The popularity of online marketplaces has risen astronomically in the past five years, mainly due to their accessibility to businesses of all sizes. Online merchants can extend their reach by selling their wares on 3rd-party marketplaces in addition to their own eCommerce website. However, adding and formatting "for sale" postings for each product on each marketplace turns tedious quickly. 

BigCommerce is an Open SaaS platform and headless commerce provider based on low total cost of ownership and highly flexible APIs. If you sell through multiple marketplaces and channels, Channel Manager may be perfect for you.

"With the latest version of Channel Manager, we wanted to make it easier for merchants to handle their ever-growing omnichannel sales presence. Each channel provider page also surfaces technology integrations that are most relevant for that channel and that merchant's needs. We're very excited to build upon this foundation of Channel Manager and add more storefront channels in the future." - Jessica Schanzer, Product Marketing Manager at BigCommerce.

Access a unified hub of native and third-party storefront integrations, including: 

• Marketplaces and advertising platforms, like Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Wish
• Headless storefront channels, like DEITY
• Point of sale solutions, like Clover 

The previous version of the Channel Manager only allowed you to discover and operate 3rd-party sales channels. The new Channel Manager operates both native and 3rd-party channels from a central hub, including headless storefronts.

In addition, Channel Manager now enhances the storefront experience with relevant app integrations. Each channel provider page highlights relevant technology integrations that further improve the holistic experience within that channel. A dynamic approach surfaces partner apps that best align to the merchant’s location and currency to provide the most relevant experience possible. 

Automatic Inventory Syncing Provides Customers With A Better Shopping Experience

Channel Manager creates a flow of product and shipping data that syncs from BigCommerce through Channel Manager and appears on whichever 3rd-party marketplace you choose. 

For example, if you want to post your shoe products on Amazon, all the sizes you offer will sync from your back-office software to Amazon's product listing. 

When a customer completes a purchase on one of these marketplaces, Channel Manager immediately sends that order data to your BigCommerce instance, which syncs the order with your inventory and sales data.  

So long as BigCommerce is the "single source of truth" for all your product records, the Channel Manager ensures online orders and subsequent shipments integrate accurately.

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Using Online Marketplaces

There's a massive value to selling on these full-service, global marketplaces: high numbers of traffic and visibility. Amazon is the top dog right now: Each month, more than 197 million people worldwide visit Amazon.com. By the end of 2020, market research company EMarketer projects that Amazon will own an expected 38.7% share of eCommerce sales in the U.S. 

Walmart holds the second-highest estimated share of eCommerce sales at only 5.3%, followed by eBay with a 4.7% share. For retailers, it's still worth listing on these marketplaces, primarily if you target young people: Walmart holds the top ranking for retailers on positive word-of-mouth among consumers between 18 and 25. 

Of course, this type of visibility and online traffic doesn't come free. As of August 2020, Amazon keeps 15% of your selling price and shipping as a commission, along with other fees depending on the industry vertical. Walmart considers product categories for its expenses, ranging anywhere between 8-15% of the sale price. eBay costs a $0.30 posting fee and 10% of the final sale. 

Large traditional retailers are getting in this game and creating marketplaces that allow outside merchants to sell directly to their sites in exchange for listing fees and commissions. 

They're called "hybrid" marketplaces, and Walmart has done a great job implementing this type of website. Other retailers have latched onto the trend and launched their hybrid marketplaces, including Crate & Barrel and Target. 

Listing your products on these hybrid marketplaces gives your inventory the draw of established brands. 

For example, if you are a furniture company and decide to post your products on the Crate & Barrel marketplace, you know that the customers are going to the site because they trust the Crate & Barrel brand. 

Listing your inventory on this marketplace leads online shoppers to associate your products with the Crate & Barrel name, giving you instant credibility in their eyes.

Advantages Of Using Channel Manager To Build PWAs

BigCommerce offers best-in-class technology, such as Deity's Progressive Web App (PWA) framework, to launch PWA storefronts from within BigCommerce in minutes. Progressive Web Apps are web sites that leverage modern browser capabilities and development best practices to deliver as good user experiences (if not better) than native applications.

They do this because they take advantage of service worker caching, push notifications, responsive design, and performance best practices. PWAs are as much about implementing features as they are about delivering outstanding, app-like user experiences.

Historically, native apps provide a much richer experience than the mobile web, creating high engagement with the end-user. They are faster, can be added to the home screen of a smartphone, send push notifications, and even work offline.

Large companies like Twitter, Pinterest, Tinder, and Walmart have reported doubled conversion rates and grown revenue because PWAs make it easier to deliver appealing user experiences to new user bases.  

The PWA success stories of these business giants are logically alluring to small and mid-sized businesses. With the use of Progressive Web Apps, merchants can now provide the same high-converting experience of a native app to a much larger audience on the mobile web — making this a can't-miss technology for businesses of any size.

Overall Value Of BigCommerce And Channel Manager

There are three value-adds from implementing BigCommerce and Channel Manager. 

• It’s an opportunity to build PWAs that provide your shoppers with a much richer and mobile-friendly shopping experience. 
• It’s an opportunity to maximize your visibility across the biggest marketplaces and advertising platforms on the web. 
• Channel Manager automatically syncs your inventory, which keeps all your marketplace postings in line with product availability. 

Kensium provides expertise and consultations on how to implement BigCommerce and its Channel Manager feature, as well as rapid deployment options. To learn more about how to take advantage of the BigCommerce platform and its evolving technology, contact Kensium today.