Evolving to multichannel selling, and how to evaluate multichannel / omnichannel tools

1. Connected
Commerce:
Evolve to
multichannel
selling
Beka Rice

2. Heya!
I'm a product leader at GoDaddy.
I work on SkyVerge (Woo extensions) and the
GoDaddy Commerce platform + online stores powered
by WooCommerce.
GoDaddy.com | SkyVerge.com | @Beka_Rice

3. Let’s do this. Single, multi, and omnichannel sales
The channels you should know
Choosing the right channels
How to get started with a new channel

4. Single vs Multi vs Omnichannel
What do these buzzwords even mean?

5. Channel strategy for retailers
Single channel
Sales through a single surface, such as
a retail location, online store, or
marketplace (e.g., Etsy).
Multichannel
Sales can occur via multiple surfaces,
e.g., in person or online, with limited
connectivity between channels.
Omnichannel
Surfaces are interconnected for a
seamless customer experience and
shared / global data.
Single channel Multichannel Omnichannel
Connectedness

6. Single channel retail
All sales occur via a single sales surface.
Benefits
● Data & sales in a single place —
you own it
● Single conversion funnel to track +
optimize, w/ clear attribution
● Simplified marketing efforts
Trade-offs
● Missed acquisition & sales
opportunities
● Optimize for customer preferences

7. Multichannel retail
Sales occur via multiple surfaces (e.g.,
online and social).
Benefits
● Increased revenue via greater
discoverability
● Increased conversion by supporting
consumer choice
● Buyer trust via increased presence
Trade-offs
● Effort to nurture the right channels
● Maintaining data (e.g., inventory) in
multiple places
● Channel-specific workflows
● Share data w/ potential competitors
(private label)

8. Omnichannel retail
Sales are initiated via multiple surfaces and synced
centrally.
Benefits
● Same revenue, discovery, trust, and
conversion benefits as multichannel
● Data & sales in a single place
● Unified customer experience across surfaces
Trade-offs
● Same effort to find & nurture the right
channels
● Same risks of private label competition
● Clarity of sales attribution & marketing ROI

9. “[In 2020] multichannel retailers outperformed
their online only counterparts with sales up
+53.1% versus +10.1%.”
IMRG Capgemini Online Retail Index

10. The channels to know
What’s out there for me?

11. Leverage a cart and purchasing
experience on your website to sell directly
to consumers.
Over 3 million sites1 use WooCommerce,
with 26% share of the top 1 million
ecommerce sites.
Best for: Most sellers! Build trust via
presence, even if you sell primarily in-
person.
Online store
1 Source: BuiltWith

12. Retail, brick-and-
mortar
Sell directly to consumers in-person via
a retail location. Leverage a point-of-
sale (POS) system to accept payments
via card, cash, and tap-to-pay (e.g.
Apple Pay).
Best for: Apparel, home goods, food
services (like bakeries), in-person
services, and more.

13. Leverage in-context checkout on social
networks like Facebook, Google, or
Instagram. Social networks often allow for
product listing or discovery, as well as
direct purchasing so customers never
leave the context of the social platform to
buy from you.
Best for: Brands with strong social
following or influencer connections,
apparel, home goods, etc.
Often has restrictions against digital
goods, subscriptions, etc. — check terms.
Social

14. Online marketplaces
Benefit from captive audience to increase
discoverability of your brand. Sell via
Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, eBay, and others to
offer your products where customers are
already shopping.
Best for: Depends on the marketplace —
e.g., Etsy is best for customizable goods,
while Amazon is helpful for physical goods
retailers (apparel, home, food, etc).

15. Other channels
Leverage existing “big box” stores (e.g., Target) to sell
your products to consumers. Typically requires contract
to become a supplier for each brand, and can
dramatically impact scale. May come with risks for
private label competition.
Best for: Brands who can produce inventory at scale
(leverage discounted inventory + lower marketing
expenses)
Distributors Mobile app
Create companion applications for mobile that can
embed sales for your products (e.g., an app for your
website, or a learning app / game that offers your
products). Products like AppPresser can assist in
creating a mobile app from your website.
Best for: Retailers offering non-customizable products,
digital goods sellers, e-learning / online services.

16. Deciding on the right channels
Does multichannel make sense? Which channels?

17. What segment do my best customers fall in?
(Based on location, income, age, marketing
interactions, etc.)
Bonus: Talk to them! Ask where they shop.
Deciding on the right channels
Customers are key
Even products in the same industry
from similarly sized sellers may
perform differently.
(Think: art could be totally custom and
do well on Etsy / Ebay, or mass-printed
and do well on Amazon.)
Let customers be your guide.

18. How do I get most traffic now? (e.g., search
volume, word of mouth, etc.)
Can I leverage existing social following or
influencer relationships to drive sales on those
channels?
Deciding on the right channels
Reduce your work
If you already heavily use specific
channels for marketing or customer
acquisition, strongly consider enabling
retail on those surfaces. You already
know the channel, use that knowledge.
Use Google without a clear first step.

19. Is there a standard channel for my industry,
where customers expect me to be?
Can I optimize inventory costs with scale?
Deciding on the right channels
Think outside the box
Adding channels is only part of your
overall retail strategy. Even with lower
margins, discoverability, trust, or
operational efficiency can be good
reasons to consider new channels.
Take a holistic business view.

20. Strongest overall:
In person retail
In person retail is the top sales driver.
Average in-person sales exceed $400k
annually (vs ~$100k among online
stores)
Despite promising projections for online
channels, don’t discard in-person retail!

21. Marketplaces drive eyeballs
Amazon, eBay, and Walmart drive
almost 4 billion visits per month alone.
As marketplaces grow, consumers
expect to find their favorite products in
those channels.
Note: Although Walmart has far lower
traffic than Amazon, fewer sellers
means each seller has 13x the views in
comparison.

22. U.S. Retail sales by channel
• U.S. retail alone exceeds $7
trillion annually.
• Ecommerce sales are projected
to top $1 trillion in 2022
• Online marketplace and social
channel sales are growing
steadily
• Retail sales are clearly starting to
diversify
Source: U.S. Census retail reports

23. Benefits of adding channels
I analyzed data from 45k sellers who created
websites with us over the past year, and were
eligible for our Marketplaces product:
● This data shows multichannel sellers earn
72% more on average compared to web-only.
● Multichannel sellers drive 60% of overall
revenue from non-website channels.
Monthly revenue

24. Social presence & sales impact
Comparing merchants who use ecommerce-
only vs Facebook or Instagram shopping:
● Median monthly revenue is 102%
higher than website-only.
● Most sellers (95%) use free offerings
or listings (e.g., Facebook Shops).
● Merchants (5%) who use Facebook /
Instagram Checkout average 2x
revenue per month but more than 5x
the median revenue.
Facebook and Instagram are key for
discoverability, and FB / IG Checkout (U.S.
only) can help all eligible sellers.
Meta (Facebook, Instagram)

25. Social presence & sales impact
When merchants enable Google shopping,
revenue is positively impacted, with 180%
increase in median revenue, and 10.3% in
average revenue.
Substantial change in median revenue
shows Google shopping has strong benefit
to newer sellers, and overall benefit to
almost all sellers.
Google

26. Performance by industry
Social & marketplace sales have
a positive revenue effect on most
industries.
• General retailers perform well
in most any channel...
• as do apparel, hobby, home
decor, and software.
• B2B goods (business,
construction, industrial)
perform surprisingly well vs
website-only.
Industry Social: change
in median sales
Marketplace: change
in median sales
Best channels
Fashion & apparel 1.8x 1.9x Amazon, Walmart
Health & beauty 5x 1.8x Amazon, Walmart
Hobby 7x 7x (any - consider Etsy as start)
Home decor 2.5x 2.5x Etsy, Amazon, Facebook
Health / medical 1.7x 2.5x Amazon (maybe FB but may be
prohibited)
Art / design 1.5x 1.8x Ebay (consider starting on Etsy)
Automotive 4.5x 12x Facebook, Ebay, Amazon
Fitness / wellness Loses 10% 1.5x Amazon

27. Starting sales through a new channel
How to evaluate tools and prepare

28. Evaluate channel fees
Protect your profits!
Evaluate the costs and fees associated
with your top channel choices, and
ensure you have margin in your pricing
to accommodate them while remaining
profitable — the expanded audience
from other channels doesn’t come for
free!

29. Create an
audience journey
Map how your customers will use your
targeted channel to learn about your
products or purchase them.
This will inform your marketing strategy,
and you should use it to determine if the
available integration plugins / apps will
do the job you expect them to.
Customer searches for relevant products
and compares them on Google
Customer sees ad on Instagram for your
product / brand
Checks out your Facebook page for details
Visits website to purchase product
Picks up and pays in retail location

30. Get connected
Choose a connector that connects the
data from your online store to the new
channel. Consider:
● Is the data sync bidirectional?
(e.g., pushes updates from
WordPress as well as pulling from
the channel)
● What types of data are synced —
products, orders, inventory?
● Can you fulfill new orders from
one place?
● Is there marketing integration, or
only sales?

31. Channel setup
● Determine if you’ll sync all or some
inventory
● Set pricing or create adjustments
per channel to cover fees
- some channels prohibit listing at a
lower price elsewhere, be aware of
terms!

32. Finish the journey
● Make sure you meet the mapped
audience journey — update
existing channels as needed!
● Don’t forget fulfillment: be sure
you’re clear on how the package
will get to the customer.
● Test purchases as a customer.

33. Measure your success
Make sure you have the analytics to help
you evaluate how successful new channels
are!
Sales by channel, first touch attribution,
conversion rates, and other standard
online metrics are a great way to see how
your expansion is going.

34. Key takeaways
Evaluating & executing on new channels

35. The multichannel journey
Adding new channels is not
without risk.
● Can you manage data
across channels or lean
into full omnichannel?
● Do you have a clear
customer journey +
marketing plan?
● What is risk of private label
competition?
Decide if it’s the right time to
add channels.
Evaluate tradeoffs Identify your top channels Plan your integration Evaluate your success
Know your existing and target
customers.
● Do they have clear
browsing and shopping
preferences you can use?
● How adaptable are my
tools to the channel?
● Are there other benefits to
some channels like
inventory cost efficiency?
Use industry data, but
ultimately find the right
channel for your customers
and products.
Find the right channel
connector or app.
● Learn what data is synced,
when, and how.
● Make sure you can protect
margins after paying
channel fees.
● Map the customer journey,
including fulfillment.
● Update your marketing
plan for the new channel.
Take the time to do your
research and get the right data
sharing and workflows.
Measure your sales across
channels.
● Attribution and marketing
ROI are now harder.
Determine how you’ll
evaluate “success”.
● Get a unified view of
revenue across channels.
● Keep talking to your
customers!
Learn from the first channel as
a model for others.

36. Thank You.
Beka Rice
slideshare.net/bekarice