How to Start Multi-channel eCommerce business on Magento

How to Build a powerful multi-channel eCommerce business on Magento

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This is a complete guide on how to build a powerful multi-channel eCommerce business on Magento.

Selling on one channel is outdated. Relying on a single channel is similar to drinking water from a spoon. Customers have become accustomed to exploring various platforms for shopping. Therefore as a Magento seller, it becomes your responsibility to strengthen your eCommerce selling game through multi-channel eCommerce.

So here’s how you can start multi-channel selling:

How to build a successful multi-channel eCommerce business on Magento?

A successful multi-channel eCommerce business requires a strong foundation on which the business is sustained. To illustrate here are 6 steps to start selling on multi-channels with your Magento store:

How to start a multi-channel eCommerce business on Magneto

Requirement Analysis: Check for all the Requirements and make a checklist of resources you need to start selling on multiple channels with Magento.
Risk Analysis & Challenges: Multiple risks and challenges arise while selling on multiple channels with Magento. So to stay unaffected by it, you need to analyze them beforehand.
Marketplaces Analysis: Shortlist the best marketplaces where you can benefit from selling. This can be done on various criteria like target audience, demographics, region, product categories, etc.
Magento Upgrade: Since you are targeting the best marketplaces, you need to keep your Magento store to the latest version. For multi-channel eCommerce, it is advisable to prefer the Magento Commerce version rather than the basic community version.
Marketplace Integration: You need a real-time API integration to ensure a seamless flow of data between all the connected channels and the Magento panel. Since there are so many things at stake, you can’t take any chances with laggy and outdated integrations.
Proper Marketing and SEO presence: Your presence on multiple channels can only be useful if your potential customers know about it. Therefore make a comprehensive marketing and promotion plan to improve your presence on various channels, including Search Engines.

Also Read: Thomas and his LED store takes Sales to the Next Level with Multichannel Integration by CedCommerce

Why Stick to one marketplace when you can sell on Many!!

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Now, let us go through the steps to start multi-channel selling with Magento; one at a time:

Step 1: Requirement Analysis:

Before commencing with multi-channel eCommerce you need to ensure that your Magento store is compatible with this. Make a checklist of the necessary things to do before you start multi-channel selling.

start multi-channel selling on Magento

Some of these things include:

Magento Store Speed Optimisation
Resolve urgent issues and critical bugs.
Addition of any new 3rd party extensions
Update Inventory to keep your site current.

Are you all done? Great

Once you are finished with these, you have taken the very first step towards building a successful multi-channel business on Magento.

Also Read: 5 Best Magento Marketplaces Every Seller Must Consider for MultiChannel Selling

Next comes Risk analysis.

Step 2: Risk and Challenges Analysis:

Selling on multiple channels comes with a lot of uncalled complications and risks. And as a responsible seller, you need to be aware of these risks of multi-channel eCommerce.

start multi-channel selling on Magento (1)

Some of the risks that most Magento multi-channel eCommerce business sellers face are:

Sudden demand and supply crisis.
Maintaining a smooth cash flow.
Refunds and Return rate.
Keeping up with the seller rating.
and many more

Here’s a list of all the challenges that occur while selling products on multiple channels/marketplaces.

If you are aware of all these risks and challenges, you can easily plan for an alternative solution when such a scenario arises.

You need to be prepared beforehand and come out on top of all others.

Also Read: Essential Tips for Starting a Multichannel Business on Magento

Step 3: The Marketplace Analysis:

Now, this is the most crucial step in building a powerful multi-channel business on Magento – the marketplace analysis.

start multi-channel eCommerce business on Magento

While choosing the channels or marketplaces, you need to be very careful. So you need to consider all the pros and cons of these shortlisted marketplaces and proceed with the ones that fit your business.

The points to consider before choosing a marketplace to sell:

The Marketplace traffic
Customer base
Key strengths of the marketplace
The Fee structure and commission rate
Terms and conditions for selling
Fulfillment services
Returns and refund policies
Customer support from marketplaces

Now you have gone through all the above criteria, you can easily select the best eCommerce marketplaces for your Magento based business.

Since you have chosen the channels to sell, now, you need to make sure that your website is upgraded with the latest version of Magento.

Also Read: Essential Tips for Starting a Multichannel Business on Magento

Step 4: Magento Upgrade To The Best Version:

To achieve successful multi-channel eCommerce, its advisable to choose the Magento Commerce version rather than the basic community version.

best platform for multi-channel eCommerce

The main reason being that the Community edition of Magento has many limitations, and you can’t take any risks by sticking to the basic version.

Thus by choosing Magento Commerce, you can get these benefits which can help achieve successful multi-channel eCommerce:

Code Level Access
Cloud Hosting
PA-DSS security
Large Catalog Management
Visual Merchandising
Dynamic Rule-Based Product Relations
Content Management System with WYSIWYG editor
Scheduled Import/Export from remote FTP servers
And much more

You have already chosen the best platform and the best marketplaces, now you need to consider one last thing to start a multi-channel eCommerce business.

Also Read: Omnichannel vs Multichannel eCommerce – Which is better for a Magento based seller?

A crucial key step that an enterprise business has to take is choosing the right eCommerce platform and solution. Therefore contributing to your business growth and improving customer experience are the two major motives of an ideal eCommerce solution. At CedCommerce, we have a full-fledged team of experts that help enterprise retailers like you to analyze, plan, and successfully set your business online.
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Step 5: Choosing a suitable Marketplace Integration

Now all you need to do is establish a real-time integration between your Magento store and the selected marketplaces.

best platform for multi-channel eCommerce

And how to do that?

Through multi-channel Marketplace Integration?

What is a multi-channel marketplace integration?

A multi-channel marketplace integration is an API integration that interacts between your Magento store and marketplaces to create a real-time connection. This automated tool enables you to sell on any number of platforms, directly from your Magento store. Know more about Magento Multichannel Integration.

Moreover, by selecting a multi-channel eCommerce integration, you get these benefits:

Automated listing of products on Multi channels
Centralized store management
Real-time stock & status updates
Avoid Overselling of Products
Improve Customer Satisfaction with fast shipping
And much more.

Hence we suggest you choose CEDcommerce Magento multi-channel listing integration as it provides you with all the resources and features for selling on multiple channels simultaneously.

Learn about the benefits of multichannel selling and how it can help in building your business.

Since you have now listed and uploaded the products, now you need one last thing.

Also Read: 10 Reasons Why Magento Sellers Products Must Sell on Multiple Channels

Step 6: Proper Marketing and SEO presence

The last step towards building a powerful multi-channel business on Magento is making a proper marketing strategy.

best platform for multi-channel eCommerce business

You need to make your customers aware that you are now available at their service.

Also, you need to work on the following Marketing Strategies:

Sponsored products ads
PPC advertising
Search Engine Optimisation
Content optimization of product pages
And many more.

Now you are all set!!

As soon as you follow all the above 6 steps, nothing can prevent you from establishing a successful multi-channel business on Magento.

After learning how to build a powerful business by selling on multiple channels with Magento, you must be thinking that why Magento? Since there are so many platforms for multi-channel eCommerce, so, what makes Magento suitable and vetter than the rest?

Well, here’s an answer.

why is the Magento the best multichannel selling platform

Why Magento is the Best platform for Multi-Channel eCommerce?

The reason why Magento is the best platform for multi-channel eCommerce business is that you get the following benefits:

Managing all sales channel listings in one solution
Centralizing inventory management and purchasing
Publishing real-time inventory updates
Streamlining the pick and pack processes
Integrating shipping to process more efficiently
Having the ability to report across all sales channels
And much more

So are you still confused or have any second thoughts on linking your Magento based products on multiple channels?

Worry no more because we are additionally giving you a chance for a free consultation with Magento Experts.

Click here to set up a meeting with eCommerce experts who can help you take your Magento-based business to new heights by selling on multiple channels across the globe.

Also Read: 10 eCommerce Challenges Magento Sellers Face While Selling online