In 2021, ecommerce accounted for more than 19% of all retail sales across the world. While eMarkerter has predicted that multichannel sales will make up nearly 46% of all ecommerce sales by 2023.

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As an ecommerce brand, is your vision aligned with industry expectations?

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Getting an ecommerce store up and running is only the first step of building a successful ecommerce business. The second is to sell your products wherever your customers shop by implementing multichannel ecommerce. Now, you need to establish sustainable strategies to increase ecommerce sales on multiple sales channels—Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Ajio, Tata Cliq, Nykaa, your brand website, and more.

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In this blog, you'll have an in-depth understanding of strategies that can facilitate your growth by increasing multichannel sales—enabling you to scale your multichannel business.

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How to increase ecommerce sales on every sales channel?

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Here are the best strategies to increase ecommerce sales on multiple sales platforms:

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1. Build brand awareness

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Brand awareness has always been important, but it's especially true when it comes to ecommerce. This will help you increase your visibility, build brand recognition and capture the attention of online shoppers. Ultimately, allowing you to drive traffic on all your sales channels.

• Run ad campaigns such as Google ads or Facebook ads that appear on search engines, mobile apps, and videos
• Create quality content either on social media or your blog to inform or educate your customers.
• Engage with your customers by replying to comments on social media and your blog, or see if people are discussing your products on forums and get involved in the conversations

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2. Optimise your product page

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As an ecommerce brand, your product page is the hallmark of your business—whether it's on your brand website or a marketplace. A great product page can help you entice online shoppers and plays a prime role in influencing them. With an informative product listing, you can convert the traffic into sales.

• Create content-rich product descriptions, including product features, materials used, weight, size, and more.
• Use high-resolution images from all angles
• Use SEO-driven keywords in your listing
• Give dynamic size charts

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3. Run sponsored ads

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Paid ads are a great way to increase the discoverability of your products. You can create ad campaigns for your products to drive higher traffic on every sales channel and increase your sales.

• Run product listing ads on Flipkart
• Leverage Amazon sponsored ads
• Use Facebook, Google and Instagram for shopping ads

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4. Participate in a sale

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Sales attract shoppers the most! These are the biggest opportunities your ecommerce brand has to increase conversion rates drastically.

• Run promotional events like a flash sale and festive sale on your brand website and participate in deals on marketplaces

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5. Implement a customer-centric returns policy

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72% of customers say a hassle-free return experience makes them more likely to shop from an ecommerce brand again. Moreover, free and hassle-free returns build the confidence of customers in their purchases. Although you have a standard returns policy when you're selling on a marketplace but on a brand website, you can do the following:

• Clearly and concisely highlight your returns policy, i.e. display it on your home page, footer or link it on your product page
• Determine a timeframe for making returns
• Build customer trust by ensuring easy returns and multiple refund options like store credits, the original mode of payment and more

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6. Stick to the guidelines and policies

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When selling on marketplaces, it's essential to abide by the rules and regulations. These guidelines can maximise profit, visibility, and sales. Moreover, they will help you build customers' trust and create loyalty—resulting in repeat purchases. On the other side, if you don’t abide by a rule or policy, your seller account can be suspended—preventing you to sell your products at all.

• Read and comply with every guideline
• Always indulge in ethical business practices
• Stick to SLAs (Service Level Agreements) for order processing and marking orders as “ready-to-ship”

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7. Minimise shopping cart abandonment

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67.91% of all shopping carts are abandoned worldwide in a year, i.e. $4.6 trillion worth of merchandise. It's crucial to reduce your shopping cart abandonment rate in an attempt to increase conversion rates on your brand website. However, it's tricky to reduce abandonment on marketplaces.

• Ensure a fast checkout process with 3-5 steps—the shorter, the better
• Be crystal clear about all costs, don't surprise customers with hidden costs
• Provide free and fast shipping with easy returns and refunds
• Offer multiple payment methods like debit cards, credit cards, UPI, digital wallets, and more
• Build trust and credibility in transaction forms
• Provide world-class support with live chat, tollfree customer support, and email
• Avoid sign-ups and give guest checkout option
• Add testimonials of customers for building credibility
• Use exit-intent popups to recapture the attention of customers that are abandoning their carts
• Re-engage with customers and give them incentives like coupons and discounts
• Send recovery emails including images of the item they selected, reviews or customer testimonials

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8. Ensure proper inventory management

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While selling on multiple sales channels or your brand website, you should always have sufficient inventory to fulfil your orders. If you don't have enough inventory at the right time, you may have to bear the risk of a stockout, i.e. products being out of stock at the time of purchase. Moreover, some marketplaces also impose penalties for stockout.

• Track and maintain your inventory levels
• Ensure on-time inventory replenishment

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9. Provide fast and free order delivery

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Free and fast shipping is a standard service that customers expect from ecommerce brands—whether it's a marketplace or a brand website. This means if you want to increases sales, they must always meet the customers’ expectations.

• Offer free shipping on all orders or above a minimum cart value when you're selling on your brand website
• Ensure on-time delivery with fast order processing and marking orders “ready-to-ship” as quickly as possible when you're selling on marketplaces
• Improve last-mile delivery and split inventory across India to reduce transit time
• Provide lightning-fast shipping speed, such as same-day shipping or 2-day shipping

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10. Generate traffic from cross-marketing

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You can use various marketing techniques to drive more traffic to your product listings. It can include creating a strong online presence on social media channels and leveraging email marketing. This will help you increase sales across channels, i.e. your brand website and marketplaces.

• Use Facebook, Pinterest, Whatsapp, Instagram and other platforms to attract customers
• Use email marketing, SEO, SMS marketing
• Collaborate with social media influencers and celebrities

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11. Manage reviews and feedback

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93% of customers say that online reviews influence their purchase decisions. This means online shoppers make a purchase from ecommerce brands with good ratings and reviews. This will help you retain your customers, and they will make come back for a repeat purchase on your brand website or marketplace or both.

• Ensure you're selling high-quality products on every sales channel
• Offer fast shipping and delight your customer without a miss
• If a customer is unhappy with your product or service, revert to them and establish that their opinion matters to you wherever they leave a review

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12. Increase the average order value

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You can increase your Average Order Value (AOV) on your brand website with various merchandising techniques. This will help you encourage your customer to buy more products and increase your sales.

• Provide product recommendations on your product page and your checkout page
• Set minimum order incentives such as free shipping, coupons, samples, or even direct discounts
• Build customer loyalty programs and grant special privileges to customers that are willing to spend more
• Offer product kits and bundles that can increase the perceived value of a purchase on your brand website and marketplaces

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Bottom line

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Multichannel ecommerce is an essential key to becoming a successful ecommerce brand in today's world. However, multichannel selling is not about simply listing your products on as many sales channels as possible. Instead, you need strong brand awareness, seamless order fulfilment, and deliver great customer experience. All these factors can help you reach new customers and discover markets you didn't even know were available to you. It may seem intimidating at first, but if you implement strategic ways, you'll be generating plenty of online sales in no time.