3 Crucial Questions You Must Ask Before Launching eBay, Amazon and Walmart Stores

So you decided to launch your own online stores? Those success stories on web finally got you to take actions and bring your dreams into reality? Great!!!

But before moving forward, to successfully counter the obstacles that lies ahead on the path, it is very important that you’re clear on various fronts of being an online vendors with some definite answers.

Here are 3 crucial questions you must ask before rushing to eBay, Amazon, Walmart and other shopping channels:

How are you going to manage your inventory?

Handling your stock is a challenging task—even more so for vendors with multiple storefronts. So you must have a preplanned eBay Amazon inventory management strategy to make sure that everything goes smooth and that there’s no overselling and confusion in feed management.

Pro tip: Signup to third-party e-commerce solution to integrate your various selling points on one platform for higher convenience. They offer rich features like Walmart API Key integration using which you can sync up other platforms and handle all the backend activities of your stores under single roof, quickly and efficiently.

How are you going to attract new customers?

Customers won’t flock towards you just because you exist. Regardless your niche, competition is very high. You must know exactly how you’re going to get new customers, how you’re going to engage with them and how you’re going to convince them for repetitive purchases—in short, what’s your short and long-term marketing strategy?

Where do you see your business in the next one year?

You must create a business model that, in sync with current trends, is sustainable. To create that framework, you need to know how do you see your business journeying in the next one or two years. How it’s going to grow, what revenue goals is it going to achieve, and so forth.

These are three important questions you must answer before launching your online stores. The chances of your success will manifold.

Mastering Amazon Inventory Management with these 3 tips

Being an Amazon seller isn’t easy. It’s lucrative—but not easy. One of many things that new sellers struggle with is inventory management. Overselling is a common instance for the majority. And when you sell more than what you can offer, you leave a bad name for your store that, down the line, reflects on your revenue. Additionally, inefficient inventory management brings a whole lot of troubles, including the stress and hassle.

So while products listing and marketing are at the top of your priority list, don’t overlook Amazon inventory management.

“Given the wide range of products I sell, handling the inventory was the worst part. Added to the woe was regular returns from customers that would completely screw up the logistics,” says one Amazon seller. “I wish someone would have told me about these inventory challenges when I was starting,” adds another.

Here are 3 timeless tips from experts to efficiently manage your Amazon inventory:

Signup to inventory management solution-

It’s not optional anymore. If you’re looking to scale your business, quickly and efficiently, signing up for a reliable e-commerce solution is essential. Sorted according to your needs and with a personalized feel, these solutions vouch to make inventory management much easier and quicker.

Monitor your inventory closely and be informed-

Be in know of your stock personally. A simple rule is to do inventory audit regularly. Monitor the number of products you have, the number you’re selling, the number that’s returning back. The more definite you are in these numbers the better it is.

Make time for inventory management-

Admittedly, many sellers are too busy in other important activities, which includes product listings, feed optimization and marketing. These tasks take away too much of time. If that’s the case, learn proper time management. Leverage the automation tools, hire professionals if needed. In short, make time for stock management.

These are 3 expert inventory management tips for Amazon sellers. In fact, they apply for all online sellers, resellers and agencies—whether you sell on Jet marketplace or eBay.

Good luck!!!

5 Expert Tips to Automate Your Online Selling Business (with a small budget)

Who doesn’t want to make money without much of the efforts? You know you do!!! Sadly, we live in real world and things are easier said (and thought) than done. At least that’s how it is for the online vendors.

However, in recent times, we’re a step closer to make this possible. Today, there are few online sellers who have fully automated their entire business, right from marketing to order fulfillment. While it does take a great deal of work at the initial stages. But following, things get on track and your online stores generate revenue even in your absence.

Want to know how to do this? How successful online sellers are doing this?

Here 5 tips to help you start on this path:

1.Limit the number of products and platforms

Technology has come a long way and there are automation tools that are well adept to take your hefty needs easily. However, since just starting, it is best that you limit the number of products you’re selling and the number of platforms you’re selling on to avoid the confusion and complex process.

2.Leverage the features of third-party e-commerce solutions

Sign up to multi-channel e-commerce solutions and integrate your marketplaces, webstores and comparison search engines on a centralized platform, including Shopify Rakuten. To that, you can even outsource the professionals of these third-party solutions for additional convenience and more efficiency.

3.Find nice marketing automation tools…

For your social media marketing, leverage the powerful automation tools to schedule your posts on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. Hootsuite is a nice tool that also offers a free version.

4.And email marketing service providers

Email marketing is the backbone of your online selling business. It’s an asset to a high customer retention rate. So find and invest in nice email marketing tools. Mailchimp and AWeber are the nice options for the starters. For more advanced level of automation and complete contact management system, Ontraport and Infusion are great.

5.Set multiple automatic communication channels

Internet bots are a reality today. And creating them is relatively much easier; you don’t even need to be good at programming. Give some guides a read and develop bots for Twitter and Facebook messenger. Also create triggers in your email marketing tools to sent automatic emails. This will improve your engagement rate with the target audience and eventually your sales.

These are 5 simple tips to automate your online stores and reap rewards even when you’re not working behind the scenes. Believe it, autopiloting is much easier today for resellers and those who work in the Dropshipping model.

Selling on Walmart vs Amazon: How not to make a wrong decision

When starting, in the mix of planning and strategizing, a very common question that surfaces for newbies is “Should I sell on Walmart or Amazon?” Needless to say, the question is very important, holding the fate of sellers’ success. The answer is complex. 

Selling in Walmart vs Amazon

Both of these marketplaces are big market players, holding large stakes in the world’s ecommerce industry. They have their own unique features and fanatic followings that combine to assure sellers of big business. Which one is better for the new vendors? Sadly, there’s no one answer for that. 

Sell on Both 

Keeping in view cost-analysis, the more platforms you’re on the higher will be you sales. And when it comes to two of the biggest selling platforms, being on both them is the best idea. So instead of selecting one, go with both. If possible, to make selling even more convenient and efficient, sign up to multi-channel e-commerce solutions like ChannelSale. With their seamless integration right from Amazon-Walmart to Shopify eBay, they make online selling more convenient and stress-free.

However, there might be a range of reasons why you can’t sell on both the platforms—lack of time and resources being the foremost ones. In that case, here are few things to factor when deciding whether to go with Walmart or Amazon:

1. Who are your target audience- Knowing about your audience will help you know what they like and where do they like shop. This will significantly simplify the entire process of choosing between the two names.
   
   
2. What products you’re offering- Some products are more apt for Amazon, others are right for Walmart. So factor what type of products you’re selling and see which platform is ideal for that.
   
   
3. Where are your competitors- If your competitors are smart, they are likely selling on marketplaces that are more profitable. So know where your smart rivals are and head there.

These 3 factors will seamlessly help you identify the most ideal platform for your products and goals. Think thoroughly, be smart and always have a bigger picture in mind.   

3 Hurdles You May Face While Selling On Walmart Marketplace

It is alright to be optimistic about Walmart online marketplace because there are scores of reasons that back a glorious future in the same. However sellers in the process of commencing their endeavors in this platform should be aware of certain limiting factors that can create turbulence in otherwise smooth waters to damaging extents, 3 of which can be mentioned as follows…

Entry – Selling on Walmart marketplace is a treat that is reserved only for the best of the lot. If you are not a top performer in eBay, Amazon etc with glorious track record in terms of traffic attraction, revenue generation and other crucial parameters as such, there is ample possibility that your application will never be entertained by Walmart.com.
Besides this, it is a fact well known to sellers by now that Walmart takes a considerably long time to process applications and approve the same. The process of approval may take around 4 to 5 weeks in certain cases. Till then, sellers are only needed to wait and watch.

Price battles – Price battles can get very serious while selling in Walmart.com especially for entities that also sell in other top marketplaces like Amazon and eBay. Walmart assures lowest prices to buyers and expects multichannel entities to respect this policy to the last word. Therefore, sellers will have to work out their profit margins and cost compatibility with other marketplaces of presence very carefully so that they don’t end up getting warned or suspended from both / all marketplaces of presence.

Initiating end to end integration like Walmart Shopify eBay Integration etc. can be a worthy solution to this issue.

Maintaining standards – You cannot compromise on core operational processes with substandard apparatus and this is amply relevant as far as order completion is concerned. At all times, your integration efforts, tools and softwares as well as reporting and tracking system are needed to be in the best of health. This can often get expensive for sellers but worth the effort. 

3 Simple Steps To Improve Your Shopify To Amazon Ecommerce Performance

Shopify is one of the most innovative and versatile shopping cart store building platforms that has proven its applicability to Amazon sellers at large. However, sellers must understand that Shopify like all other shopping carts is not complete and all inclusive in nature and improper approach to linking the two platforms can lead to infinite obstacles in Shopify to Amazon ecommerce endeavors.

The good news is sellers can overcome the possible odds by enlightening themselves with these 3 simple steps that is assured to lead to a better and more productive Shopify Amazon selling future…

Head to toe integration – To can never mention it enough number of times that integration is not a myth and should be approached at the very onset of ecommerce endeavors. The scope of integration stretches from flawless account creation with Shopify, applying for category approvals, purchasing UPCs, creating new listing / importing existing listing from Amazon, establishing end to end inventory apparatus followed by commencement of selling.

Point to note… The framework of integration procedures is usually the same for all ecommerce marketplaces and shopping carts like Walmart Magento integration etc. with small yet confusing differences here and there. This makes it very convenient for sellers to employ professional expertise for the process to get error-free results at the very onset.

Meet store requirements flawlessly – Sellers that do not meet store requirements as specified by Shopify can receive error messages time and again. There are certain intricate details involved in this process that needs to be attended with maximum care and attention in order to manage error free operations between the two platforms. Here again, involving professional assistance can help manifold.

Usage of tools and plug ins – Lastly, there are a number of tools and plug in solutions that are made available by Shopify as well as third party ecommerce solution developers that can add advanced features to integrated selling between the two platforms. Using these solutions can boost performance significantly.

Becoming A Successful Walmart Marketplace Retailer Is Easy – Here’s What Sellers Have To Say

3P sellers that have been facing tough times in top ecommerce marketplaces like eBay and Amazon in terms of just about anything starting from operation management to growth and profits, may find some solace in Walmart.com. As has been expressed by entities that are already performing in this marketplace, here are 4 good reasons why success may come easy in this platform…

Selective entry – For those wondering how to become a Walmart marketplace retailer at the earliest, it will benefit to know that this platform is not for everyone. Entry is usually very selective with only the cream of the lot winning a chance to perform in the marketplace. This works wonderfully for 3P entities in the sense that competition always remains low and productive at the same time.

Access to unique visitors is easy – Walmart presently ranks no. 2 after Amazon in the USA. This is reflective of the phenomenal numbers of unique visitors that throng the marketplace every single day. Considering the fact that competition is low, gaining access to the unique visitors is easy. Maximizing sale and profits is thus an easy possibility in this marketplace.

Fees and costs are more comprehensive and manageable – Unlike Amazon and eBay, fees and commission structures in Walmart.com is comprehensive and manageable. This is one of the reasons why chances of revenues seeping out through unidentified loopholes are rarely possible.

Readymade integration solutions are available affordably – Integration with shopping carts and other marketplace like Walmart Shopify Rakuten Amazon etc is usually as easy as approaching the official integration partners. Customization and affordability are maintained in these services offered by the latter.

There could be some price battles between Walmart and other marketplaces especially Amazon  but this is absolutely approachable with the assistance of tools and softwares dedicated to the purpose.