It’s convenient to sell items through sales channels that are third party, such as Amazon, eBay and Etsy.
Internal marketing isn’t a major issue when selling under a larger brand, which gives you instant exposure to the entire world. Furthermore shipping and logistics are less complicated than if you were to do the entire process by yourself.
However, these benefits are accompanied by a huge risk, particularly when they are your sole channel for sales.
The Cost of Convenience
All it needs is one vendor making an imitation or copycat item at a lower cost to steal your “top-seller” position you worked to achieve. And, even more troubling, if they claim that you’re the original and stop your store from operating, there’s nothing you can do.
This is in part because those who purchase from these sales channels are seeking the most affordable cost but not necessarily for items from your own brand. If prices are the primary and all of the business, it’s extremely challenging to build the trust of customers.
It’s all about connecting with people and them. Without a direct connection with your clients, it’s nearly impossible to build long-term connections.
For instance, when you deal with businesses like Amazon and Booking.com Customers you get over time aren’t legally the ones you own. Instead, they’re the users of the marketplaces you use. These same companies who help you make money now could take your the business away to you at any time in the near future through the creation of their own products, or closing your account at a moment’s notice. This may seem inconvenient, yet it’s within their right to take this action.
It’s nearly impossible to build an ongoing customers on Amazon due to the fact that as a seller, you don’t get access to customers’ email addresses, or their pre-purchase browsing past. In exchange for the advantages of being able to sell your products in a short time and gain immediate exposure to a large public, you’re losing many things.
Without the information of customers to feed into your company’s Feedback loop small-sized companies are left with a limited options to grow in a sustainable way.
How can keep your company from becoming being a mere number on an LCD screen?
Before I get started I’d like to clarify one thing It’s not my intention to convince you to delete the listings on marketplaces like Amazon And I’m certainly not declaring that these companies are evil They have benefits both ways. As time passes and your business grows the benefits could begin to decrease.
If you’re selling via third-party sales channels then you’re probably aware of the things you’re talking about. What I’m referring to is if you’re not diversifying your income streams, or , more importantly and if you’re still waiting established an online storefront that connects to your site – it’s a Direct Sales Channel It’s time to think about the possibility of doing so.
The 8 Benefits of Owning Your Own Online Store
Running an online storefront comes with eight benefits that are crucial to consider:
- Personalized, direct contact with your customers
- Retention and customer loyalty improved.
- Access to all customer data (email purchase history, browsing history)
- Faster dispute resolution
- Optimized business operations, business decisions as well as products and services
- You can keep 100 percent of your sales (instead of sharing it with third-party vendors)
- Resilience to copycat companies and products
- Complete autonomy for your business (you determine the rules)
It is important to remember that establishing direct sales channels comes with its own challenges. Marketing and sales initiatives must be internalized, since there isn’t an enormous corporation that can do the work for you. It’s quite a task, however the rewards are huge.
If your company is growing and you’re hoping to capitalize on that growth for the next five to ten years, you must ensure your business’s future by creating an avenue to connect you directly to your customers.
What does your long-term sales plan look like? How are you adjusting to the age of digital commerce? Are you putting all your eggs in one basket? Are you truly in charge and manage your business’s operations? Here are some important issues to be considered.
Why?
If you’re still on debate about creating direct sales channels for your company I urge you to consider asking yourself why you choose to do your job the way you do. What’s the underlying reason of your motivation as an entrepreneur? Let me make a guess:
You began your own company as a way to escape the rigidity of a system of rules to pursue your passion. You became an Entrepreneur in order to determine your own fate and to look back over the years with pride and fondness and be able to say, “I was able to build something great – out of nothing.”
Before you get back to your routine make sure you take a take a step back and evaluate whether your company has the right foundations in the right place. Direct sales channels will not guarantee you the growth of your company but it does boost your chances.
