Commercial integration for retail stores, manufacturers and distributors

The bindCommerce services are aimed at all companies that need to sell products through multiple channels: we refer both to companies that carry out retail sales, and to producers and distributors.

For the latter named bindCommerce allows you to automate the commercial dialogue with your sales network (traditional and online), and also with end consumers. Let's take a closer look at these additions.

The ERP

The first node to consider in the business integration activity for a production / distribution company is the ERP. bindCommerce is potentially able to communicate with any open management platform (which has the possibility of carrying out data import / export activities). The dialogue with the ERP can be set in two directions:

ERP makes the products available to the sales network
the ERP acquires orders from the commercial network

After bindCommerce has acquired the products, it will be able to "distribute" them through pre-established rules to the commercial network, and from each node of this network, acquire the orders to be imported on the ERP.

The management platforms with which bindCommerce already communicates are the following: Intuit QuickBooks, Giobby, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, SAP, and some italian ones.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

The products can be published on one or more eCommerce sites, or even simple online catalogs. In bindCommerce it will be possible to decide which products to publish on which sites.

The company could manage multiple sites on its own, with publication rules also very articulated (for example to publish on the site A the products of some product categories, on the site B the stocks running out, and on the site C only the products reserved for a given group of dealers, with a different price list).

In the same way, the manufacturer / distributor could publish (and keep up to date) its products on the websites of partner companies (e.g. resellers).

The development of the integrations offered by bindCommerce is concentrated on the most widespread eCommerce platforms, and in particular the open source ones. Interfaces to Joomla / VirtueMart (versions 1, 2 and 3) and PrestaShop (versions 1.5.x and 1.6.x), Wordpress / Woocommerce, Magento, OsCommerce, Shopify and OpenCart are now available.

Marketplace: eBay, Amazon, Spartoo and other futures

Marketplaces represent market opportunities that cannot be ignored, given the high number of contacts (and therefore potential sales) that these are able to generate.

eBay - not just a market to sell used products

Those who do not know eBay often mistake it to associate it with a market where used products are sold at auction (while today 75% of purchases are at a fixed price). Since he was born (in 1995) he has started to move more and more impressive numbers, and here are some updated statistics:

75% of purchases are at a fixed price (not auctioned)
182 million active buyers globally
Over 1.3 billion listings
20.5 billion dollars is the total value of the goods sold on eBay in Q1 2014, with a growth of 12% compared to the same period last year
60% of eBay Marketplaces turnover comes from countries outside the US
Worldwide, there are 25 million professional sellers on eBay
Example: the Italian market (eBay.it):
Online since January 15, 2001
Over 4 million active buyers (internal source)
Over 7,000 categories
Currently, the categories in which the largest number of purchases are made are: Technology; Home, DIY Furniture; Clothing and Accessories

In 2013, 60 items were sold on eBay.it every minute. The average sales were:

1 consumer electronics item every 2 seconds
1 piece of furniture and DIY every 5 seconds
1 article of clothing every 8 seconds
1 computer or components every 10 seconds
1 beauty and health product every 15 seconds
1 auto parts item every 30 seconds
1 book every 30 seconds
1 video game or console every 30 seconds
1 appliance every 45 seconds
1 pair of shoes every 60 seconds
1 mobile phone / smartphone every 60 seconds
1 film/DVD every 60 seconds
1 wrist watch every 80 seconds
1 childhood or maternity item every 120 seconds
1 headlight or arrow per car every 120 seconds
1 mp3 player every 300 seconds (5 minutes)
1 iPad / tablet every 420 seconds (7 minutes)

The costs to be considered to sell professionally on eBay are as follows: a monthly fee of € 33.91 + VAT and a sales commission which is on average equal to 8.7%, to which the PayPal commission on the total transaction must be added, including shipping costs, which starts from 3.4% + € 0.35 per operation, therefore the variable cost is approximately equal to 14%

The aforementioned fixed rate of the Premium store allows you to put on sale on 5 European marketplaces (Italy, France, Spain, Belgium and Holland). The 2 most interesting European markets remained outside this subscription: UK and Germany; to sell in these countries it is possible to go to the Premium Plus shop (€ 260.83 / month), or pay the individual listings (on average 5 € cents per listing per month).

Rif. http://pages.ebay.it/help/sell/businessfees.html

Amazon

Amazon was among the first large companies to sell goods on the Internet (since 1994), and in Italy Amazon.it made its online debut in November 2010.
In addition to selling directly (with logistics sorting centers in the main European countries), Amazon is also a marketplace, allowing professional sellers to use its highly visited showcase.

We do not have a structured statistic regarding sales on Amazon, but it is interesting to read a press release released in December 2012: the Americans say that the day the most orders were placed was November 26, with 26.5 million products sold in twenty-four hours, that is 306 orders per second!

The costs to be considered for selling professionally on Amazon are as follows: a monthly fee of € 39.00 + VAT and a commission on sales which is on average equal to 12% (calculated on the price of the asset including shipping costs), therefore the actual variable cost is higher, and for goods of not high value (where shipping has a big impact) it exceeds 15%.

The monthly fee allows the sale on the markets: Italy, France, Germany, France and UK.

Unlike what happens on eBay, the collection on Amazon is managed by Amazon, and turned over to the seller every 15 days.

Rif. http://services.amazon.it/servizi/vendere-online/piani-e-tariffe-pro.html

Spartoo

Spartoo is a relatively new player on the marketplace market, but it is establishing itself with great success in its sector: footwear and fashion accessories.
Like Amazon, Spartoo also started as an independent seller, and subsequently expanded its operations, becoming a marketplace.
Some numbers on Spartoo:

More than 180 collaborators
30 000 square meters of warehouse
A presence in more than 20 countries including France, Germany, England, Italy and Spain
More than 1500 brands and 100 000 models
More than one million pairs of shoes in stock
Traffic of more than 14 million views in a single month in Europe

The costs to be considered for selling professionally on Spartoo are not published on the site, but are still in line with those of the competing marketplaces.

Rif. http://www.spartoo.it/marketplace_mentions.php

Active dropshipping - your products to a network of online sellers

Manufacturers and distributors can take advantage of bindCommerce to make their product catalog available to their partners who intend to make online and offline sales without having their own warehouse, or having a smaller warehouse.

bindCommerce will take care of making technically usable an always updated file that partners can import on their systems, and from here on their Internet sites or marketplaces (perhaps always thanks to bindCommerce!).

0 of 5 - 0 votes

Thank you for rating this article.