Should I go to market places or have my own website?
Well, the recent studies say it is always good to have an omni channel presence. Now, if you are more focussed about selling more units online, you have to be present on the Market places, simply because it makes business sense to capitalize on the Marketing dollars they spend in bringing in footfalls for their platforms. But having own website adds to the customers’ confidence and contribute in building a Brand Identity.
So we’ll encourage you to start selling on Market places immediately and simultaneously we could start working upon your own website as well.
I already have an established Shop. What do I need to go online?
Start with answering this; which all Market places do you want to be present on? Do you want to go all out in first phase or you want to go ‘a few at a time’ and later expand.
We could meet over a cup of tea or coffee to discuss it at length for you. We would also register you to all the agreed platforms
The second phase is, getting your products photo-shot. If you are dealing in Apparels, it would a Model shoot. For most of the other categories, it would be a regular table-top shoot. The angles and specification of the images are different for different Market places. Do remember this, while shooting.
Through our e-comm specific expert photographers, graphic designers and editors, we could assist you with this.
The third phase is, getting an impressive content about your product. You are not there online to physically answer the customer queries about your product. The image and the content is the only way to address it. Use your offline expertise to design the content.
We have a creative content team that could help you overcome this.
Then start Catalogue Management. Cataloguing means, entering the product details in required format of a Market place. The cataloguing formats differ for different categories as well as different Marketplaces. Once the catalogues are ready, upload those on different platforms.
Share one standard form with us and you could leave the rest to our experienced Cataloguers. We create it in all the formats and even upload it for you.
Once SKUs (products) are live, you are ‘good to go’.
How does the day – to – day operation go?
Once the products are live, customers would be able to see and place order for your products. On a day-to-day basis, you or your team would need to do the following:
Update the inventory for the registered SKUs on a regular basis. We could help you with this and also with optimizing it.
Process all the orders in all the registered Market places. Our MPM team could take care of this for you Download all the packaging and shipping labels from the different platforms. We could take care of this for you
Pack the material in respective packaging material and keep the orders ready to ship. We could train your warehouse team for packing product.
Book the Logistics guy. Our MPM team could take care of this for you
Handover the Products to the shipping guy and take an acknowledgement.
Customer Service & Rating Management is the most important thing as it directly affects your reputation as an online seller. We could assist you in this.
Payment Reconciliation – Knowing what the payment is for, what are the deductions, what is the TDS component? We could take care of this for you
Promotions. We could assist you in taking this decision
How do you Manage inventory?
We work on a smart system that manages inventory optimally.
We ask you a couple of questions, to begin with.
1. Do you want to opt for warehouse services of the platforms (example: Amazon’s FBA; Fulfilled by Amazon)
a. If yes, the question will be how much inventory you would like to block for warehouse services and how much for the regular format
b. If no, the question will be, how much inventory do you have in all
Once we have got this answer, and if you opt for option ‘b’, we will do the following:
1. For example you committed 10 units of product1 and Product 1 is listed o Flipkart, Snapdeal, Shopclues, Amazon and PayTM
2. The inventory on all the portals will be updated as ‘10’
3. Now, let’s say, you receive an order of 1 unit from Snapdeal, in this case, the system will change the inventory to ‘9’ at all the Portals
4. The moment all 10 units are sold, it will update it as per, leaving no chance for any customer backorder
This way, you make optimum use of the available inventory as well as escape any situation where you have to cancel a customer order. In case, you opt for Option ‘a’, the same process will be repeated for all the portals where you are not opting for ‘warehouse services’. For the remaining portals, out MPM team manages it for you
So in any case, with us, you do not only optimize the inventory on hand, but also ensure that the customer doesn’t have any untoward experience as well.
How many days do you make products live in?
We share a basic format that contains the basic details about the products you want to make live. Once we have the duly filled sheet back, along with images (renamed as SKU codes), we shall take 2 Working days to make the content sheets of all the formats. Once these are ready, our Account manager shall raise and send you the invoice. The moment the invoice is cleared and paid for, we upload the content sheets/ send you a set Mail format, along with the content sheets, that you have got to forward to (Snapdeal, Shopclues, PayTM
Is photography charges included in your marketplace charges?
We have 3 Services that you could opt from:
1. MPM (Market Place Management)
2. Photo shoot Management
3. Catalogue Management
You could opt for any of the above services independently or in packages. If you opt for 2 or more services together, we offer ‘Packaged Solutions’ with subsidized rates.
What about the packaging material?
Packaging is a very important aspect of
The Packaging material are easily available online. Out MPM champs could order the required one for you.
We also impart training to your Logistic team on how they should go about packing the products, where to place the invoice and where to stick the shipping label.
The Packaging Material you choose depends upon:
1. Which category/ products are you dealing with:
If the products are electronics, premium lifestyle products or breakable, we would suggest Air bags or bubble wraps for the internal packaging and corrugated cardboard boxes for the outer packaging. This is required to avoid any in-transit damage to the products.
We assist our clients in choosing/ developing the packaging solutions that suits their needs
2. Your Brand image
Yes, packaging is your Brand’s first physical touch experience with the customer it reflects what your Brand stands for You could see a few videos of ‘Trunk Club’ on youtube, which has used packaging as a unique tool to attract new customers and continuously fascinate the existing ones
3. Your Budget
But we would always advice our clients to although not to go overboard, but invest a little bit on packaging as it does good to their brand and seller ratings
Do you guys manage FBA accounts also?
Yes, we do manage FBA Accounts as well.
Does you reports contain how much VAT and CST needs to be paid?
Yes. Our reports gives order-by-order, complete overview of each and every transaction, including the basic rates, taxes, portal’s commission, all deductions (logistic charges etc.).
Will I get an account manager for my account?
Yes. Our reports gives order-by-order, complete overview of each and every transaction, including the basic rates, taxes, portal’s commission, all deductions (logistic charges etc.).
What will be my role in managing the business?
Firstly, it is important to treat the ‘Online Business’ as a separate SBU or Profit centre. It might sound easy, but it is competitive and comes with its own set of challenges.
Now coming to your role in managing the business, let’s understand it this way:
While we take care of the entire back-end operational hassles, share reports with you and assist you in taking the decisions; the strategic decisions are for you to take. The Decisions may range from ‘which new portals can we capitalize on’ and ‘which new products/ categories to introduce to fuel Growth’ to ‘which categories/ products to continue/ discontinue’ too keep this channel profitable and sustainable for your business
What about the logistics tie up?
For most of the locations/ pincodes, the Marketplaces/ Platforms have their own Logistic tie-ups in place. For every order, the Logistic guy need to be booked online on seller dashboards. In this case, our MPM champs do this for you as well. In case, the customer is located at a place where the portals’ logistic services are not available, we have our own tie-ups with Logistic companies. For such orders also, our MPM champs book these partners’ services for you.
Do you sell through your warehouse?
We are a service based, e-commerce solutions organisation. We do not have any Distribution centres or Warehouses. But yes, if required, we do train our client’s Logistic/ warehouse/ Godown team in Packaging or dispatches.
Can we implement delivery charges on our products?
Well, it depends… Platform by platform, category by category and depending upon the price point.
In Amazon, there are 2 options in the way you could deal at Amazon:
1. FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon):
It’s when you block certain inventory at Amazon’s warehouse. Here, you could not charge the customers for delivery and the delivery charges would be passed on to you. But Amazon might decide to charge the customer for delivery and still pass on the delivery charges to you.
2. MFN (Merchant Fulfilled Network):
Here, the Merchant uses the network of Logistic service, Easy ship provided by the Market places and has the choice whether to charge the customer for deliveries or absorb the cost.
In Flipkart, again there are 2 options:
1. FA (Flipkart Advantage):
Here, the Seller blocks the inventory at Flipkart warehouses and does not have an option to charge the customer for the delivery charges
2. Non-FA:
Here, you utilize the Flipkart’s logistic network. e-kart, and have the choice to charge the end-customer for the logistic or absorb the charges yourself
In Snapdeal, Merchants/ Sellers cannot charge for delivery. In other portals/ Marketplaces, the Seller has a choice to charge or absorb the delivery charges. The another point to remember is, the Logistic networks of the Marketplace, though cover a great deal of pincodes, but do not cover the country 100%. In case, someone places an order from the ‘un-catered pincodes’, we have our own logistic tie-ups, where we again assist you with bookings. Here you have complete freedom of choice on whether it makes sense to charge the customers for the logistic cost or absorb it. Price points A few things that should be considered while deciding to charge for deliveries: 1. Hope the delivery charges are not exceeding the product cost. How would you feel, if you buy a mobile cover for 60 RS and are charged Rs. 100 for delivery?
Delivery zones
Amazon and Flipkart give you the flexibility to choose to charge separately for Local, Zonal and National deliveries. For example, if you are Seller based ay Mumbai. You could set the delivery charges for deliveries in Meerut but can choose to deliver for free, if the order location is in Mumbai.