5 Reasons Why Retail Brands Should Harness Online Marketplaces for Growth

Online marketplaces are quickly dominating the retail sphere. With ecommerce becoming more popular in every sector as time goes on, this trend is here to stay. Research showed that in 2019, 57% of all online sales took place via a digital marketplace. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic led unprecedented amounts of people to turn to online shopping to fulfill their consumer needs due to public health measures that kept people at home. Plus, it’s likely to assume that this figure has risen since then.

Industry insiders have noted that these platforms are attractive not only to consumers but retailers too. Marketplaces offer an opportunity for shoppers to access a number of their favorite brands all under one roof. At the same time, retailers can more easily scale up their sales operations by utilizing marketplaces, stepping more smoothly into new markets, and tapping into new consumer bases. Read on to discover some reasons why your brand should harness the increasing success of online marketplaces for growth. 

#1. Grow your consumer base quickly and effectively

A major benefit of selling through digital marketplaces is that it’s a quick and easy way to introduce and grow brand awareness in both new and existing markets. If your brand is new to a certain region, it is highly likely that a range of marketplace players will already be established and popular in that location.  

Selling through marketplaces will therefore provide increased marketing opportunities and help raise brand awareness within an unfamiliar market. The association with an already trusted and established platform will give new customers the confidence they need to purchase from an unknown name. This way, you’re able to save on marketing costs, using a shortcut to meet new audiences on the sites they’re already visiting frequently.

#2. Integrate easily with an existing customer-friendly setup

Setting up operations in a new country or region is often complex and costly. When stepping into a new market, selling through an existing platform simplifies the process, and in most cases, saves both time and money while securing the best solutions for both you and your customers.

Online marketplace giants have both the experience and expertise to drive growth for your brand amongst new customers, with the logistical, technological, and operational network already in place. Plus, they offer a customer-friendly setup with regards to both the sales and returns processes, alongside customer experience management. For many stand-alone brands, the complexity and wide-reaching coordination needed to launch in a new forum is overwhelming. With everything from sales to returns, online marketplaces offer a turnkey solution for a smooth scale-up operation.  

#3. Tailor your product selection for a particular market

Digital marketplaces offer a stage on which you can showcase a particular product selection to a new audience. Win the attention of new consumers by promoting your global best-sellers or find out what items are most popular in any given region. Marketplaces provide an opportunity to experiment and learn what works best in each market. You can use this to grow in the future and encourage future sales, adding more items to stock that you know for sure your new consumer base will be receptive to.

#4. Gain access to established market data and insights

With a variety of brands and products onboard, online marketplaces are able to tap into vast amounts of market data regarding consumer behavior and shopping trends. Selling on these platforms gives merchants access to these valuable insights and expertise.  

This data can inform future business decisions and help to improve operations. For example, online marketplaces often have integrated features designed to use customer feedback to improve the sales process. For example, on many platforms, customers may leave reviews on products or be required to state the reason for a return. Information such as this informs brands of where they can improve, perhaps in terms of sizing or product quality etc. Using data to fix commonly reported issues promotes future growth. 

#5. Simplify customer service responsibilities

Another integration made possible by partnering with an online marketplace is customer service capabilities. Very often, these platforms have their own customer outreach channels, such as web chat, phone, or email to help consumers with any issues they may experience during the sale or return process. Having access to this not only provides shoppers buying your goods with a great customer experience but also saves your brand time and money on these often costly resources. An existing setup takes the complexity out of launching in a new market, diminishing the need to form an in-house customer service operation in that region.

Online Marketplaces and Consumer Returns

At ReBound, we see returns as an opportunity to grow your audience, win new customers and increase customer lifetime value while securing future sales. That’s why we offer smart returns management solutions that help brands to optimize their returns flow. This includes marketplace-compliant products that allow our clients to quickly and easily integrate with online marketplaces so that they can scale up with much less complexity and cost.

To learn more about how your brand can integrate its returns model with an online marketplace, reach out to us.