Shipium Framework

Go omni channel sooner than later: Add new channels if you are a brand, or new SKUs if you are a retailer

Written by Kris Gösser | Apr 1, 2010 9:14:00 PM

Young companies rightfully prioritize growth over everything. Hard to meaningfully optimize costs and performance if there isn't a lot of volume, isn't it?

Marketing has a key role in this primary objective, which is what every blog on the internet talks about. Brand building, social marketing, ad buying, and so on.

That's not what we are good at or what this guide is about. We focus on operations, which can play a role with major growth initiatives, too.

A new brand/product company probably won't expand the portfolio yet. But it does make sense to diversify channels. This is a contentious topic because some voices claim the importance of focus and owning your channel beats everything else. While that can sometimes be true, we have more consistently seen that young brands take too long to branch out to other channels. This means selling on Amazon/Walmart/Target marketplaces, securing omni channel distribution via big box stores, and so on.

But that's hard! Not only is there the margin hit, but ops now needs to harmonize fulfillment across multiple channels, deal with conflicting demand and availability, and many more constraints.

Because you are still using a 3PL at this stage, chances are your partner can help shoulder a lot of the burden. Consider leaning on them.