Neeta sharma, who buys her clothes, accessories, bags and other personal or household items from physical stores doesn’t like to shop for them from online market places. She says that she buys her clothes from an online web store called “Tantu” since there’s a direct connect with the seller. There is someone to whom she can report directly in case of any size or cloth issue, unlike in a marketplace where there are multi-layered responsibilities.
Even as marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, Jabong, Myntra and all expand their apparel and fashon accessories category, sellers in these categories are slowly moving towards setting up their own web stores, showcasing their entire range in a more cohesive way where they have full control on their hands.
Similarly, individual websites like “The Man Company” which operates in men grooming category space and “Earthy Foods” that sells organic products are some digital-first brands, who have registered steady growth over past few years.
Shoppers find that direct connect with the seller and lack of confusion with many products is drawing them to individual web stores. Anuj Mishra, owner of another well known brand Gratia which sells luxury bath and body products says that targeted marketing through Search Engine Optimization and Facebook has helped him achieve a great result in selling through their own website. They started with setting web stores on Amazon, eBay, Flipkart and Snapdeal but the clients never came back easily after one purchase. The main reason being that they couldn’t find their products so easily in the huge list of similar brands available in these market places. However, their own website has given them a steady stream of clients now, says Anuj. The same reason which Amit Kapoor, owner of “Earthy Foods” seconds is that the marketplaces are already flooded with sellers and their similar products and in all likelihood the products selling per merchant becomes less. Besides this, merchants who want to serve customers outside India can do easily through their own web store which is not possible on Flipkart or Snapdeal.
While a few sellers have marketplaces as an additional channel, some look out to moving out of them. Ravi, who sells his product on marketplaces as well, would later go on to sell exclusive on his website. While merchants feel that in marketplaces they lose their sense of identity, they add that the possibility of their products being replicated at a cheaper price is higher. “I have a niche clientele who prefer quality over affordability. People who don’t understand the value of our fragrances and the quality of raw material which is used in making our products, would go on to purchase cheap replicas, which are easily available on marketplaces, Anuj said.
Started in 2016, Gratia sees 90-100 customers per month now, who buy multiple products whereas in marketplaces, 10-15 customers used to buy their products. Ajay Singhal, another seller, who has opened his dental products under Ruthinium brand store after their old way of selling through distributors and dealers for 12 years has realized that leads are now coming from people all across India. They first toiled with the idea of selling through marketplaces, but later realized that it would not only hamper their distribution network price wise, but also enable cheap imitators to look at their exclusive products and try to sell at cheaper rates. So he has chosen with only a webstore apart from the existing channel. “My website is linked to Google Analytics and I can easily make out which pages and products are seen the most. This gives me clear indication of what has to be pushed further and what is working well” he says. One can also tweak their Ads promotion accordingly on Facebook based on these analytics.
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The worst part which these marketplaces don’t project to anyone in the market openly is the data sharing and security. Your buyer’s details will never be shared with you properly and neither the seller’s full information is shared on the marketplace platform. This makes a broken bridge between seller and buyer on marketplace which is a BIG void in case of product not matching the expectation or replacements and refunds. Also the data of users like email ID, phone numbers etc. is secretly shared with other third party vendors at times which makes it difficult for merchants to keep their loyal customers intact. On the other hand, if a personalized web store is developed, all data of every user is maintained on own server and no breach of security can happen.
There are many reasons for you to move from Marketplace to your own web store (e-commerce website) and reap the long term benefits for your business.
Contact Vdezine today and start an e-commerce website which will make you stand out from the clutter and give you far reaching benefits for your business. The cost will be the least in the market and quality, the best!!