There is no need to have a business running on the side for each and every sales channel if you want to get your products before more shoppers; integrate your own store with Australian marketplaces instead. The sensible way to go about it is to make a connection between your website and the marketplaces of your choosing so that you can centralise the product catalogue, have inventory and orders sync to a single workflow.
Tristan Farrow here. You do not have to be in hospitality operations long to appreciate that an error will not remain small. An order is oversold because of a stock update that was not made, then late off the dispatch desk and the customer has three friends to tell of it. In this guide I lay out what is involved in integrating with an Australian marketplace in straightforward terms: the tools, the cost, fulfilment options and the pitfalls that ensnare some businesses.
Put a Solid Foundation in Place
Your online store ought to be the source of truth from which the marketplaces are fed with correct stock, price and product data. This is the basis of an Adelaide e-commerce platform integration. From there, any orders or updates from customers are channeled into one order management process.
Do some housekeeping on the catalogue first. Look over the photographs, barcodes, dimensions, weights, GST treatment, names and descriptions. Integration software is no help with disorganised data, it will only serve to spread it around at speed.
Preparation of the Catalogue
Every item should have a uniform record. Assign an SKU to each variation you sell, be it by colour or size. Do not tuck away key details in a lengthy description but put product attributes where they belong in their own field.
Have rules in place for stock buffers, shipping and sale periods. A buffer is to cover for warehouse hiccups or to put aside a few units for the physical shop. Say your system shows 20 in stock and you reserve two; 18 is what the marketplaces should see.
Then there is category mapping. What is “Homewares” in your store might call for a more precise classification on the marketplace. Get it wrong and you risk a moderation issue or your listings will not be found.
Determine a Single Point of Authority for Stock
Be it an ERP, a warehouse platform, BigCommerce, WooCommerce or Shopify, pick one to have control of inventory. Manual edits in multiple locations are a puzzle you will have to put together each morning.
“Real time” is relative; it is a matter of internet access, the marketplace and the connection. Put it to the test and see how fast a sale on one end depletes stock on the other. If there is a lag of a few minutes, allow for it with a buffer on quick sellers.
Selecting Sales Channels
Not every channel is necessary. Some Australian marketplaces have their own compliance and fulfilment demands and cater to a different type of shopper. Find the ones that suit your products and where your team can do the job and your margins hold up.
You might as well begin with a couple of marketplaces and get the workflow down before you put a big catalogue on ten different channels and find a missing attribute has put half your listings out of commission.
An Overview of Options
| Channel | Suitable For | What to consider |
|---|---|---|
| eBay Australia | Collectables, electronics, parts and the like, as well as general merchandise | Keep an eye on listing structure and seller performance for accurate shipping |
| Amazon Australia | Where you have repeat demand and good catalogue data on standardised items | Margins will be impacted by FBA and referral fees |
| Kogan | Price sensitive buyers and certain consumer goods | Whether the product is a fit and you can get approval |
| Catch and MyDeal | Household and general lines | Review the commercial terms and speed of fulfilment |
| Bunnings MarketLink | Home improvement and such | Reliability of supply and the information you provide |
| Temple & Webster | Furniture and homewares | Profitability may hinge on freight costs and delivery |
| THE ICONIC | Lifestyle and fashion | Imagery, returns and sizing require some oversight |
| Myer, Woolworths MarketPlus, Everyday Market, Big W, Baby Bunting | Brands and products of a particular category | Access and what is expected in the way of fulfilment |
Consider the table above a point of departure rather than an assurance. Onboarding and integration can be subject to change, as are the commercial arrangements. Verify the seller requirements of any channel you plan to put resources into.
Making the Link with eBay Australia
For an eBay Australia connection you want an integration capable of handling everything from postage and cancellations to variation data and stock. Make sure of one thing: whether the tool is able to put new listings in place or is limited to synchronising the old ones.
There is a certain flexibility to eBay that comes in handy with products that would not be at home in a more rigid catalogue. One has to accept, however, that such latitude can lead to the odd inconsistent title or postage surprise and missing specifics. Mitigate this with a clear return policy, a listing template and standard dispatch times.
Connect To Amazon Australia
In making an online store connection with Amazon Australia one should be meticulous about product identifiers, brand data and category attributes as well as matching the catalogue. The platform is most accommodating when your items have the right global trade item numbers or are an accurate match for what is on record.
Then there is FBA. Fulfilment by Amazon will take some of the strain off dispatch but it alters the stock and cost dynamic. Replenishment, storage, returns and any stock you put in their hands away from your warehouse have to be factored in. It is a fulfilment option, not some sort of magic wand with a barcode on it.
Suitable Integration Software
The purpose of marketplace integration software is to make exceptions stand out and put an end to repetitive tasks while ensuring stock accuracy. Not to put yet another dashboard in front of someone to be left unheeded.
Find out if the tool is compatible with your store platform, accounting needs, the marketplaces you want to reach, your preferred carrier and how the warehouse operates. For an Adelaide e-commerce business looking to integrate, local support hours and the like could be a deciding factor.
A Look At Common Tools
Omnivore is known for its multi-channel ecommerce Australia workflow and will link an online store to the right marketplaces. A retailer of some size or complexity might turn to ChannelAdvisor or Rithum for the wider scope of rules and reporting their channel management demands.
Anchanto is an option for those with more demanding logistics and warehouse needs. Or build the store on Shopify, BigCommerce or WooCommerce and add in the sales channels via an app or external connector.
Do not be swayed by the brand name, compare the connector itself. Capabilities are subject to the plan and the region. See if it can do two-way order synchronisation, handle partial refunds, split shipments, bundles and variations, reserve stock and keep an error log.
Put It To The Test
Before scaling up, do a controlled test on a handful of products. Make sure you have a simple one, a variation, something on sale and a product of unusual dimensions. Go through the whole process: from putting up the listing to payment, stock being taken, picking and dispatching, tracking and refunding.
See what transpires when an item is sold on your store and then on a marketplace. Put an out-of-stock or cancelled order through the system. You will learn more from that than a slick demonstration from a salesman.
Orders And Shipping
An integration of any worth does not just tie together stock figures and titles; it is the link in the daily routine that sees the customer get what they ordered on time.
You have four jobs to see done: publish the product, put inventory in order, take the orders and fulfil them. Should one of them go wrong without a sound, the customer will hold your business to account for it.
Catalogue And Stock Synchronisation
Let the feed integration put approved data in front of each channel, applying the rules of the channel where necessary. Your own store may have no issue with a title length or image ratio that a marketplace will not countenance.
After a sale, a return, a cancellation or any adjustment in the warehouse the stock must be brought in line. Make it a point to look over any failed updates each day. If a connector has stopped sending them and nobody is the wiser, you will be overselling.
Centralise On Dispatch
Consolidate the orders from the marketplaces into a single queue. The record ought to tell you the channel, the SKU, who the customer is, the delivery service, payment status and when you have said you will dispatch.
Be consistent with shipping profiles. A small parcel is fine with Australia Post but you will want a freighter for bulky furniture. Do not rely on optimistic shelf measurements for delivery costs, use the actual weight and packed size of the box. An extra 5 cm can put it in another price bracket.
Give a realistic handling time for regional routes and islands. Weather, road work and the carrier’s capacity will have their say. An honest estimate is something customers put up with; they are not so understanding when an unfeasible promise is allowed to come to nothing.
Fees GST And Fulfilment
Do not confuse the revenue from a marketplace with profit. Before getting excited over a good report, run the numbers on every channel.
All of it: the product, referral and listing fees from the marketplace, processing, software, packaging, freight, advertising, labour, discounts and returns. Storage and pick-and-pack charges if you are using FBA or some other third party.
The Real Margin
Take a product with a $100.00 selling price (GST inclusive) for instance. Deduct the $42.00 cost of the product, $12.00 in freight and packaging, $15.00 for channel and payment costs and $8.00 for the labour to fulfil it and you are left with $23.00 prior to overheads. Put another way, your contribution is 23% of the $100.00; do not confuse this with a 23% net profit.
The above is by way of illustration, not a fee schedule. You will find marketplace fees vary according to the category, how you fulfil, the service and the seller agreement. It is prudent to examine the terms on each channel before you put a price on something.
Getting GST right
Your accounting records, tax invoices, what the customer sees as the price and reporting to the marketplace can all be impacted by GST. A marketplace connector is not to be relied upon to make the right call on tax for every transaction or product.
In Australia, businesses would do well to put their obligations to the Australian Taxation Office. The ATO has guidance for business which should be your first port of call, though if the volume of sales or your structure makes matters complicated, seek the opinion of a registered tax professional.
Integration failures to avoid
You will not often see a technical catastrophe when an integration goes wrong. More commonly there are minor discrepancies that get replicated over hundreds of listings: an incorrect warehouse location, a sale price that has not been turned off, no barcode.
Have someone take responsibility for the catalogue data and for any operational exceptions. An error queue with no owner is nothing but a museum of good intentions.
Data and mapping
Maintain a mapping document for the relationship between variations, category rules and the fields in your store and the marketplace. Note down the SKU and its corresponding listing or catalogue identifier.
Before you do a bulk upload and overwrite a listing that is working, have a plan to roll back. Export the catalogue as it stands and run some changes through a small batch to verify the stock, images, prices and titles before you put more products out there.
Overselling
This tends to happen with manual sales on another channel, delayed stock updates or inventory in multiple warehouses. For hard to come by products put in a buffer and synchronise the warehouse if you have to.
Should a connector go down, put a hold on the relevant listings. If you cannot fulfil, refund without delay and put forward a sensible alternative to the customer. A straight talk is preferable to telling them a parcel is just around the corner when it has not even been packed.
Multi-channel metrics
Gross sales do not tell the whole story. A channel bringing in $10,000.00 may be the poorer option to one at $4,000.00 once you factor in the advertising, returns and freight. In the beginning review this weekly, then monthly when things have bedded down. Make like-for-like comparisons and distinguish a change in demand from one in the catalogue.
What to track
Along with conversion and average order value, keep an eye on the cancellation and return rates, dispatch time, stock accuracy and any complaints from customers. Also the proportion of orders shipped on time and of listings with full attributes.
Consider this: 200 orders in, 190 dispatched on time gives a 95% rate. Ten cancelled for lack of stock is 5%. Having a base figure keeps the percentages in check.
There are patterns to be found in the numbers. Sales can drop off because of a lack of visibility, or perhaps a price was altered or a stock update did not take and listings were unpublished. Verify the data flow before you overhaul your strategy.
Some questions from Australian retailers
When looking at multi-platform listings these are asked of us. The answers below are short and to the point but in the end the decision is up to your margins, your capacity to fulfil and what the customer expects.
What is the biggest online marketplace?
Hard to say unless you define the measure, be it active buyers, transaction value or website visits. eBay and Amazon Australia are the big general marketplaces but in certain categories a specialist or large retailer will be more so. Go by the market data and how your product fits.
Is reselling illegal?
As a rule no. But you are bound by Australian consumer law and must have accurate descriptions and abide by any safety, labelling or brand restrictions. Counterfeit goods are to be avoided and you should not style yourself an authorised retailer if you are not.
Does ecommerce still make money in Australia?
It can, provided your unit economics and operations are sound. Discounting, high freight and marketplace fees will eat into your margin in no time. Do the sums on the per order contribution before you add a channel or ramp up the traffic.
Where is the demand?
It is dictated by the season, the price and the customer. You will have an easier time with products that have repeat demand and low return rates than with something bulky or custom made. Look at the search and category data before you put stock behind it.
How many marketplaces?
Enough to get in front of the right customer but not so many that you lose control of your orders and service. A sensible place to start for a smaller concern is one marketplace and your own store. Once you can rely on your returns process and order management you can add to it.
Let the integration justify itself
A system that does not mirror the business it is part of is of little use in integrating with the Australian marketplaces. Accurate shipping, one source of stock, tested order flows and an honest view of your margin are what counts, not the number of logos you can display.
Be realistic with your promises and watch the exceptions. It is not as glamorous as a wholesale launch but you will not have your team in the warehouse at six in the evening like sardines, hunting down a parcel that has gone missing.
