Consumers and businesses alike are turning to the internet to research their products before buying. Online purchases have become a fundamental part of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) industries.
So, we’ve established that an online presence is imperative, but is one channel enough? As an online retailer, it’s important to ask yourself if a multi-channel strategy is right for you. A multi-channel strategy can help you increase your eCommerce revenue quickly and efficiently, access new markets, and develop your brand strategy further.
In order to implement a multi-channel eCommerce strategy, you will need to establish several websites in international markets or for different brands. If each brand has a subset of different items then the page can be just for those kind of products.
An example of multi-channel strategy
An example of a multi-channel strategy is an American-based company that sells merino clothing. This company sells the majority of their inventory stock on their eCommerce site in the States. However, they also sell their product overseas and have a few different strategies to do so. Sometimes they sell their socks and other in-demand products with stockists in another country like Australia.
One way to gain access to an international market is to set up an eCommerce site. For the merino clothing company, they may choose to sell a portion of their most popular inventory stock on an Australian eCommerce site while they try out the market. The website is catered to Australian consumers, it pops up first on search engines, and is correlated to the viewer’s IP address. So if you were in Australia and you searched this merino clothing company, the Australian site would come up first before the USA site. Moreover, the site and inventory stock can be changed to reflect different seasons, allowing you to cater your products to the landscape and interests of the international consumers.
Using multiple sites for your eCommerce strategy can be really beneficial if you want to tap into international markets and establish a local online presence. You can cater information to international segments of the market and be more competitive.
