You hear it over and over again: “Diversify your channel mix” and “reach shoppers wherever they are.” But sometimes, that’s easier said than done. Joining new marketplaces comes with a number of challenges, from lack of channel-specific expertise to thinning profit margins. Plus, the e-commerce landscape is more competitive than ever.

Yet, challenges like these shouldn’t stand in your way to multi-marketplace bliss. Instead, conquering them requires a holistic approach that takes your marketplace strategy well beyond listing. 

We recently hosted a webinar featuring 7 Steps to Successful Multi-Marketplace Selling to help you develop a cohesive plan to manage multiple accounts — without draining resources. 

How to Win at Multi-Marketplace Selling

1. Get everyone on board. 

Too many brands still operate in silos. But aligning your teams, from marketing to sales to finance, is critical for a united front that impacts brand growth. Elect a project manager to oversee this cross-functional strategy, help set goals, conduct research and keep everyone on track toward a common objective.

2. Strengthen retailer relationships.

Expanding across marketplaces can be a touchy subject with your retail partners. The best way to approach this is to communicate your intent to sell directly to consumers early in the process. Be sure to set expectations and inform retailers what your marketplace expansion will mean for your ongoing partnership.

3. Clean up your product catalog.

What does your product content say to shoppers? Improve your chances of marketplace success from the start with clear, organized content that entices shoppers instead of chasing them away. Tailor your content to the audience where possible and be sure to include fields like:

• Titles
• Descriptions
• Images
• Bullet points
• Specs
• Pricing
• Keywords

4. Select the right inventory.

Your listings can and should vary from marketplace to marketplace. Sometimes, this is due to the agreements you set with each platform. Study those contracts to adequately comply with first-party inventory regulations. You can also automate your inventory management so you never have to worry about overselling or running into product shortages. 

5. Maximize visibility.

Did you know your product detail page placements are responsible for up to 50% ad sales? The thing is, each marketplace’s advertising opportunities are different. Take advantage of these differences to tailor your ads to specific audiences, track performance and make changes for the best ROI across marketplaces. A diversified retail media approach broadens your reach and gives shoppers multiple touchpoints to interact with your brand. 

6. Price strategically.

Set your prices too high, and you’ll likely be undercut. Set them too low, and you risk missing out on revenue. Find the pricing “sweet spot” by:

• Understanding and complying with your predetermined pricing agreements
• Identifying pricing fluctuations 
• Monitoring the competition 
• Experimenting with deals, promotions and discount bundles

Don’t have time or expertise to monitor prices manually? Try an automated repricer to do it for you. 

7. Fulfill fast and affordably.

Fast, reliable fulfillment is so important that it’s now directly correlated to customer satisfaction. To ensure customers receive their deliveries on time, carefully vet your third-party logistics (3PL) providers so you know you can trust them to meet expectations. Managing fulfillment across marketplaces becomes increasingly complex, but many platforms offer their own services, including Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and Walmart Fulfillment Services. 

These tips aren’t even half of the strategic advice our Rithum experts shared in our recent webinar. View the recording on demand to get an eighth “bonus step,” additional multi-marketplace tips and important stats that demonstrate current marketplace growth. 

The post Selling on Multiple Marketplaces? You Need These 7 Tips appeared first on Rithum.

The holidays are fast approaching and brands and retailers of all sizes are busy with last-minute preparations. To help sellers plan for the season ahead, we decided to highlight some advice from our Managed Services experts in a Q&A blog series. 

The Rithum Managed Services team works with clients every day to provide strategy and execution in their e-commerce efforts — maximizing their presence on marketplaces and optimizing their digital marketing campaigns. 

With marketplaces on top of everyone’s mind this season, we spoke to our client strategy team about some of their advice to help brands and retailers prepare for the upcoming shopping season.

Q: It’s August, what are the three most urgent things sellers should be doing right now before the holidays? 

Laura Jackson, Senior Client Strategy Manager: To prepare for the rapidly approaching holiday season, sellers should focus on their strategies in three major areas: marketing, selling and fulfilling.

For marketing, now is the time to finalize holiday budgets and set up final advertising campaign structures so they can be implemented prior to the start of the holiday season. The more time allowed for optimizations to be made to the campaigns on the seller side and for the campaigns to build history and relevance on the marketplace, the better!

As far as selling, make sure that your items are not only available for purchase on marketplaces but the listing content is fully optimized too. Reviewing titles, descriptions, bullet points, images and appropriate item specifics now will ensure success during the busy holiday season.

In the area of fulfillment, remember that increased volume of orders can pose many challenges for sellers during the holiday season and strategize accordingly. Finish out the season successfully by ensuring appropriate stock levels on popular items and have a plan in place to to ship orders in a timely fashion.

Q: When it comes to product listings, sellers always hear about the importance of “optimizing” product content. What does that mean in real terms?

Brad Haynes, Team Lead, Client Strategy: You have to remember that your content is how a buyer will understand the product you’re selling and if it truly meets their needs. If you go into a physical store, you can look at the item, hold it, see all angles of it, look at the mechanics of it, ask an associate questions. You need to consider that when creating your product listings. Are your titles strong enough to catch someone’s attention when scrolling through multiple listings?  Do you have multiple images (at least four) to show the buyer all angles and different views of the product? 

Think about your product line as well. If you’re an apparel seller, and you were shopping for your own products, would you have all you needed to know to make your decision such as fit, size guides, fabric content, care instructions, colors, sizing, etc.? If you’re a consumer electronics seller, do you show all the compatible makes and models of other items that work with the products you’re selling?

Q: What should sellers be doing now to ensure their inventory doesn’t go out of stock?

Kristin Sester, Team Lead, Client Strategy: Be proactive and review your inventory forecasting plan early — looking at Q4 last year, year-to-date trends this year and projected growth goals for Q4 2022. Consider: What were last year’s top sellers during the holidays? What are this year’s new featured styles or product lines that should be prioritized? Make sure to have enough stock available for your most popular and prioritized products to satisfy early shoppers, the Cyber Five and last-minute shoppers. 

Be sure to have a backup plan and ability to offer product alternatives. Review your current inventory buffer settings and implement or adjust/increase accordingly to help prepare for increased orders and balance products across multiple channels. Take note of key Q4 inventory replenishment dates if using marketplace fulfillment services such as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) and plan to replenish items early in preparation for the holiday buying season.

Q: Any timely tips on making sure your delivery capabilities are in place and your packages reach consumers in time for the holidays? 

Brad Haynes, Team Lead, Client Strategy: Understand your last ship dates and plan accordingly.  You need to have your replenishment strategy in place by the middle of October, and it should consider how long it would take to restock certain items, focus on top-selling products, determine items for FBA and so forth. Start evaluating metrics from past holiday seasons and see if there were any issues around lead times, products being oversold, shipping carrier delivery timelines and adjust accordingly.  

If you found you were late shipping items last year, consider adjusting your lead time to ship to match the more accurate timeline. Be on the lookout for last ship dates from your shipping carriers so you can factor that into your last ship date to deliver to your consumers.  

If you had to cancel items for being out of stock, consider raising/adding a buffer to ensure you always keep quantity on hand. Understand your current stock at FBA. Are those top selling items? If not, consider replacing those with your anticipated top sellers for Q4. Determine your appropriate stock levels for FBA and start replenishing items now so you can get them shipping into FBA and available for purchase in time for Q4.

Q: Can sellers do anything to prepare for marketplace suspensions during the holiday season?

Kristin Sester, Team Lead, Client Strategy: A marketplace account suspension during the holiday season can be one of the biggest obstacles and detriments to a seller. Preparation should start now by reviewing and resolving any early warning signs and being cognizant of any marketplace performance notifications. Marketplace health monitoring should carry on with a proactive approach and top-notch customer service throughout Q4 and Q1 when holiday return and refund activities ensue.

To prepare, meet with key members of internal or external teams that will take ownership should there be any increased trends of fulfillment/shipping delays, order cancellation rates and customer complaints or negative reviews. Ensure that all members are aware of the marketplace guidelines and specific performance criteria/thresholds in their relevant area for each channel in which you list. Identify trustworthy teammate(s) who will proactively monitor your channel health, metrics and feedback at least three times per week from mid-October through the end of December and report any concerns to the appropriate owners for quick action.  

Q: How can sellers drive more traffic to their marketplace listings?

Nick Castillo, Team Lead, Client Strategy: You want to ensure that your content is optimized for search results on each marketplace. Focus first on titles, descriptions and bullets/features. Maximize the use of characters allowed, making sure that your content is legible and you’re not “keyword stuffing” with terms that are out of context. One size doesn’t fit all; you may need to customize the content to each marketplace for optimal results. Make sure your descriptions are formatted correctly and don’t include HTML formatting if it’s not allowed. Simpler is better. 

Next you’ll want to provide as many additional product attributes as possible beyond the minimal requirements. Not only are these additional product details used for search indexing but also filtering that shoppers use when browsing the catalog. This will help potential customers refine their search results and maximize click-through to your listings.

Finally, if available you can use keyword/search term fields to include additional words you couldn’t fit into your content. You can sometimes gear these toward related items or competitive items if allowed. If you’re using paid advertising that provides search term data this would also be a great place to include long-tail search terms that you find perform well.

If you’re interested in learning more about how our Managed Services team can help you prepare for this holiday season, contact us today.

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Check out part two of this Q&A with the Experts series where we dive into digital marketing best practices. 

The post Q&A with the Experts: E-Commerce Marketplaces Best Practices for the Holidays appeared first on Rithum.

If only managing e-commerce inventory was as easy as running a lemonade stand. Low on product? Just make more! The problems arise as you start producing on a much larger scale for a much larger audience. `

Real e-commerce companies must manage multiple moving parts of their business — the most complex of which is inventory management. Keeping inventory updated across multiple channels is hard work, especially during peak selling seasons. The more channels you list on and the more SKUs you have, the more complicated the process can get.

Inventory management for e-commerce sites big or small is crucial for survival. Yet, many businesses lack the know-how and automation to make the process a well-oiled cog of their e-commerce machine. 

Let’s take a look at how efficient inventory management helps online brands and retailers better prepare to meet customer expectations with available supply. 

What Is Inventory Management for E-Commerce?  

Inventory management is the process of sourcing, storing and selling physical products. Successful inventory management requires real-time knowledge of available stock, its price, where to store it and how long to keep it to ensure there’s always enough to fill customer orders. That way, you know:

• How much of a new item to order
• What is the average time in warehouse
• When to reorder stock
• How much to reorder

What Are Inventory Management Techniques?

Every business is different. That’s why there’s no “one size fits all” inventory management strategy. Different inventory control techniques allow for greater flexibility for brands and retailers of various sizes and industries. 

Just-In-Time

Under this model, sellers replenish stock as it’s sold so the inventory is directly proportional to the number of sales. While this technique reduces dead stock and storage costs, it can be extremely risky to let real time sales dictate future inventory. 

First In, First Out (FIFO)

This method keeps stock as “fresh” as possible by moving older inventory (first in) to the front to be sold next (first out). The FIFO technique is especially helpful when selling food, but is also applicable to fast-paced industries like consumer electronics, health and beauty or fashion, where a high rotation of stock is necessary. 

Drop Shipping

Keep shipping in the hands of the manufacturer. Drop shipping eliminates the warehouse middleman and ensures sellers never touch the product. This is especially helpful for new e-commerce businesses who may not have the capital yet to invest in warehousing. A multichannel commerce platform can help you manage multiple drop-ship providers in one place. 

3PL or Marketplace Fulfillment

Outsource your fulfillment and skip inventory altogether by letting a third-party logistics provider (3PL) or marketplace do it for you. These vendors are well-versed in inventory management and shipping and can maintain appropriate levels of stock while monitoring compliance. Choose from a vast network of 3PLs and services like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) so you can focus on other business needs. 

Benefits of E-Commerce Inventory Management

Inventory management is important because it can cost money and reduce cash flow if not properly monitored. Too little inventory can result in shipping delays and unsatisfied customers, while too much inventory can create poor product turnover and high costs associated with warehousing surplus stock. 

Well-managed inventory can result in benefits like:

• Faster delivery. Improve shipping flow with exact item locations and real-time inventory updates for faster picking and packing. 
• Greater transparency. Know exactly when your team receives, picks, packs and ships new items to more accurately predict how much to order to meet demand. 
• Lower costs. Know what you have to sell and move it faster to reduce storage fees,  handling fees and the insurance costs of protecting products against theft or natural disaster. 
• Fewer stock-outs. Minimize the number of days an item is out-of-stock with alerts that tell you when product volume runs low. 
• Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. Evaluate your available inventory against forecasts for shortages and demand so you’re prepared with what customers need, when they need it. When customers can count on you, it builds long-term loyalty. 
• Increase inventory turnover. Know which products are slow-moving or high in demand to accurately balance stock levels and optimize the value of goods. 

3 Common Inventory Challenges

Any company can fall prey to the challenges of inventory control if it’s not properly managed. Here are three of the most common inventory challenges and how to address them before they become problems. 

Inventory doesn’t sync across channels.

You know it’s time to revisit your inventory process when you receive an order for an out-of-stock item. This scenario is a common one for brands and retailers that are actively expanding to new marketplaces. Each time you add another sales channel to your portfolio, the risk of overselling increases. And the longer a sold-out item is listed as available, the more likely you are to face unhappy customers, leading to poor reviews and negative ratings.

Automated inventory management across channels ensures customers see accurate stock quantities no matter where they shop. Launch, track and automate your inventory quantity, prices and product data across global marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, Walmart and more. With a full picture of your inventory on one central platform (instead of multiple spreadsheets), you can eliminate duplicate product data and prevent overselling scenarios.

Stock levels are never “just right.”

Run out of inventory ahead of your next shipment, and you’ll end up paying a premium to get suppliers to speed up delivery. Find yourself with an overflow, and you’ll sacrifice valuable warehouse space or lose profits to closeout pricing. Is a healthy balance even possible?

Accurate demand and inventory forecasting is key to stopping the cycle. This automated technology conducts SKU-level analysis of your sales data to forecast precisely how much stock will be needed to meet demand over the next 30, 60 or 90 days. It’s one of the most effective ways to decrease the risk of overstocking, understocking and paying unnecessary fulfillment fees for extended holds or expedited delivery.

You’re still managing compliance manually.

Managing compliance manually may be possible if you only sell on one or two channels. But if you list across multiple marketplaces and channels, it can become incredibly difficult to keep up with the wide range of requirements — especially when juggling multiple warehouses, shipments and tracking details.

Working with a 3PL provider puts important compliance details in the hands of experts who specialize in various aspects of order and inventory management and returns. Rithum has a robust network of third-party logistics partners. 

Tips for E-Commerce Inventory Management

Is it possible to maintain a balance between too much stock and too little? Absolutely. We recommend these six tips to stay ahead of the game and keep stock moving at a manageable rate:

1. Maintain a stash of back-up stock. Personal finance advisors will tell you to keep a “rainy day fund” in case of emergencies. Back-up stock accomplishes the same result in case demand suddenly skyrockets. This is especially important for commodities that may be susceptible to panic buying during inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances. 

2. Try kitting. Can’t sell individual items on their own? Sell them as a bundle or try a kitting technique like “buy 1, get 1 free” to move more product and increase average order value. 

3. Analyze trends in demand and past purchases. Regularly assess sales to identify what products sell best or worst, and use the findings to predict future buying trends. This insight gives you reliable data to make better inventory decisions going forward. 

4. Store smarter. Implement a labeling and storage system that makes it easy to locate items. Invest in a reliable scanning system to digitize the process and reduce human error. 

5. Implement a minimum available stock level. Set a minimum stock level for each product you sell as a threshold to prevent out-of-stocks. When stock levels reach the set value, an automated inventory management system can alert you to reorder. 

6. Conduct a supply chain audit. Boost confidence in your suppliers by regularly auditing them to ensure more product will be available when you need it. Compare your lead times, costs and quality to those of your competitors about every six months to identify potential supply chain weaknesses. 

Rithum Simplifies Inventory Management 

While inventory management may not be the first (or even tenth) task you tackle, it’s arguably one of the most important — especially if you’re trying to scale your business. It pays to put as many of your inventory processes as possible on autopilot. 

Rithum helps you automate inventory management in the same platform you monitor all your e-commerce data and processes. We help you save time and reduce complexity with features like:

• Consolidated inventory management. Reduce the possibility of overselling by synchronizing inventory quantity across all of your selling channels. Every time one of your products sells on one channel, the available inventory is automatically updated for all supported channels. Suppress products immediately with inventory blocking functionality.
• Robust data transformation engine. Use powerful data transformation tools to supplement or improve product data, optimizing for the unique requirements of each marketplace.
• All items view. View and filter inventory information allocation across the sales lifecycle from a central interface.
• Variation listings. Relate products as variations to show that a product comes in different colors, sizes or other variables.
• Bundles. Group individual products into bundles and keep your quantities in sync across bundles, individual SKUs and channels. Variations can also be part of bundled listings.
• Inventory attributes. Include the characteristics that define a product so that it can be listed and found on a marketplace. Define custom attributes for added flexibility and more accurate product information.

Contact our team today for a demo of the Rithum platform and a look at how we can help you manage your inventory more efficiently.  

The post How to Manage Your E-Commerce Inventory appeared first on Rithum.

As a consumer, you appreciate when your online orders arrive safely, on time and at a fair price. As a brand or retailer, it’s your job to make that happen. This entire process — from initial order placement to final delivery — is called order fulfillment.

Amazon forever changed the game when it introduced free, two-day shipping for its Prime members. Now, consumers expect that same ease and convenience with every online store they shop. Are you meeting expectations?

Let’s take a look at how to improve your order fulfillment process, customer satisfaction and bottom line with these eight tips and answers to your biggest questions. 

What Is the E-Commerce Order Fulfillment Process?

Order fulfillment is the process of receiving an order and managing its delivery to the customer. This typically involves everything from processing the order in a multichannel commerce platform, sending it to the warehouse for fulfillment, assembling and packing it, shipping it and confirming final delivery. Yet, this process requires preparation and planning long before a customer clicks “place order.”

Steps of the Order Fulfillment Process

• Source goods.

You may source your products from a third-party or manufacture them yourself. Either way, you must count and inspect all incoming inventory to ensure accurate management.

• Store inventory.

A fulfillment center processes products for immediate disbursement or short- or long-term storage. Rather than holding items for future sales, fulfillment centers typically hold goods just long enough to organize them for orderly distribution.

• Process orders.

As new orders come in, employees or robots will pick or locate the item(s) and pack them for shipping. Order management systems help automate this process by integrating with the e-commerce website and quickly identifying the product(s) for easy location and disbursement. Since space on delivery trucks is at a premium, making the package as light and compact as possible helps speed transport and potentially lower costs. 

• Ship packages.

The fulfillment center sends the package to a shipping channel or carrier like air, freight, USPS, FedEx or UPS. The chosen carrier determines the package’s billable cost. 

• Delivery to the customer. 

The carrier delivers the product to the customer. It is common for packages to arrive by way of more than one carrier. If FedEx handles the initial shipment, USPS may be responsible for the package’s last mile delivery (or the final leg of the journey to the intended destination). 

One additional step to consider in the fulfillment process is the potential for returns. Some companies include shipping materials and a return slip with the customer’s initial order. Accepting a return requires quality control to ensure the product is not damaged or soiled and it can be restocked appropriately. 

Why Is Quality Order Fulfillment Important?

Shipping and delivery are now directly correlated with customer satisfaction. In fact, 84% of Amazon shoppers regarded shipping as an important part of their online shopping experience in a 2019 survey. 

The cost of shipping matters too. A recent Shippo report found that 49% of customers opt for lower cost shipping while 40% choose free shipping. Yet, when given the choice between free shipping and fast shipping, an overwhelming 83% prefer free. 

How Do You Choose an Order Fulfillment Strategy?

You can choose to fulfill your customer orders in a few different ways. There are four traditional fulfillment models, including:

• In-house: This means all fulfillment is handled internally. While you don’t pay an outside service, you may spend more money over time in employee resources and processing.
• Third party: Third-party fulfillment means you pay an external provider like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), Zalando Fulfillment Services or other third-party logistics provider (3PL) to handle orders for you. 
• Drop shipping: This is a fulfillment method where the seller doesn’t keep stock on hand. Instead, the seller purchases stock from a third party (usually the manufacturer or wholesaler) as needed. 
• Hybrid: The hybrid model combines two or all of the aforementioned models. For example, a seller may choose to fulfill its most popular products in-house, but leave big, bulky items to drop shipping directly from the manufacturer. 

Choosing the fulfillment method that’s right for you depends on your company’s resources and in-house skills. To make the best decision, analyze the cost of each solution for different categories or sizes of products and assess what your company can handle.

8 Tips to Improve Your Fulfillment

1.Integrate systems as much as possible.

Seamless integrations between your vendors and order management system are crucial for the fastest, most efficient fulfillment. You should be able to easily integrate your preferred distributor, 3PL or warehouse management system (WMS) to manage picking, packing and shipping.

2. Set clear customer and vendor expectations.

It’s better for consumers to be surprised by an early shipment than frustrated at a late shipment. Communicate with your customers up front so they know what delivery window to expect. At the same time, hold your shipping vendors accountable to the terms you set so you can uphold your customer promises.

3. Plan ahead for returns and customer support. 

Customer returns and inquiries are inevitable. Have a returns strategy in place and a way for customers to contact you, whether through a call center, email address or third party who manages it for you. 

4. Treat your shipping vendor as a true partner.

Keep your friends close, but keep your vendors closer. Make strong connections with your shipping partners to negotiate the best deals, stay informed and understand their process so you can avoid delays. 

5. Get smart about your warehouses.

Meet consumers’ increasing expectations for fast shipping by either choosing quick-picking shippers or opening more warehouses. Choose locations that are closest to your most frequent delivery areas. More warehouses mean higher inventory and labor costs, but lower shipping expenses and faster delivery.

6. Choose trusted third-party fulfillment vendors.

You could manage your fulfillment in-house, but third-party fulfillment options can be just as cost effective. For instance, with FBA, the cost of shipping is included in your fees, and you’re only charged for the storage space you use and the orders Amazon fulfills. Plus, FBA helps keep costs down for your lightest and lowest-cost products so you don’t lose money.  

7. Monitor fulfillment end to end.

Choose a system that offers end-to-end tracking for orders, inventory and all other e-commerce operations. Having crystal clear visibility will allow you to see exactly what items are available, how much you have and where they’re located. An integrated system will ensure you and your suppliers can see the same catalog and order fulfillment progress.

8. Measure your fulfillment performance. 

Don’t “set it and forget it.” Regularly monitor your fulfillment speed, accuracy and time to delivery to ensure you’re meeting your goals and honoring customer promises. You can also use customer inquiries and feedback to gauge shopper satisfaction, prompting changes to your overall process.

Rithum Optimizes Fulfillment for Fast, Cost-Effective Delivery

Rithum Fulfillment allows you to manage orders from every channel more efficiently. Our platform is designed for maximum flexibility, supporting a wide range of fulfillment options, including owned warehouses, FBA and 3PLs. Plus, our order management and shipping management solutions give you full visibility into your fulfillment operations to proactively address issues and meet customer expectations every time. 

Contact our team today for a demo of the Rithum platform and a look at how we can help you build a resilient fulfillment operation.

The post 8 Steps to Improve Your E-Commerce Order Fulfillment Process appeared first on Rithum.