GUIDES / ECOMMERCE

Ecommerce across several channels, run as one business.

Multichannel ecommerce means selling the same stock through your own shop, wholesale and marketplaces at once. This area covers the rules those channels have to share, and what happens when nobody writes them down.

Ecommerce operations serviceAmazon operations

WHAT THIS AREA COVERS

The channels usually work. What breaks is the coordination between them.

A business selling through Shopify, wholesale, B2B portals and marketplaces takes the same decisions again and again: how much stock each channel gets, which price applies where, which promotion runs when and which report to trust. When those rules live only in people's heads, stock runs out in one channel while it sits unsold in another.

The area fits brands whose channels sell on their own but not together, and who pay for the gaps: manual allocation, overlapping promotions and reports that disagree. Once the rules are written down and set in the tools already in use, each channel sees the others' stock and prices without a weekly meeting, and adding a channel becomes a matter of planning. Topics specific to Amazon, and to the website itself, have their own areas.

  • Stock shared between channels by written rules
  • Prices set per channel with a minimum margin for each
  • One weekly report that covers every channel
Abstract composition of several sales channels sharing stock

IN THIS AREA

Where to go from here.

Multichannel operations

Stock allocation, prices per channel, promotions, order routing and reporting, each one covered in more depth.

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Amazon guides

When Amazon is the biggest channel and needs rules of its own, from listings and advertising to stock.

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GUIDES

Ecommerce guides.

Stock and prices across channels, in detail

The multichannel page answers how to split stock between channels, whether prices should match everywhere and who owns the price list.

FREQUENTLY ASKED

Questions about running several channels.

How do you decide where each order ships from?
By cost, speed and the stock available for each channel. FBA often suits high-volume Amazon products, a third-party warehouse suits your own shop and wholesale, and shipping from your own premises suits bulky or special items. The rules are written once and applied to every order.
Do we need an ERP?
An ERP can hold the single record of stock, orders, customers and finance, which makes coordination easier. It rarely covers everything, because pricing rules per channel and reporting often sit in the tools around it.
When should a channel be dropped?
When what it costs to run, counting stock, staff time, fees and support, is more than it contributes, measured over a period long enough to include the seasonal peaks. Weak channels often survive out of habit.
How does Amazon fit next to the other channels?
Amazon often brings volume but gives less control over price, brand presentation and customer data. It works best under the same stock and price rules as the other channels.
Is wholesale still worth the effort?
It depends on margin and on how retailers treat the brand. Wholesale at a healthy margin with retailers who respect pricing is usually worth keeping; wholesale at a thin margin with retailers who discount heavily often takes more attention than it returns.

SERVICES

When the channels need work.

Ecommerce operations

Shared stock, pricing, reporting and routines across channels, scoped on a short call and quoted for the job.

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Amazon operations

When Amazon is the main channel: product creation per marketplace at a closed price and a prepaid bag of hours for fixes.

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Automation

For the order, stock and reporting tasks that still move between channels by hand.

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Tell us what needs doing.

Amazon work, a question for a consulting session or a process worth automating. We reply with the service that fits.

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