There will come a time when a business's growth will stagnate. That’s when they should consider selling on multiple sale channels.

Are you a small manufacturer selling handmade goods? Yes? That’s awesome! But, have you noticed that you’re slowly losing sales? If you don’t diversify your sale channels, you'll eventually lose traction gaining new customers which will slow your business’s growth.

But, don’t panic yet, you shouldn’t rush into this. If you’re selling on one channel and your business is growing, great! Don’t fix what’s not broken. However, the sooner you research the channels you can possibly sell on, and the tools you can use, the sooner you can decide when to scale up.

So, let’s explore the world of multichannel selling and when it’s time to get onboard.

First things first:

What is Multichannel Selling?

Multichannel selling is when a business uses more than one channel to sell their products. Multichannel management could involve selling via a Shopify account while also selling goods through an online marketplace or even offline from a physical location.

So why should you consider selling on multiple channels?

1. Increase Sales

This is the main reason any business would take this approach. It’s essentially a necessity since the habits of shoppers are changing as people drift more toward online shopping. Being on multiple sale channels allows you to increase your exposure since some customers are loyal to certain platforms.

For example, let’s say you’re selling on Shopify and eBay, you’re going to lose potential customers who only purchase items from Amazon.

2. Attract New Customers

If you’re selling on a single channel, be that online or off, it’s going to be difficult to entice new customers and ultimately, it’ll affect your profit margin. For example, if a crafter is only selling products on Etsy, they’re missing out on the customers who search for everything on another platform.

Following a multi-channel strategy in this instance will help you leverage your online presence. So, if someone is searching for a necklace to buy on Amazon, Etsy, or eBay, you’ll be there ready and waiting to sell it to them. Targeting the buyer's journey like this can help reel in new customers.

3. Changes in Technology

As businesses, big and small, have started to use social media channels for promoting their companies, the social media platforms have also adapted to take advantage of this. You can now sell products on Facebook and even Instagram. This might not seem a big deal, but you need to consider technological advancements, in your market and outside, that's going to affect how you sell to customers in the future. The cool thing is, you can get yourself set up on Instagram and selling products, without having to actually spend any money.

Things You Need to Consider

Caption: Don’t rush into getting set up on every channel you can find. The best approach to selling on multichannel is understanding the best channels for your business and if you're ready to grow in this direction.

It might seem lucrative to get set-up on every sales channel possible. However, doing this could be counter-intuitive and even disastrous to your company.

Firstly, do you have the infrastructure in place to support your business? Inventory management becomes incredibly tricky when having to fulfill sales orders, make deliveries, and update inventory levels for multiple sources.

Good inventory management is essential if you want to keep having good cash flow and happy customers. If you experience a bottleneck because you weren’t coordinating your manufacturing orders effectively or production stops due to stock-outs it’s going to mean customers will have to wait on their products, which will ultimately damage your reputation.

So, what's the trick to handling this? Centralize your business management.

There is software on the market that allows you to organize your business from one place. For example, as a crafter with multiple Shopify stores, you’ll need something to help with the complexity of inventory management. You’ll want software that automatically tracks your Shopify inventory management that’s being shipped from your different Shopify stores.

Bottomline

Selling on multiple channels is, at some point, going to be an approach your business will need to take if it wants to continue making sales and growing.

However, the trick is to research which channels are right for you, have a centralized point to manage your business and the infrastructure in place to support it.

What many other small manufacturers do to overcome these challenges is to implement inventory management software, like the one offered by Katana. It allows them to integrate multiple Shopify stores, receive sale orders, track inventory levels automatically, and manage their production scheduling all from one visual dashboard.