Online marketplaces continue to boom as customers shift towards the convenience of the virtual shopping experience. Marketplaces allow ecommerce businesses to reach even wider audiences and attract new types of customers according to the different online platforms they use. There are various marketplaces and channels you can use as an online retailer, but how do you begin to simultaneously manage your stock across them all? The answer: marketplace management.
Marketplace Management
Managing an almost countless number of product numbers across multiple channels can prove a burdensome task, especially with modern-day consumers being used to having everything delivered swiftly through a click of a button.
Before you think about any orders or stock control you may need, it is vital to ensure that all of your product listings are correct. To get the most out of your product listings, think beyond just the average description. Sell your product, differentiate it, embed keywords, and of course, use images. Wouldn’t it be good if you only had to do this once for a product, instead of having to create a product listing for each product on each marketplace?
Well, you can. With marketplace management software, you can take advantage of single product listing, where you can manage all product content – to suit different marketplace templates – from one place. It is the first step into gaining control over your stock on multiple channels.
Now, the most important factor when it comes to marketplace management is having a strong order management strategy in place to ensure that you are up-to-date with the whereabouts of orders, their status, and ultimately the marketplace channel they derive from.
Let’s also not forget staying updated with marketplace trends. Online shopping is constantly changing, and it’s important that your ecommerce business changes along with it too. By noticing popular trends early, you can make adjustments accordingly and ensure you’re always a step ahead of the competition.
Stock Control Software
The main way to manage your stock is, of course, through sophisticated stock control software. If you’re looking for reliability and accuracy with your stock-keeping units (SKUs), then stock control software is a sure investment. All sets of data come from one singular system – proving time-efficient – and this gives you the freedom to easily manage your inventories.
Arguably the most valuable aspects of the software is the automatic updates it pushes to and from each channels, removing items simultaneous to prevent the risk of over-selling. For example, when the last product has been sold it will be automatically de-listed, and then when your new stock has been booked into the warehouse, it will automatically relist your products without any need for human intervention. Keeping you and most importantly your customers updated and informed on stock levels.
Many retailers work on a drop ship basis and/or with multiple suppliers and when the fulfilment process is taken out of your hands, you could suffer delays or missed deliveries that may impact your business. By monitoring your stock control properly, you can always be in the know of any issues with your goods. With this knowledge, you can then update your customers on the whereabouts of their items.
Customer service plays a vital part in multiple-marketplace distribution. Pleasing all customers on all platforms can be a tough task, but taking advantage of stock control management gives your ecommerce business some customer-service breathing space.
Time to implement software
As you’re selling across a number of different platforms, the easiest way for you to track your stock, your reports, and generally how your ecommerce business is performing, is to do so by implementing the correct software. Having reports and analysis generated from one system not only makes it easier for you as an ecommerce owner, but it also allows the information to be better quickly collated and interpreted. This will save you considerable amounts of admin time, that can then be used elsewhere to ensure your ecommerce business is continuing to thrive.
Managing your stock across multiple marketplaces is completed through smart marketplace management, which consists of smart order management, stock management, and product listing.
Want your ecommerce business to have fully controlled management over marketplace stock? Contact us to discuss the next steps to making your multiple marketplaces fully automated and having the ease of knowing your software is able to deal with large and complex volumes of orders.
by Gemma Tomlinson on 16/08/2017
