Omnichannel

1. What is Omnichannel?
2. Online marketplace or your own online shop
3. Multi-channel, cross-channel and omni-channel
4. Advantages of the multichannel strategy
5. Challenges of the omnichannel strategy
6. Why is SEO optimization important for marketplaces?
7. Which ranking factors are relevant for SEO optimization on marketplaces?
8. Corresponding to the buyer’s wishes
9. Product data quality
10. Conversion rate (percentage of visitors to buyers)
11. Product rating and quality of feedback
12. Ratio between ordered and paid items and the return rate
13. Number of products sold
14. Vendor rating
15. Product assortment and availability of goods
16. Pricing policy
17. Our service

What is Omnichannel?

Omnichannel is a strategic approach where products are offered through multiple sales channels to reach a higher number of customers. Traditional sales channels used to be mail order via catalogue, teleshopping and brick-and-mortar shops. E-commerce has slowly pushed out teleshopping and catalogue retailing and provides a variety of its own distribution channels.

Possible distribution channels today are online shops, mobile apps and social media such as Facebook or Instagram, as well as sales representatives and franchising systems. Retailers have to choose the right sales channel and manage it carefully.

Online marketplace or your own online shop

There are two ways for an online shop to offer products or services: either on its own homepage or via digital marketplaces such as Amazon, Ebay, Kaufland.de. etc.. Both strategies have advantages and disadvantages.
Having your own web shop allows maximum freedom of design and precise calculation of monthly costs. The competitive pressure is less pronounced than on digital sales platforms. However, logistics and fulfillment have to be organised independently. This requires a lot of effort.

With the digital marketplace, your products can be integrated quickly and cheaply into existing systems. With several marketplaces, there is also the option of storing products and then shipping them directly to customers.
The two variants are by no means mutually exclusive. Online traders who are active on both channels benefit from the advantages of both sales options.

Multi-channel, cross-channel and omnichannel

Three different approaches are distinguished in the sales strategy, namely multichannel, crosschannel and omnichannel.

Multichannels allow products to be sold via other sales channels such as online shops or mobile apps in addition to the physical point of sale.

With crosschannel, the customer has several channels at his disposal that are already linked to each other. For example, the customer can get information online and buy offline or vice versa. For some industries and products, it is extremely necessary to use both sales channels and link them closely together.
Omnichannel marketing goes one step further. It tries to adapt all possible communication channels to the customer’s behaviour, no matter where he is and when he wants to shop.

Advantages of the Omnichannel strategy

The advantages of using several sales channels at the same time are primarily that this approach achieves greater market coverage. Through specific targeting of the individual distribution channels, new customers can be made aware of products.

The focus here is on online shopping. The advantages of virtual shopping are obvious: online shops are permanently available and visible. With a few clicks, customers can find out about the stock of goods and order them immediately. This eliminates the need for additional staff for hotline service. Online shops also make it possible to notify customers by email about discounts and promotions and to build a longer-term relationship with them.

Challenges of the Omnichannel strategy

Omnichannel opens up new opportunities for your retail business. Distributing your products through multiple marketing channels leads to an increase in your sales potential.
So why don’t all sellers decide to use this retail model for effective sales? Because before an omnichannel strategy works for you, you have to work for it. Not all businesses are willing to invest time and other resources in it.
If you decide to go the route of multichannel selling on your own and offer products on different marketplaces, you will face some challenges in doing so:

• Omnichannel commerce is not about a day or a week. It’s a whole strategy. The omnichannel model requires not only financial resources, but also certain time resources. It consists of well thought-out steps. If you decide to implement an omnichannel strategy on your own, don’t forget, among other things:
• this process assumes time for integration;
• You have to learn a lot of new things. This, in turn, assumes a certain amount of time.
• Building an effective sales strategy through marketplaces requires certain knowledge. Each marketplace has its own unique characteristics and sales rules, e.g. requirements for uploading product data, product descriptions, etc. In addition, for successful trading on Marketplaces, one should consider ranking factors and SEO algorithms of each individual Marketplace and be able to apply them correctly.
• For a successful omnichannel strategy, new employees are indispensable. Multi-channel commerce involves a lot of specific tasks. To be able to serve all sales and communication channels correctly and efficiently, sellers also need to hire the right staff.
• Omnichannel strategy cannot be effective without consistent communication with customers. This requires certain technical prerequisites. To ensure and support this communication, you have to develop suitable software.
• Online commerce also involves a large amount of personal information. Although this offers the opportunity to get to know one’s own target group better in order to build up the right marketing strategy, it requires clear responsibilities in the maintenance of the data. The first stumbling blocks can arise as early as the creation of a contact form.
• Retailers must also be prepared to adapt to the increasing demands of customers and to differentiate the variety of information channels. Those who are not proactive run the risk of losing customers.

Despite all the challenges, how can the process of integration be accelerated and the difficulties of implementing an omniсhannel strategy be avoided? The answer is obvious. Use the services of professionals. We offer you a complete service for successful omniсhannel trade on various marketplaces. This way you can save your time and money. We know the “rules of the game” of each marketplace. This enables us to find the best strategy for your successful omnichannel trade.

Why is SEO optimization important for marketplaces?

Modern online marketplaces offer a great opportunity for profit maximisation. However, to sell successfully on marketplaces, it is not enough to simply place goods there. You need to become visible in front of the many competitors. How do you reach your target audience in online retail? You need to promote the products to potential customers. The key to your success in omnichannel retailing is SEO optimization.

Many people associate the term SEO with search engines. But SEO optimization also plays a big role in ranking within online marketplaces.
The positions of the items on the marketplaces have a direct impact on sales. The higher the product is in the ranking, the more often it is seen and bought. Proper SEO optimization in the omnichannel strategy with consideration of all ranking factors can bring your online retail desired profits.

Which ranking factors are relevant for SEO optimization on marketplaces?

It is the goal of every seller of online trading platforms to bring their product to the top of the ranking list. Sellers should be familiar with the specifics of SEO optimization on marketplaces in order to successfully sell their products. How does ranking on online marketplaces work in omnichannel commerce?

Sales success can be influenced by many factors:

• Different ranking mechanisms on different marketplaces;
• Change in ranking mechanisms over time. These depend on the updates and specific goals of the marketplaces.

There are certain ranking factors that apply to many marketplaces. However, it is important to remember that they have different meanings depending on the Marketplace. Let’s now look at these factors of online marketplaces and how they affect the ranking of products.

Corresponding to the buyer’s wishes

For all marketplaces, it is important to show the customer exactly what they are looking for. You should make an effort to fill in the features correctly. It is relevant that product descriptions contain as many keywords as possible. And these keywords must be entered correctly.

Some tips on keyword placement:

• Find the most important keywords, i.e. the most popular search queries that refer to the product. Add them to the headline.
• Your goal is to have keywords that answer the user’s search query as accurately as possible.
• Place keywords in product names, descriptions, features, reviews and even answers to questions. In addition, keywords can and should even be included in the titles of uploaded photos.

Product data quality

As is well known, such TOP marketplaces as Amazon and eBay attach a lot of importance to this factor of SEO optimization. Even if you want to sell successfully on other marketplaces, the relevance of product data should not be ignored. Customers believe more the supplier who has all the item information ready. This includes information on the manufacturer or brand, article numbers, product categories as well as product variants, delivery time and shipping costs. With qualitative product data, you can increase your chances of being at the top of the ranking list in omnichannel commerce.

Our tips regarding this factor of SEO optimization on marketplaces are as follows:

• The more qualitative information you provide about your product, the more often it will appear in the search results.
• It is relevant to show the most important features of the product: For shoes, clothing and similar products, be sure to indicate the dimensions; for technology, describe additional features, etc.
• The additional features help the customer to get to know the product better and the marketplace to rank the items correctly.
  Use high quality content. Product data is not full without qualitative product visualisation. Also describe your items visually with images (at least 3-5 pieces, both standard and 3D variants). It is important to use the potential of videos, which is especially true for appliances, gadgets, furniture and children’s toys.
• Fill in all relevant fields for attributes: This is the easiest way to get into adjacent categories and get more views.

The rules for specifying product data for SEO optimization are similar on different marketplaces, so these tips apply to all marketplaces.

For a successful omnichannel strategy, improving the quality of the product description is of great importance. This is the main goal of SEO optimization on the marketplaces. A good description and correct specification enable simultaneous placement of the product in a relevant place for multiple search queries.

Conversion rate (i.e. the percentage of visitors to buyers)

This in turn is influenced by the product data quality: quality of the description, availability of variations of the specifications, quality of the photos, quality and number of customer reviews. The higher the conversion rate, the faster a marketplace’s SEO optimization algorithm will push the product to the top of the catalogue. If the conversion rate changes only marginally over time, the product can easily make it to the top.

Product rating and the quality of feedback

In all marketplaces, items with a high number of feedback are preferred. Product reviews are an important tool for SEO optimisation on marketplaces in omnichannel commerce. Some marketplaces count the overall rating. Others take the seller’s ranking into account.
The more positive and detailed feedback from customers, the more likely the marketplace will rank the product at the top. Products with a higher rating and more positive customer feedback will always be at the top of the list.
But negative reviews count too. Any feedback is better than none at all. Customers are more likely to trust the supplier who does not hide the reviews of his products.

Ratio between ordered and paid items and the return rate

This is one of the strongest ranking factors for SEO optimization on marketplaces. Online retail platforms rank higher products with the lowest percentage of returns.
The more often customers reject an order upon delivery or make a return, the lower the ranking and product position. Marketplaces do not benefit from item returns. Why then will a Marketplace advertise such products that customers then refuse to pay for or cancel orders? Ideally, most goods should reach the buyer. This should also have a positive effect on the overall ranking.

Number of products sold

If customers are satisfied with the goods they have bought and do not return them, everything is perfect. The more often customers order the same product, the better it is from the perspective of an online trading platform.
Almost all marketplaces take this criterion of SEO optimization into account with a greater or lesser priority. It is obvious, they profit from articles that customers will certainly continue to order.

Vendor rating

Items from a seller with a high rating sell better on the Marketplace. For a successful omnichannel strategy, this factor of SEO optimization on marketplaces should not be disregarded.
The seller’s ranking also depends, among other things, on the positive and negative feedback of his items. The number of purchased orders also plays a major role here.
The factor “seller rating” has different significance depending on the online marketplace chosen. For example, Amazon and eBay attach great importance to a seller’s reputation. France’s famous marketplace Cdiscount does not attach as much importance to this factor. However, this online trading platform does monitor sellers. If too many complaints are received, the seller is quickly blocked.

Product assortment and availability of goods

For SEO optimisation on marketplaces, one should also consider these two factors of omnichannel commerce. For sellers with a small product range, it is not easy to achieve a good ranking in online trading. According to the experience of successful sellers, it is quite complicated to get to the top of the rankings with less than 10 product names.
Moreover, items in sufficient quantities are more profitable for marketplaces. They like to promote such products so that buyers can always order them.
Once you have chosen your niche in omnichannel commerce, take care of the quality and quantity of the items. For example, if you sell clothes and your product range has only one line of sizes and one colour, it will be very difficult to promote them. Offer the potential customer product variations, at least not less than what your competitors do.

Pricing policy

The implementation of an effective omnichannel strategy and SEO optimisation on various marketplaces also require correct pricing policies. Favourable prices are one of the most important reasons why people like to buy so much on online trading platforms.
Marketplace customers are spoiled with constant discounts and promotions. Marketplaces like to promote sellers who offer low prices. This is especially true for first-time purchases. Such sellers are then more likely to reach the top of the rankings.
Therefore, you should also make sure that the price of the product is not too much higher than that of similar items from other sellers. All marketplaces do not show offers with highly inflated prices on the first pages.

Our service

Multichannel sales offer high growth opportunities for online sellers. Omnichannel commerce, however, presupposes certain challenges. Successful implementation of this model requires a clear strategy worked out in detail. When selling on online trading platforms, you should consider all the specifics and internal requirements of each marketplace.
Marketplaces can be a profitable solution for you as an online seller. However, trading on a marketplace does not automatically equate to profit. Before doing so, you need to invest time and money in sales promotion and build a reputation.
Ranking plays a significant role in successful trading on marketplaces. Ranking has a direct impact on profits. Like search engines, marketplaces have their SEO ranking algorithms. For an effective omnichannel strategy, it is relevant to consider these factors in SEO optimisation on marketplaces. However, not all online trading platforms are willing to reveal their own ranking mechanisms. Furthermore, the same criteria of SEO optimization are of different importance on different online marketplaces. The specific weight of each factor may also vary depending on the current goals of the respective marketplace.
We take into account the ranking factors of SEO optimization on all known marketplaces and pay attention to their quality specifications. Accordingly, we offer you an optimal solution to reach the top of the ranking list. We analyse your optimisation potential and create suitable SEO optimisation strategies for your omnichannel trade depending on the marketplace. Taking into account all SEO ranking factors, we make your product visible on the chosen online trading platform. Our service enables you to avoid challenges in the implementation of omnichannel strategy and to sell profitably on the marketplaces.