How to create a winning multichannel eCommerce strategy
By 2025, global eCommerce sales are forecasted to exceed $4.3 trillion, with continued growth anticipated in the years to follow.
Today’s shoppers engage with brands across multiple platforms—marketplaces, social media, direct-to-consumer websites, mobile apps, etc.—and expect seamless experiences regardless of where they make their purchase.
By meeting customers where they are, businesses can drive sales and consumer satisfaction in an increasingly competitive market.
Here, we explore the key steps for developing a successful multichannel eCommerce strategy and ensuring long-term growth.
What is multichannel eCommerce?
Multichannel eCommerce refers to the practice of selling products or services across multiple online channels, including on your own direct-to-consumer website, on other online retailers’ sites, on marketplaces, through social commerce and more.
By leveraging more than one channel, businesses can boost online presence and awareness, attract a wider range of customers and generate more sales than they could through a single channel alone.
Simply put, it’s about meeting customers where they are.
Benefits of multichannel eCommerce
Multichannel selling has become a critical factor in a brand’s success. Here are the main benefits of this strategy:
Expanded reach: Diversifying sales channels increases visibility and gives access to different, wider customer bases.
Increased sales: According to Mirakl data, leading brands that operate on three or more marketplaces see a 104% average GMV growth rate.
Optimized customer journey: Offering a variety of channels ensures a seamless shopping experience, from browsing to checkout.
Revenue stream redundancy: Relying on just one platform is risky. Multichannel selling spreads your risk across different streams, ensuring stable income even if one channel underperforms.
Embracing a multichannel strategy is now essential for staying competitive in today’s market. Let’s explore some of the best practices to successfully implement this approach.
Tips for a successful multichannel eCommerce strategy
1. Research and analyze market insights
For a successful multichannel strategy, take some time to research and analyze the most important market insights available:
Emerging market trends: 2025 eCommerce trends, such as the rise of personalized product recommendations from AI agents and voice commerce, are changing how consumers shop. Staying up to date on trends like these can help inform the kinds of early investments that lead to long-term competitive advantages.
Know your audience: Gain deeper insights into your audience by analyzing data on customer demographics and behaviors across each channel. Use this information to better understand your customers and identify your top-performing and underperforming products. This insight will help you determine where to focus your efforts for maximum impact.
Competitor analysis: Study your competitors’ strategies to identify what works and gaps you can exploit. Niche brands often emerge by filling the holes left by larger players.
2. Choose the right sales channels
Not all sales channels are relevant for your business depending on how and where your customers shop. For example, if your target audience is seniors, TikTok Shop may not be the ideal platform as it is predominantly used by younger demographics.
Here’s how to evaluate your options:
Marketplaces: Marketplaces are eCommerce websites that bring together inventory from different sellers in one place. One of the most famous marketplaces in the world is Amazon, but retailers of all sizes—including Best Buy, Macy’s, Ulta, and Sysco, to name a few—can operate their own platform. Selling on a marketplace might make sense for your brand, for example, if the products you offer align with the wants and needs of a given marketplace audience. If you're selling computer parts or mobile accessories, you might want to sell on an electronics marketplace or general merchandise marketplace.
Direct sales channels: Direct sales is when brands sell their products directly to consumers, without third-party intermediaries. eCommerce platforms allow brands to maintain complete control over the customer journey. In today’s competitive landscape, these sales channels require significant investment in acquisition to attract customers. If you’re prepared to invest in marketing and plan on building a strong relationship with your customers, launching your own D2C website could be an effective strategy.
Social commerce platforms: Social commerce platforms are social media sites that integrate shopping functionality directly into the user experience. They are becoming powerful sales tools, enabling brands to connect with highly engaged audiences and provide a seamless shopping journey where customers can make purchases directly within the platform. For example, if your target audience is between 18 and 35, you might consider selling on social channels like Instagram and TikTok.
3. Build a seamless omnichannel experience
Consistency is key when selling across channels. Customers expect cohesive branding and experiences, regardless of where they shop.
Unified branding: Ensure your logos, imagery, messaging and voice are consistent across platforms.
Synchronize online and offline: If you have brick-and-mortar stores, integrate them with your digital counterparts to enable options like in-store pickup or returns.
Centralized inventory management: Use digital tools to prevent discrepancies in stock levels between channels.
4. Leverage technology and automation
Best-in-class channel management platforms, like Mirakl Connect, empower brands to optimize workflows and boost efficiency through advanced AI-powered technology.
Here are key features to consider when selecting a tool:
Product catalog onboarding: to automate the transformation of your product data and meet the requirements of each channel
Real-time synchronization of data, inventory and pricing: to avoid order discrepancies and risk cancellations
Order and fulfillment management: to centralize your orders across all platforms for more efficiency
5. Measure and optimize performance
To foster long-term growth, you need to constantly analyze performance and adapt your strategy.
Key metrics to track:
Channel profitability: measures the total revenue generated from a channel minus all associated costs, helping you determine which channels deliver the best return on investment.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): measures the total cost required to acquire a new customer, helping you understand the cost-effectiveness of your customer acquisition efforts in each channel.
Lifetime value (LTV): measures how much revenue a customer generates over their entire relationship with your business, helping you determine appropriate acquisition spending and identify your most valuable customer segments.
Conversion rates: measures the percentage of shoppers who turn into customers, helping you evaluate how effective your channel is at transforming browsers into buyers.
Regular optimization: Use data-driven insights to identify underperforming channels, tweak marketing efforts and update content. For example, if you’re selling on three channels and one is costing more to operate than the revenue it generates, it may be more strategic to shift your focus to the other two channels.
6. Stay agile and prepared
The eCommerce space can be unpredictable, as global trade wars have shown, and so adaptability comes at a premium.
As such, a successful multichannel selling strategy requires a degree of flexibility and challenge anticipation.
Moving forward with your multichannel eCommerce strategy
Developing a successful multichannel eCommerce strategy might seem overwhelming, but with a structured approach and consistent optimization, the right strategy can position your business for long-term growth.
Start with a focused approach by mastering one channel before expanding, ensuring each new addition integrates seamlessly with your existing operations. As your capabilities grow, you can strategically scale your multichannel presence to reach new customers while maintaining operational efficiency across all touch points.
Discover how a fashion brand drove 80% of its GMV through an effective multichannel strategy.
Download the Rokka & Rolla case study, here.
