Wolf&Grayson EditorialMulti-channel commerce is most often a race for reach, a scramble to appear on every platform where customers might be browsing, searching, or scrolling. For many organizations, the instinct is to expand quickly and chase incremental visibility wherever it can be found.
“A lot of brands are concerned about cannibalization of their core business, but not everything has to go to every marketplace channel,” says Chas Fox, CEO of Micro-Mark. For Fox, an e-commerce expert, multi-channel commerce is a disciplined exercise in strategy, economics, and recalibration. The real opportunity lies in understanding what each channel is designed to do and building a model that serves that purpose without eroding margin or brand equity.
Rethinking the Multi-Channel Mandate
Multi-channel commerce is the coordinated sale of products across a brand’s direct website, online marketplaces, and emerging digital platforms, all managed as part of a single commercial strategy. In practice, that coordination demands far more than simply listing products in more places. It requires clear decisions about assortment, pricing, fulfillment, and long-term brand positioning.
Brands with distinctive assortments have more control than they assume. They can decide which products belong on which platforms and how those products are positioned. Some items thrive in a direct environment where service, education, and loyalty programs matter. Others perform better in high-traffic marketplaces where convenience and discovery drive purchasing behavior. “Some products might work better in the marketplace channel than in the core business,” Fox says, and that insight comes from testing, measuring, and refining.
Start Small, Test Intelligently
For companies entering marketplaces such as Amazon, Fox advocates a measured approach. Before committing inventory to large fulfillment programs, he recommends starting with seller-fulfilled listings to limit upfront expense. “If it sells, great. If it doesn’t, you know better,” he says.
Once a product demonstrates demand, shifting to Fulfillment by Amazon can improve delivery speed and algorithmic visibility. But Fox cautions against viewing testing as a one-time experiment. “It’s not test it and forget it. It’s constant examination.” Competitive dynamics, fee structures, and advertising costs evolve quickly. What worked last quarter may not hold next quarter. The key is to treat marketplaces as dynamic operating environments. Continuous oversight, paired with a clear hypothesis about each product’s role, reduces risk while creating room for upside.
Strategy Before Exposure
When companies expand across direct eCommerce, marketplaces, and emerging social channels, Fox believes prioritization must begin with intent. Some brands treat marketplaces as exposure engines or loss leaders. Others demand profitability from every channel. Both approaches can work, but only if the economics are explicit.
“You really need to make sure that what Amazon is saying is happening is really happening with the dollars you receive back,” Fox says. Marketplace attribution tools may not always align neatly with actual cash flow. Fees, shipping costs, and fluctuating advertising rates can erode margins in subtle ways.
Understanding true cost per channel is foundational. Once product costs and channel expenses are clear, leaders can calculate return on ad spend and determine whether a given product should scale, hold, or exit a platform. Advertising, in particular, requires vigilance. As competition increases, costs can shift rapidly, altering the viability of an entire assortment.
Organizational structure plays a role as well. In smaller companies, one individual may oversee advertising, inventory, and analytics. Larger enterprises may divide those responsibilities across specialized teams. The common denominator is accountability. “Someone must own the math,” explains Fox.
Designing for Channel Loyalty
Conversion drivers differ dramatically between direct and marketplace environments. Direct customers return because they value price, product assortment, service, or a combination of all three. Marketplace shoppers, by contrast, are loyal primarily to the platform. “The loyalty is to the channel, not the product,” Fox says. Customers frequent Amazon or Walmart because they prefer the user experience and convenience those ecosystems provide. Brands can convert some of those buyers into direct customers, but the numbers are rarely transformative unless the product itself is unique.
Distinctive product development becomes a strategic lever. Fox calls new product development his “secret sauce.” By continuously scanning for unmet demand in both core and marketplace channels, companies can introduce differentiated offerings that justify attention and, occasionally, migration to a direct relationship.
Scaling Without Multiplying Complexity
As multi-channel operations grow, complexity can spiral. Fox reduces the challenge to three imperatives: define the strategy for each channel, understand every cost embedded in that channel, and align advertising investment with targeted margins. Product-level decisions matter. If a company can sell all available inventory through its direct channel at a premium margin, placing that item on a marketplace may dilute profitability. Conversely, certain products may benefit from broader distribution, increasing volume and potentially lowering supply chain costs.
Competition adds another layer of volatility. “It can completely ruin a product and just go from selling thousands a week to very little,” Fox says. The reverse can also occur when competitors exit, creating pricing power and volume surges. Sustained success requires constant assessment and adequate inventory to capitalize on opportunity.
For Fox, multi-channel commerce is less about expansion for its own sake and more about disciplined orchestration. Each platform serves a purpose. Each product has a role. Leaders who understand both can build digital commerce ecosystems that grow without sacrificing control.
Follow Chas Fox on LinkedIn or visit his website for more insights.
