Pro's & Con's of Multi Channel Retailing

[akhtarkasia]

Wanting to know how the Retail community is embracing the Multi Channel prospects.

What are the hurdles you had to overcome.

Is the reward sweeter?

 

[Brightpearl]

Here are a couple of ideas I can think of for you in terms of pro’s and con’s.

Pros

More exposure - You gain access to many more potential customers when you adopt a multichannel model. Exposure to more people means that you have a higher chance of being seen by someone who is interested in what you are selling and therefore likely to make more sales.

Be where your customers are - If customers are using a particular sales channel and you’re not present on it they’re not going to change to another just because it is more convenient for you. They’ll just move on to one of your competitors who are conveniently there for them. Loyalty to a brand goes out the window if you are unable to be in front of customers when and where they want you to be.

Avoid being reliant on one source of revenue - Adopting the multichannel retail model lets you escape over-reliance on a single revenue stream. If there’s less footfall in the high street due to bad weather that’s not a major issue as you can continue to trade online. If the latest Google algorithm changes make your web store plummet in search engine listings, you’ll be okay, your eBay sales are still rolling in. Have a diverse range of channels to market not only gives your customers more choice but helps you to cover your bases too.

Different channels work better for different products - Depending on what people are buying they will have different requirements which will aid the decision process. For instance, buying clothes is usually something people want to be able to touch and try on so they are more likely to go to a ‘bricks and mortar’ store for this kind of shopping. Whereas buying electrical equipment can often be something that is easier to buy from the comfort of your own home. Testing out which of your products sell best on which channel will help you maximise profits on your sales and to sell more of them too.

Quick start - Setting up an additional sales channel is pretty straightforward as you already have the experience and processes set up for your existing sales channel. Stock can be stored in the same place for all of them, and if you setting up a new webstore or starting to list things on online marketplaces, you shouldn’t need much more in terms of staff resources to be able to get these off the ground.

Cons

Stock control is much more difficult - Managing all the separate channels effectively so you don’t compromise on customer service is hard to get right. Stock control is particularly tricky as you might be selling the same items on multiple channels so you might end up double-selling an item. This leads to delays shipping products, or perhaps even to customers not able to get what they ordered. Not a good customer experience at all.

More to manage - Hopefully with more exposure to new customers will increase sales but this in turn puts more strain on resources. You need to make sure you can cope with an influx in demand. You need to be able to pick, pack and ship the number of orders coming in, afford to set up and staff a physical store, or create, manage and update an eBay shop. This could really put a strain on you, your staff or your bank account.

 

[akhtarkasia]

WOW. Good reply. However I would have thought there would be more business people responding to this question than a developer?

 

[IanDade]

Stock control is much more difficult - Managing all the separate channels effectively so you don’t compromise on customer service is hard to get right. Stock control is particularly tricky as you might be selling the same items on multiple channels so you might end up double-selling an item. This leads to delays shipping products, or perhaps even to customers not able to get what they ordered. Not a good customer experience at all.

More to manage - Hopefully with more exposure to new customers will increase sales but this in turn puts more strain on resources. You need to make sure you can cope with an influx in demand. You need to be able to pick, pack and ship the number of orders coming in, afford to set up and staff a physical store, or create, manage and update an eBay shop. This could really put a strain on you, your staff or your bank account.

If you are considering selling on multi channels there are some fantastic pieces of software on the market that can help you with your stock control and avoid the very scenarios stated above.

We offer a piece of software called StoreFeeder which manages you stock over multi channels from one central location.

storefeeder.com is the place to visit. All the contact details are on there and just mention that Ian @ UK Fulfilment put you in touch.

 

[kulture]

I use linnworks which seems to offer at least as much as storefeeded and is much much cheaper.

 

[exceedmedia]

We also researched the various products on offer recently for order and stock management, and in the end, like "kulture", we went with Linnworks. Mainly because the pricing is pretty transparent, and once you get to their standard packages or above, you aren't restricted with SKU lines or how many channels you have.

Also, if youre a bit nifty with managing a Windows firewall and port forwarding, you can rustle up a nice little WLAN web based server version using Linnworks Local like we did and get the benefits of their Linnworks anywhere system but saving yourself £60 a month...

 

[emmaheuton]

Multichannel retailing includes merger of retailing operations which enables a customer to connect via several connected channels, including retail stores, mobile stores, online stores, mobile app stores and telephone sales. Benefits of Multichannel retailing are increased revenue and growth opportunities, better responsiveness to changing environment and increased competitive advatntage.