Why Amazon Sellers Might Fail On Other Channels

Amazon is the leader of the pack when it comes to eCommerce marketplaces. Many online sellers start on or prioritize Amazon thanks to its huge audience and excellent reputation. 

Succeeding on Amazon should certainly be a priority, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee success on all other channels. 

Many Amazon sellers enter other marketplaces, like eBay or Walmart, with a ton of confidence and overzealous expectations. While you can leverage a trick or two from Amazon selling, other platforms present unique challenges. 

Amazon is far ahead of many other channels, even though other channels may be ideal for expanding your reach or accessing your target market. Transitioning over to other platforms can be a huge shock for experienced Amazon sellers. 

Frankly, a lot of Amazon sellers struggle when first using other channels, but they don’t have to. Here are some of the biggest reasons Amazon sellers fail on other channels and what to do instead. 

Benefits of Multichannel Selling

After experiencing the many challenges of selling on other marketplaces, Amazon sellers may be tempted to throw in the towel and stick with what they know. Not so fast! Multichannel selling can be difficult, but it is highly rewarding. 

Sticking only with Amazon gives you only one source of sales. Take a lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic, when Amazon had to temporarily disable FBA for all non-essential products. Take a guess at what happened to all of the sellers with “non-essentials.”

It’s never good to put all your eggs in one basket nor all of your sales on one channel. When you do, you leave yourself vulnerable to surprises. Ultimately, you do not want to rely on only a single channel, so you should sell on several. 

Here are the top reasons to sell on multiple marketplaces:

• Increased brand reach. Amazon dominates in monthly visitor count, but other platforms also gain impressive traffic. Selling on multiple channels increases your brand exposure overall. 
• Boost sales. By increasing your impressions, you earn more opportunities to make sales. Amazon sellers who start selling multichannel through Listing Mirror see significant boosts in revenue growth. 
• Reduce competition. Other channels provide your brand with access to some of the same people who shop on Amazon, but with less competition. While channels like Walmart are increasing their visitors, they still have fewer sellers than Amazon. For example, selling on Amazon increases exposure by 13x!
• Access to a new market. Expand to additional markets with different channels. While shoppers on Amazon may also be on other platforms, those platforms will have many unique users as well. 

The Top Reasons Amazon Sellers Fail to Go Multichannel 

Based on the key benefits above, selling multichannel is a no-brainer, even for experienced Amazon sellers. So why aren’t more doing it? The truth is that many try and fail due to a few major mistakes. 

Here are the top reasons why Amazon sellers struggle with multichannel selling:

Low-Quality Product Listings 

To save time, many sellers skimp out on product listings. This is a huge mistake. Creating high-quality product listings is essential to the customer experience on all sites. Copying and pasting Amazon listings won’t do it either. Every channel has its own listing requirements, and many penalize sellers for duplicate listings. 

Limited Time 

Time is not unlimited. Sellers may be incredibly busy, which forces them to focus on the channel they already know and the one that’s already generating revenue. Prioritizing Amazon may be crucial for keeping cash flow coming at first, but it undoubtedly results in failed additional channels. Doing the bare minimum to keep an account active won’t get you results on other channels. 

Every marketplace has unique requirements, algorithms, etc. Sellers must take the time to learn about the new channel, because top Amazon tips may not always work.

Not Enough Inventory 

Amazon sellers often start with a limited number of SKUs when trying to sell on a new channel. They try out some of their Amazon best sellers or worst sellers that they want to offload. Not investing enough inventory puts sellers at a disadvantage. Uploading your entire catalog is a better approach, but this takes time that many sellers don’t put toward new platforms. 

Poor Inventory Management

Syncing inventory across channels is crucial, otherwise, you’re in for an inventory disaster. Lack of proper multichannel inventory management dooms sellers to overselling. Ultimately, this can disrupt fulfillment and logistics leading to longer-term issues including marketplaces shutting down your selling account. 

Half In And Half Out 

What it boils down to is that most Amazon sellers only dip their toes into new marketplaces. They do not fully commit because they’re short on time and don’t recognize the incredible ROI smaller channels offer. This approach leads to many of the mistakes above, which turns into a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Understanding the ROI of other channels is crucial. Smaller channels provide access to niche marketplaces, which is especially important for certain brands. If you’re selling unique handmade items, then Etsy is your jam because its audience aligns perfectly. 

More Efficient Multichannel Selling

Amazon can teach you a lot about selling online, but you cannot treat every channel like a mini Amazon. Each channel is unique, with its own set of rules and its own audience. Sellers must take the time to create optimized listings, manage inventory, and implement the best marketing for each channel. 

Certainly, that all takes time. But we’re here to help you streamline the process and get back more time for multichannel selling. Listing Mirror’s #1 multichannel listing software makes it way easy to sell on Amazon as well as your new marketplaces. In one handy dashboard, you can manage listing data, manage inventory, and view sales by channel. 

Try our helpful software out for yourself today! Click the button below to start your risk-free trial. 

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