Running an online multichannel business can be a very successful venture; however, it doesn't come without its set of challenges. One of these challenges is managing multiple product listings across various marketplaces and platforms.
Expanding your digital assortment online and across various channels requires careful consideration in a few areas. Below, we'll discuss 10 product listing mistakes that many businesses make and what you can do to avoid them.
1. Poor Listing Optimization
While maintaining highly branded and consistent product listing information is essential, not having web-optimized content in your product listings can be a mistake. Be sure to optimize your product listings for better searchability and ranking on marketplaces and search engines. This includes using targeted keywords in your listing titles, bullet points, descriptions, and any relevant search tags the marketplace or platform you're selling on will allow you to list.
2. Lack of Channel Diversification
Selling your products in multiple channels not only expands your market reach, but also helps your business remain sustainable should one or more channels become disrupted.
A common mistake many businesses make when they are first starting to expand their online presence is not diversifying their channels. Channel diversification is critical in today's digital landscape as it allows for your products to be advertised in more than one place and to a broader list of customers. Expanding outside of your own eCommerce site into Amazon, Walmart, Ebay, Newegg, and other mass merchant sites will allow you to maximize visibility, revenue, and profit margins.
3. Pricing Inconsistency
Pricing can be a challenging component of online resellers that can be difficult to manage and control. This is especially the case when trying to maintain pricing consistency for the same products listed multiple times across various eCommerce platforms and marketplaces. One way to improve visibility and control over your multi-channel product pricing is by using a solution like StoreAutomator to bring transparency on how your products are listed across multiple online sources.
4. Poor Product Imagery
High-quality product imagery can play a major part of your online sales conversions. Because of this, make sure that the images you use for your products meet the minimum specifications of the marketplace you're selling them on. And make sure they accurately represent the product you're selling. Broken images or images that feature the wrong product or color variant can be a significant source for poor reviews and lack of credibility long-term.
5. Inaccurate Inventory Reporting
When listing your products online, customers rely on the fact that your products are in stock when you say that they are. Unfortunately, inaccurate inventory reporting can significantly impact the user experience when brands think they have the inventory to support fulfillment needs but fail to deliver promptly after payment. Solutions like Skubana help remove this inadequacy by providing brands with a single source of truth regarding their fulfillment network. Skubana seamlessly integrates all your products, fulfillment centers, and sales channels in one platform, giving business owners the visibility they need to report their inventory availability accurately regardless of how many channels they operate in.
6. Not Promoting Listings
Multichannel selling through online platforms and marketplaces is a crowded space. This makes getting traffic to your product listings harder than it ever has been. For brands serious about maximizing their conversion rates, online advertising through PPC (pay-per-click) campaigns can be a great way to bring attention to your listings over the competition.
7. Inconsistent Listing Updates
When selling the same products cross-channel, maintaining consistency on all levels is essential to maintain credibility and increase conversions. Listing consistency covers pricing accuracy, product imagery, descriptions, features, shipping costs, etc. However, as your catalog begins to grow, it can be harder to stay on top of listing accuracy. Solutions like StoreAutomator allow you to maintain unified visibility across all of your marketplace channels while ensuring all of your product data remains consistent.
8. Outdated Product Information
As products stay on the market for some time, it's common for items to take on new iterations, versions, or updates. However, if your listings don't represent the most up-to-date version of your product, it can lead to a number of complaints from customers after they receive their products. It's important to regularly audit your product details and ensure they stay relevant across all of your channels.
9. Duplicate Product Listings
Multichannel selling is a perfect solution for brands that have extensive and growing catalogs. However, one of the challenges associated with listing more and more products across multiple channels is that visibility can start to become less, and this is often where mistakes are made. Duplicate listings are a common problem for brands listing their products across multiple marketplaces. It can be easy to accidentally create duplicate listings or forget about older, outdated listings that need to be removed. You should maintain an accurate database of your listings to ensure they aren't being listed more than once and your catalogs remain consistent on your website and across different channels.
10. Disconnected Fulfillment Solutions
While keeping your product listings accurate and consistent is essential, your brand's reputation will quickly suffer without having adequate fulfillment solutions in place post-purchase. Without fulfillment automation solutions, online listing management and post-purchase processes can be a tedious and time-consuming job. Moreover, the more manual efforts associated with your fulfillment processes, the more opportunities for error. Investing in solutions that streamline your order management processes while automating your workflows to and from your fulfillment services will save you countless hours in administration and maximize your business efficiencies.
Final Thoughts
Online listing management doesn't have to be difficult, but it requires careful consideration when it comes to consistency, accuracy, and optimization.
By noting these 10 common pitfalls and investing in the right multichannel solutions, you'll ensure your business builds sustainable standards that maximize online conversions and improves long-term profitability.