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December 2021 | 
October 2024
4 minute read
Product Information Management
Running a multichannel ecommerce business in a time where customer expectations are high can be challenging. But you’ve managed to make it a success, well done! You’ve been on top of your game, giving customers what they expect, when they expect it, and how they expect it. And now it’s time to scale.
Insider Intelligence from eMarketer has predicted that multichannel sales will make up close to 46% of all ecommerce sales by 2023, so your vision is aligned with industry expectations. But what do you do to facilitate an expansion? Well, start by streamlining your internal processes to make life easier for you and everyone working with you. By investing in the right tools (below!) to increase efficiency, you’re letting the journey to multichannel commerce scaling begin.
Fulfillment and shipping software
Modern customers are used to ordering their items today and receiving them the same day, the following day, or two days later. Shoppers who frequent the Amazon marketplace are highly spoiled in this regard, and they’ve come to expect it from every ecommerce business. Whether they end up buying your products on Amazon or directly from your web shop, they want their products delivered fast.
They also do not want to be paying hefty shipping fees. In fact, Statista data found that prices, speed, and clarity on delivery are the top three aspects customers expect improvement on. If you get these right, you're winning.
So, having effective shipping methods is crucial when you’re looking to scale your business. But the truth is, when you sell via different platforms, managing fulfillment and shipping can be overwhelming. That’s where fulfillment and shipping software come in; they help to simplify the process for you.
That way, you can ensure you respond to customer pain points, making them happy enough to shop your brand no matter the sales channel.
ShippingEasy, for example, is a cloud-based shipping and inventory management tool designed for small to mid-sized ecommerce businesses. Rated as a top performer in 2021 by Capterra, this tool optimizes your fulfillment.
Its key features include;
- Order management
- Label customization
- Rate comparison
- Returns management
- Seamless integration with webshops and marketplaces
With this software, you have the option to reduce costs with the lowest available shipping rates or connect your UPS/FedEx account; whichever option works best.
- Free trial: 30 days.
- Price: Starter - $5 per month for 50 shipments, Basic - $29 per month for 500 shipments, Plus $49 per month for 1,500 shipments, Select - $69 per month for 3000 shipments, Premium - $99 per month for 6000 shipments, Enterprise - $159 per month for 10,000 shipments.
Of course, there is other shipping software you can consider.
Customer service tool
You know very well that it’s impossible to even dream of scaling your business without making sure that your customers are happy first. At the center of that happiness is stellar omnichannel customer service. According to this;
- 84% of customers say customer service is a key factor in deciding whether to purchase an item
- 95% of customers consider customer service to be important for brand loyalty
Brand loyalty translates into brand advocacy, which can be a huge driver of sales.
The more your customers rave about your brand, service, and products, the more likely their network will be interested in getting the same fulfilling experience. This presents you with an opportunity to incentivize brand advocacy using a referral program to maximize sales. Every time your customer refers someone who ends up making a successful purchase, you can offer them a discount or promotion.
A tool like ReferralCandy is useful in simplifying rewards management and tracking. The tool can connect with any of the popular ecommerce platforms. Or alternatively, you can choose custom API and advanced integrations.
- Free trial: 30 days
- Price: Premium - $49 per month + commission, Enterprise - $3,999 per month
Marketing tools
Marketing is your greatest weapon for running a profitable online business, as it connects your brand and products to your customers. The right marketing tools can help you streamline your marketing processes and provide you with data you can use to make informed decisions on your campaigns. Take email marketing, for example. You can consider Hubspot Marketing Hub. This software makes it easy to start running personalized email marketing campaigns. This is perfect because personalization is all the rage for today’s customers, and studies back this up.
This report found that 59% of customers who have experienced personalization believe it has an influence on purchase decisions. That signals sales! You can use the tool to run email campaigns that convert, nurture leads, and close customers.
Free trial: 30 days
Price: Free version (pricing is per feature), Starter from $45 per month, Professional from $800 per month, Enterprise from $3,200 per month
Let’s not forget social media.
As it is, 54% of social browsers use social media to research products. That means your products need to be visible on social media, and you can achieve that through social marketing. While each platform has its own features that you can leverage, you want to get a tool that consolidates and streamlines the processes.
A tool like Zoho Social is worth considering because it lets you integrate all major social media platforms; Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It makes social media management easy as you can publish and schedule posts across multiple platforms. Also, it gives you quick access to Bitly integration and URL shortener.
In addition to that, it gives you access to summary reports and analytics, so you can monitor the performance of your social media marketing campaigns.
Free trial: 15 days.
Price: Standard $10 per month, Professional $30 per month, Premium $40 per month
Analytics tool
Speaking of reports and analytics, having an analytics tool ensures that you’re not flying blind, so to speak. That you don’t spend time guessing what works, what doesn’t, or what customers like and dislike. It gives you real data that you can use to enhance your offerings. You get to learn where the visitors of your web store are coming from, which pages they click on the most and how long they spend on each page. Google Analytics is exactly the type of analytics tool you need to understand your customers more to better serve them. Plus, it’s a free platform!
Google Analytics Enhanced Ecommerce is perfect for tracking your ecommerce performance analytics for all the channels you’re selling from. It lets you to see:
- Product impressions
- Product clicks
- Product detail impressions
- Add / remove from cart
- Promotion impressions
- Promotion clicks
- Checkout
- Purchases
- Refunds
Multichannel listing software
A well-known fact is that product information is the one thing that your ecommerce business hinges on. How you manage your content for all of your product listings will determine whether you become successful or fail at scaling your multichannel retail business. If you enlist the help of a PIM tool, managing your online product catalogs for your chosen sales channels will be painless.
Plytix is the best PIM for small businesses because it can help you overcome the obstacles of multichannel commerce. Sure, the tool lets you manage all kinds of up-to-date data in a single location, but it also integrates with your ERP system. So yes, in a sense, it is also a PIM for inventory management. But wait, there’s more!
Our PIM system has unique add-on modules: Brand Portals and Branded PDF features, which you can use for creating marketing materials such as line sheets and product catalogs to distribute to your internal teams, external partners, and customers. That way, everyone knows everything about your products.
Free trial: free version
Price: Standard for €300 per month, PRO for €1,100 per month
Plytix cuts the number of tools you have to get by a lot. Not to mention, the cost. This affordable, one-size-fits-all tool is all you need to scale your operations.
Get started today!
