How Amazon sellers can seamlessly diversify their sales channels

It’s no secret that Amazon is a behemoth in the digital marketplace.

With over 300 million customers globally, Amazon snuck away with almost 40% of the US market share this past year, and there’s no indication that it will be slowing down any time soon.

However, it may be time for Amazon sellers to heed the advice of investment experts everywhere: Diversify, diversify, diversify. In order to have a less heavy reliance on one of the biggest retail markets on the planet, the best thing these organizations can do is to meet their customers on other channels. 

Because as ubiquitous as it may seem, your customers aren’t just using Amazon to search and purchase products. Maybe they’re using a traditional Google search and landing on Amazon, but they may go to Instagram to see what their favorite influencer is using.

Your customers may ask their Alexa or Google Home to add a product to their shopping cart. They may head to a third-party retailer they trust to find what they’re looking for. Studies are now showing that younger shoppers may even be heading to TikTok for organic recommendations.

Outside of social commerce, direct-to-consumer consumer sites are getting easier and cheaper to set up, regardless of your code knowledge. There are a growing number of third-party marketplaces to sell on as well; from Etsy to Google Shopping to eBay, your organization has an opportunity to meet your customers on dozens of channels that they know and trust.

So, expanding your product offering to different channels is the key to reducing your reliance on Amazon and its ever-rising fees, but that is easy advice to give and tough advice to implement. Omnichannel product activation requires a strong foundation of up-to-date and accurate product information; having a presence on a channel is useless if the information you’re providing isn’t useful or even correct.

With over two-thirds of shoppers Akeneo surveyed saying they would abandon a purchase due to a poor product experience, it’s crucial for brands and retailers to not just show up on every channel, but offer consistent and personalized product experiences on each and every one. If not, they risk missed sales opportunities, high return rates, negative impacts on your brand’s reputation, and unsatisfied customers.

Like any good architect, carpenter, or baker will tell you, the key to successful omnichannel activation lies in your foundation. In the case of brands and retailers expanding beyond Amazon, this means organizing and understanding your product information into a single source of truth that can be used as the foundation for your product experiences across all channels. 

A good Product Information Management (PIM) solution will centralize, analyze, and optimize your product information, laying the foundation for your team to personalize and activate your product story across every channel — whether it’s owned by you or by Amazon.

So in the wake of a global pandemic and facing uncertain economic conditions, it’s important to remember that despite how important Amazon is as a sales channel, it’s one sales channel.

Activating your product story on social commerce channels, direct-to-consumer sites, or through other online retailers enables you to provide a compelling experience to your customers regardless of where they search or shop. This provides not only a better experience for your customers, but also diversifies your product offering. Win-win.