How widely should you spread your efforts when it comes to online presence? Well, since expansion is generally useful, you might focus on figuring out how many online marketplaces you can use simultaneously without your overall presentation being damaged. It’s a battle between two contrasting proverbs: too many cooks spoil the broth, but many hands make light work.
In truth, while you don’t have the time, energy or resources to use every digital marketplace in existence, you should definitely (provided your products are suitable, of course) invest in the main three: those being eBay, Amazon, and Etsy. Not convinced? In this post, we’re going to run through the three main reasons why connecting with those major marketplaces is the right move for your ecommerce business — particularly in the B2B world. Let’s get started.
They’ll give you extremely powerful reviews
Social proof has always been immensely significant in the ecommerce world. When you visit a brick-and-mortar store you can take a close look at the products, inspect them to confirm quality. Online that isn’t the case: if you’re not convinced by the product description alone (which is likely) then you need something more to persuade you.
This is particularly true for generic products that all seem the same. How many phone cases are out there? How many hats? Take the range of the average drop shipper: how can someone know which items have been carefully selected from good suppliers and which ones have been chosen only for cheapness and convenience? You certainly can’t tell from the photos alone.
Enter the classic aggregate review rating. Seller fortunes have been transformed by 5-star ratings, but not just anywhere: the platform of a review rating strongly determines its value. Yet it’s a flawed system. You can have a 5-star rating on your own site from a thousand reviews, but it won’t seem that convincing because people will know that you could have simply made it up.
Get a 5-star product review on Amazon, though, or a 5-star seller review on eBay or Etsy, and people will trust in its legitimacy. You can then use that review elsewhere if you like. Put a label on your regular product page saying “Rated 5-stars on Amazon” (it doesn’t need to be 5-stars exactly, obviously: 4.2-stars will still be plenty).
Keep in mind that B2B orders tend to be bulk buys — and the bigger the purchase, the greater the commitment. Before a company orders hundreds of a certain product from a company, it’s going to want a compelling reason to believe it can trust both the quality of the items and the reliability of the brand. Reviews gathered though independent marketplaces are the key.
In a tough time, people turn to trusted sites
How often do you consider new online sellers? That might depend on how willing you are to gamble with your money. That new site appearing in Google Shopping with a lower price than anyone else certainly sounds appealing, but can you trust it? If not, you’re running the risk of placing an order and seeing your money disappear with no product arriving.
There are various indicators to help, admittedly. Is the store platform secure? Was it built through a trusted name with security checks (Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, etc.), or was it cobbled together through extending a basic platform like Yola? Is there an SSL certificate in place? Does company registration check out? Has there been steady brand content output? But these aren’t things that most people — even in the B2B sphere — will know to check.
Due to the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of people have limited funds and can’t bear the thought of risking them — so they’re sticking to the sites they trust. A possible buyer might not trust your regular store, but they’ll trust Amazon (for one example), so you can earn their sale by listing your products through the Amazon marketplace.
And if only some individuals will risk their money on unknown sites, far fewer companies will endanger their operations through spending large sums of money on shipments that aren’t guaranteed by trusted parties. This is why legacy companies tend to dominate in B2B (in the absence of truly disruptive startups, at least): they’ve earned industry trust over time, something that’s a core part of a long-term selling strategy.
The distribution will strengthen your brand
It isn’t just the ratings you get from being on big marketplaces that will help you win people over: it’s the boost to your brand’s credibility. Having your own ecommerce store and listing your products on those marketplaces is a big move and proves to people that you want your store to be independent but you also want to make your products as accessible as possible.
People like that kind of flexibility. It’s always annoying when you can only get a brand’s products through its own store and don’t have access to the shipping options of the industry-standard marketplaces (like Amazon’s Prime Delivery). What happens if a B2B customer has an urgent need for more of your products but you’re overwhelmed? Having the option of leaning on the infinitely-scalable infrastructure of established marketplaces is incredibly useful.
Additionally, routing your products through Amazon, eBay or Etsy really exposes them to scrutiny that you can’t easily manipulate. As noted, when we looked at review ratings, you can fake reviews on your own store if you like, but it’s much harder to manipulate Amazon ratings. Not impossible, certainly (and many sellers look for ways to fake reviews), but definitely harder — so when shoppers see your brand available through Amazon, they’ll assume that your brand can be trusted somewhat.
The idea of selling only through your own store is nice in some ways, but the truth is that shoppers — certainly in the B2B sphere — want the convenience and reliability of buying through trusted marketplaces, and getting more exposure for your products is only going to help you reach new C-suite professionals with influence. Why not give it a try?
Rodney Laws
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