution your successful competition uses. There is a lot more to learn from the competition, too.
Business benefits of intelligent marketplace integration solution
- Quickly get connected with leading, multiple online marketplaces
- Increase your online presence, reach out to a wider audience
- Sell more products 24/7, earn more, enhance revenues
- Ensure a flawless supply chain management
- Gain insights into key metrics to make data-driven decisions
- Eliminate manual processes to reduce error and increase efficiency
- Plug revenue leakage across all internal systems to increase profitability with the accounting and finance module
- Process orders faster for on-time delivery and increase customer satisfaction
- Ensure on-time returns, replacement, and refund management to meet customer expectations
- Observe business processes, and make data-driven decisions to avoid outage/downtime
- Improve operational capabilities and save costs
The final words
Online marketplaces have changed the way people shop these days. Selling your products on several online marketplaces is a challenging job to accomplish. It gets more complicated with changing business dynamics and customer expectations. In this scenario, you must rely on an eCommerce marketplace integration solution that lets you sell more while staying attractive to your target audience with the required competitive edge.
Seat Back & relax while the orders come in !
This blog has provided you with information you may already know. However, when you think about the whole process of integration, it might seem more complex. What are the best marketplaces for you? How can I manage inventory profitably while fulfilling orders? Will my accounts be reconciled accurately? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg.
Good News! there is MPI+, Acuver’s award-winning marketplace integration solution furnished with a full arsenal of features & intelligence. A single easy-to-integrate connection that allows you to reach millions of new customers and expand your distribution worldwide every month with your merchandise on Amazon, Myntra, Flipkart, etc.
Together with our clients, we sell more on the best global marketplaces through one integration. Reach out to us at info@wordpress-949702-3307142.cloudwaysapps.com for more information.