Before the predominance of eCommerce, many small brands relied on brick-and-mortar stores to get their product out there. With software and communication making it easy for just about anybody to sell anything, small brands have a lot more options on the table. In a sense, the landscape for small businesses with products to sell is worthy of optimism. While retailers fret about Amazon cutting into their businesses, small businesses with products to sell are learning to leverage Amazon in conjunction with other sales channels, and benefit from these options. It’s now possible for anyone to find the best credit card processing company, customer relationship management, and more.
Meanwhile, a lot of retailers—thanks in large part to the pressures they face from competing with Amazon—are unfortunately offering less and worse options for retailers. It makes perfect sense that we’re seeing a lot of smaller businesses offering their products online themselves, whether that’s on their own eCommerce website, Amazon, eBay, or likely, all these channels simultaneously, and more.
There is a wide range of tools at the disposal of the business who is looking to be independent in the way they sell:
Everything comes down to getting paid. You’ll want to find a processor whose rates and fees are a good fit for you, but you’ll also want to ensure that the service meets your expectations and needs. Variables such as how frequently money is deposited into your account can make a big difference in what the is for your business.
Once a tough barrier of entry for businesses who wanted to ship their products, fulfillment services like ShipStation are making it easier than ever to fulfill shipments, and just as importantly, to keep track of the whole process and understand just what is going on.
The flexibility and openness of your solutions is a crucial practicality for businesses that are relying on software as a service (SaaS) to sell. The reason that it’s so easy for small businesses to sell across so many channels is for the obvious reason that there are so many software solutions out there for businesses to choose from. You could have a platform for customer relationship management, accounting, inventory, shipping, and even more. The most important thing is to ensure that the interaction between the solutions you use is making your life easier, not harder.
Moolah, in our effort to be the best credit card processing company for sellers of all types, runs by these principles. We work to be open, simple to work with, and attentive to the needs of busy business people. If you feel you can get by without selling in retail stores, you’re probably right.