Best Practices for Brands to Leverage the E-Commerce Marketplace Opportunity

Shopping experiences for customers have long moved beyond physical stores and found their soft, comfortable spot in online shopping. In today’s fast-moving times, where everything – from pin to pen – is readily available at the tap of a finger, an e-commerce marketplace has become the go-to destination for millions of shoppers worldwide. 

The likes of Amazon and Flipkart not only offer immediate access to global active shoppers but also help boost brand visibility. Their built-in logistics support, credibility, and promotional tools make it easier for companies to surpass the conventional reach of retail. 

Let’s explore together the incredible opportunities that present themselves to brands worldwide through an e-commerce marketplace. This blog shares some best practices that can help brands tap into the immense potential of these platforms.

5 Best Practices for Brands to Leverage E-Commerce Marketplaces

As stated earlier, the potential of e-commerce marketplace platforms is immense. For businesses to thrive on these platforms, simply listing products isn’t sufficient. They need a more intelligent, strategic, and data-driven approach to improve visibility, presence, and sales on Amazon, Flipkart, and similar platforms.

Listed below are the 5 best practices that successful e-commerce businesses follow to leverage these digital platforms:

1. Optimize your product listing on the marketplace

This is inevitably one of the top practices to follow for businesses aspiring to leverage e-commerce marketplaces. 

Your product listing is your digital store. The clearer and crisper it is (and rich in keywords too), the more customers it is likely to pull in!

How to optimize your product listing for better visibility:

• Keep your product titles, descriptions, and keywords SEO-friendly, relevant, and clear.
• High-quality images and videos can significantly boost conversions, so be sure to utilize them effectively.

How to shine through the competition: Let’s say you’re a skincare brand selling your products on Amazon. You’re competing with 10 other similar brands. How do you shine through? 

• Use keywords like “paraben-free” or “chemical-free” in the product title to attract attention.
• Then add high-resolution images of lifestyle showing real-world usage of your products by customers (to enhance authenticity and build trust).
• Including details of the ingredients added to your products can help you stand out in search results.

2. Consider investing in ads 

Remember, you’re in a crowded marketplace, where only the store that is the loudest stands a chance of being noticed. 

Give your store a voice boost with marketplace ads – a sure-shot tool to cut through the extra noise and improve your brand visibility and reach on e-commerce marketplaces. 

Why investing in ads is a wise choice:

• It helps boost product sales and revenue for your company.
• Investing in sponsored ads and display banners, as well as collaborating with top influencers, is a great way to leverage e-commerce platforms and achieve marketplace success.

How to shine through: Leverage popular platforms like Amazon or Flipkart, particularly during their festive sale seasons, and run scheduled sponsored ads at the time. 

• This would help you target shoppers looking for specific products related to the festival (such as Diwali) that you may also be offering.
• It, in turn, helps boost your listing to the top rank even in a crowded space.

3. Streamline inventory management

Running out of stock with your products or overstocking – both are like leaving money on the table! 

It really is of no use to your brand. What you need is innovative inventory management that can keep your sales going smoothly, without any hurdles. 

Why streamlining the inventory management process is crucial:

• Customer experience is of prime importance on such platforms. The better the experience customers have, the more likely they are to continue purchasing your products and services.
• Manage your inventory effectively to ensure the ready availability of stock and expedite the processing of received orders.
• Utilize specialized marketplace inventory management tools to prevent potential delays and stockouts.
• Forecast the product demand using data on seasonal trends, sales history, and promotions.
• Ensure a delicate balance between “fast-moving” and “slow-moving” items to avoid both stockouts and overstocking.

How to shine through: Utilize ready-made tools, such as the Inventory Performance Index by Amazon, to track sudden spikes in demand for your product on the platform. This would help you to know when:

• A specific product is selling out like hotcakes, so you can make timely efforts to restock it well ahead of time and avoid stockouts, particularly during peak or festive seasons. 
• Automate alerts for low stock levels to ensure timely notification for reordering.

4.Offer competitive pricing

Setting the right price for your product is your fast ticket to winning the customer. It is a sure-shot e-commerce marketplace strategy for gaining new customers and retaining existing ones. 

But, how do you know what is the “right” price of your product or service, and whether or not it is competitive? 

How to keep your pricing competitive?

• Staying ahead of the market is key here. Assess the rates for the same goods and services offered at the marketplace, and make strategic adjustments to your own rates accordingly.
• Utilize dynamic pricing tools and trust your marketplace insights to adjust prices in line with demand, customer behavior, and seasonality.
• Monitor your prices regularly to ensure that your products remain in demand without compromising your margins too much.

How to shine through: Let’s say you’re a smartphone accessories brand competing on Amazon for sales. 

You can see that similar phone cases are being sold on the platform at a specific price, such as Rs. 399. 

Now is your time to strike by pricing yours competitively, say Rs. 350, and offering something attractive, such as free delivery. 

You have just made it possible for budget-conscious customers to be drawn towards you without sacrificing too much margin. A total win-win!

5. Work on building a strong brand presence  

When you’re in a marketplace replete with your lookalikes, the only way to survive is to create and maintain a strong identity for your brand. 

How to create a strong brand presence:

• Utilize high-quality content to showcase your brand’s story effectively.
• Stay consistent in the messaging, logo, and tone for your brand content. It helps boost brand recall in customers’ minds.

How to shine through: You’re competing with 10 other brands selling the same product as you are on the marketplace. What’s different with you that customers should be drawn?

• Point out a unique trait or feature of your product. If you’re a clothing brand selling sustainable clothing, highlight the use of “eco-friendly fabric” or packaging made from earthen materials.
• If you’re a brand selling sneakers in the footwear category, stress unique features like “memory foam cushioning” or use phrases like “feet that breathe” to draw attention.
• Use images that show your product in use or action to give prospective customers a real-time feel of the product and help them feel connected.
• Weave in your brand story. How you started, what motivated you, how far you’ve come. Stories always find a way of hitting the right spot.

Why E-Commerce Marketplaces Matter to Brands?

The emergence and popularity of e-commerce platforms like Amazon or Flipkart have not only revolutionized the way brands connect with customers but have also proven that they are here to stay. 

This is because these platforms offer benefits that are unparalleled, and which conventional retail channels cannot seem to compete with. Here are just a few of them:

• In-built logistics: Most of the essential services that brands look for to ensure a pleasant shopping experience for their customers, a secure payment gateway, logistics, and efficient customer service are all handled by the marketplace itself. This means fewer hassles for the business to manage.
• How it helps you: You no longer need to stress about packing, storing, and shipping. Marketplaces handle that for you, leaving you sufficient time to focus on improving designs, promotions, and pricing for your product.
• Larger reach: One of the top benefits of selling on e-commerce platforms is that you gain immediate access to millions of active shoppers worldwide. This helps boost brand presence and visibility.
• How it helps you: Most effective for small local brands. List your products on marketplaces like Amazon and reach customers across India, rather than limiting yourself to a single store in just one city.
• Scope for revenue growth: Specific promotion tools and analytics, as well as global reach, facilitated by e-commerce platforms, help boost sales and grow revenue for the brand. Every day, e-commerce marketplaces unlock doors to millions of customers who are ready to buy at that very minute. These customers may be challenging to locate or access through your own channels.
• How it helps you: Selling through your own website, for instance, may limit you to, say, a few hundred customers only per month. Add these numbers 4x with a proportionate increase in sales within a single quarter! All thanks to the immense reach of marketplaces.

Common Mistakes to Avoid for Brands 

Despite the incredible potential of e-commerce marketplace marketing, a few missteps by brands can hinder their achievement of complete success in their goals. To help you avoid these pitfalls, the table below shares some common mistakes made by brands and steps to prevent them:

How Does the Future of E-Commerce Marketplace Look for Brands?

As the e-commerce marketplace continues to evolve rapidly, the competition for the best e-commerce marketplace intensifies. This is precisely what propels businesses globally to adopt top brand practices, innovating ways to connect with new and existing customers. With several brands already adopting the best practices and many more on the way to long-term sustainable growth and success, here’s what the future holds for successful e-commerce stores across the globe:

• Opportunities for cross-border selling: E-commerce marketplaces are here to stay for longer than expected because they offer customers convenience and a brilliant business opportunity for brands to sell globally. Businesses can now expect to transcend geographical borders and reach customers, previously unimaginable to traditional retail.

How to tap into these opportunities: Utilize global programs on marketplaces. eBay Global Shipping, Amazon Global Selling, and Flipkart’s international network can all help you list your products in several countries with minimal hassle.

• AI-powered personalised customer experience: This is what e-commerce platforms are thriving on today, and this is precisely what will keep driving them towards future success as well. Brands can offer suggestions to new and existing customers smartly and strategically, based on their prior shopping history and AI-driven algorithms. This significantly enhances engagement and conversion rates.

How to offer the best experience to your customers: Leverage the immense potential of AI to assess the specific preferences of your customers and their shopping patterns. Then, like the perfect personal shopping assistant to your customers, tailor your product recommendations to appeal to them.

• Multichannel integration: Limiting your sales to just one platform isn’t a great idea. To create a cohesive customer experience, brands are likely to foster seamless networking between e-commerce marketplaces, offline retail, and social commerce. 

How to achieve multichannel integration: Consider it as running multiple stores with a single mindset! Develop a seamless system to maintain stocks, regulate pricing, and provide a high-quality customer experience across all platforms. 

Gain E-Commerce Marketplace Traction with Straction!

The e-commerce market is propelling global growth, significantly expanding its customer reach and boosting revenues manifold. 

By adopting just a few best practices and avoiding common mistakes, brands can stay ahead of the competition and build lasting customer relations. The key lies in optimizing your strategy to tap the full potential of e-commerce marketplaces. 

This is where experts like Straction Consulting step in to help you stay ahead of the digital commerce landscape, scale faster, and unlock new revenue streams. Our goal is to help brands like yours thrive on popular e-commerce platforms, including Flipkart, Amazon, Meesho, and more. List smarter. Rank higher. Sell more. 

From optimizing listing and boosting brand visibility to driving sales, Straction has unlocked growth for several brands across leading marketplaces through strategic, performance-focused execution. Be the next in line to unravel the mystery of always staying one step ahead in the marketplace race. 

Contact Straction Consulting experts today at 9810420573 to learn more about how we can assist you on your journey to capturing the e-commerce marketplace.