Never Too Early For Holiday Season Prep
BOSTON – The excitement (and stress) of Prime Day is over, and for many the post mortem has begun. Some sellers know they could have done more to prepare, and diligent business development in advance of the holiday season can make all the difference.
Prosper exhibitors such as Mirakl, with joint headquarters in Paris and Boston, can aid in that development while streamlining technical onboarding and growing revenue by selling through multiple marketplaces. Sabreena Khan, director of Seller Recruitment at Mirakl has seen what can be done with the right approach. Prosper sat down with Khan to learn more about sustainable ways to grow the business—during the holiday and season and out of it.
Prosper: What should sellers be doing right now to prepare for the holiday season?
Khan: Take the multi-marketplace approach—and I’m not just talking about Amazon, Walmart, and Target. There are hundreds of marketplaces in the U.S. alone operated by retailers like Dia & Co., Express, Kohl’s, and Macy’s, and they are looking to partner with sellers to round out their assortment in core or adjacent categories.
Think of a department store looking to offer more options for bedding or at-home exercise equipment, or a fashion retailer that wants to offer higher-end shoes and accessories. There’s still time to onboard onto new marketplaces ahead of the holiday season through Mirakl Connect. On average, our sellers onboard five times faster and sell on seven Mirakl-powered Marketplaces. It’s a great time to start expanding.
Prosper: What’s the key to sustainable growth?
Khan: There’s no single-day or single-week “golden ticket” for growth—Prime Day or otherwise. You hear a lot about social media tips and tricks, expanding advertising budgets, and coupons on top of discounts. The more sustainable way to grow, especially during high-traffic sales periods, is to grow with new channels. That’s why we’re seeing two-thirds of marketplace sellers expanding onto more marketplace and dropship platforms in 2023.
You need to first identify the right marketplaces to expand into so that you can reach more shoppers on more websites. To make sure you can really take advantage of those new channels, ensure that you have the right technology. This can be done with the APIs and pre-built integrators that match your operations, to help you manage the daily operations for all of those marketplaces. That’s the vision behind Mirakl Connect. It’s a much more efficient way to grow.
Prosper: What are the biggest problems that sellers are now encountering with their third-party marketplace and drop-ship business?
Khan: Right now, diversification is the name of the game in the marketplace and dropship selling. More channels means greater reach and greater sales—plus, nobody wants the risk of having all of their business coming from a single retailer. However, diversifying isn’t easy.
It’s challenging to understand which marketplaces will get you the best return on investment, especially once you look beyond Amazon, Target, or Walmart. At Mirakl, we understand this is a huge challenge for sellers, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach when you’re expanding your marketplace channels. Mirakl Connect simplifies this search for new channels by helping each seller find and evaluate the right marketplaces from its network of 350+ marketplaces globally.
Prosper: What are the products/services that Mirakl provides?
Khan: Mirakl is a global SaaS technology with a suite of solutions that includes Mirakl Connect, an ecosystem that enables marketplace sellers and brands to accelerate business development, streamline technical onboarding, and grow revenue by selling on multiple marketplaces. Companies like Airbus, Express, Kroger, Macy’s, Madewell, and Shop Premium Outlets choose Mirakl to manage their platform business and accelerate time to launch with Mirakl Connect’s network of sellers and partners.
Prosper: What’s your level of optimism for the remainder of the year?
Khan: There is a huge amount of upside for businesses selling on marketplaces right now. Mirakl data shows that marketplaces and dropship sales are growing six times faster than the rate of eCommerce overall, and a big reason is that consumers prefer marketplaces. They like the variety, the great prices, and the overall experience. No matter what happens in the economy, that isn’t going to change any time soon.
Prosper: How was your experience at Prosper 2023?
Khan: We first attended Prosper two years ago when we had a speaking opportunity, and the feedback from the session was great. We heard from so many sellers interested in joining Mirakl Connect to grow their multi-marketplace business. Knowing that the interest was there, we decided to make an even bigger investment this year. It’s an amazing opportunity to get closer to marketplace sellers, understand their needs and goals for 2023, and work with them to help boost their online sales—both by selling on U.S. marketplaces and growing internationally with European marketplaces like Galeries Lafayette, Leroy Merlin, and Decathlon.
Prosper: What were the main concerns among attendees who visited your booth?
Khan: Every marketplace seller we talked with was interested in expanding their sales beyond the digital-giant online platforms, but many of them don’t know where to start. For example, if you’ve only ever sold through Amazon, it can be hard to know where to start when you’re thinking about exploring other marketplaces. Even if you have a few in mind, you might not know who to talk with to get started, how the requirements and guidelines differ from what you’re used to, and how it will integrate with your existing setup. That’s a big part of what Mirakl Connect does; We partner with sellers to support that discovery process, and come with a lot of insights about the marketplaces on Connect and which ones match the sellers’ ambitions. We also have a strong ecosystem of partners and connectors with the most popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Adobe Magento, and Bigcommerce—all can help sellers build that bridge and connect with new opportunities.
Prosper: What’s the customer experience with these multiple marketplaces?
Khan: That ranges from things like consistent product information and images to efficient order processing and customer service. Overcoming these challenges to build a multi-marketplace business doesn’t have to be difficult, especially with Mirakl Connect.
Prosper: Why are in-person trade shows like Prosper still important in today’s world?
Khan: There’s no substitute for the face-to-face conversations you get at shows like Prosper—exchanging ideas, sharing best practices, talking about strategies for growth. That’s particularly true if you’re trying to navigate the complicated and not-always-transparent world of marketplace selling.
Shows like Prosper are great because we’re able to show exactly where we fit into the ecosystem of retail and marketplace selling. The tradeshow floor makes it much easier for sellers and retailers to connect the dots. They already understand the value that Mirakl Connect brings by the time they arrive at our booth. It’s really fulfilling to connect with people and help solve for their needs.
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