Quick Commerce vs Marketplaces vs Your Own Website: Where Should Your Brand Sell This Diwali?

Quick Commerce vs Marketplaces vs Your Own Website: Where Should Your Brand Sell This Diwali?

Diwali is the largest shopping season in India. Customers begin purchasing gifts, sweets, beauty products, clothing, electronics, home decor and other essentials weeks in advance of the festivities. This is a chance for brands to connect with new consumers, drive sales up and establish long-term relationships.

However, one crucial question that every expanding business has to consider – Where will you sell your products this Diwali?

Should you go ahead and sell your products on quick commerce sites such as Blinkit and Zepto? Should you bet on the already popular marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart? Or, should you seek to build your own eCommerce website?

There are advantages and disadvantages to each of the sales channels. Quick commerce is about speed and convenience, markets are about visitors who are looking for a product, and your website allows you to have more control over the customer journey and the way that customers interact with you.

It's not a question of finding more orders – it's about finding the right ones. It's also a matter of knowing your profit margin, as well as your customer acquisition cost, how visible your brand is and how likely you are to have repeat customers.

Let's take a look at these three channels and determine which fits your brand best this Diwali.

Understand the Three Sales Channels

It is essential to familiarize yourself with the workings of each channel and understand the part it plays in your company before you decide on the platform.

Quick Commerce: Responding to the Immediate Demand of Customers Through Selling Products

Quick-commerce platforms like Blinkit, Zepto, and Swiggy Instamart are geared towards speedy delivery.

As the festive season approaches, there may be a need for customers to buy chocolates, snacks, decorations, personal care products, gifts and other items at the last minute during Diwali. These purchases are convenient thanks to quick commerce.

Brands will have access to people who want something delivered quicker than standard shipping.

Blinkit offers a seller onboarding platform that includes product listing, pricing management and seller development tools. In addition, Zepto has a dedicated vendor onboarding portal for brands.

Best suited for:

• Packaged foods, snack foods and beverages.

• Personal care products and cosmetics.

• The essentials for gifting and chocolates.

• Decorations for the home and festival.

• Products which are commonly in demand on a short notice basis.

Brands, however, should take into consideration platform terms, commissions or commercial charges, fulfilment requirements, stock availability and promotional costs before it becomes a part of the platform.

Marketplaces: Connect with Shoppers That Are Already Shopping

Businesses can sell their products on eCommerce platforms like Amazon India and Flipkart.

People go to these marketplaces to look at the product reviews, compare prices, read product reviews, and find festive offers.

This can minimize the time and effort that a new brand needs to allocate to get customers to a totally new website.

Marketplaces are especially ideal for goods that people look around and compare prior to making a purchase, such as electronics, style, house appliances, gift sets.

There are platform rules and selling costs, however, when it comes to marketplace selling. Amazon's official seller fee info, for instance, states applicable charges might incorporate referencing charges, closing charges and shipping charges relying on the classification and fulfilment approach.

Best suited for:

• Electronics and accessories.

• Products of fashion and lifestyle.

• House and kitchen items.

• Personal care and beauty.

• Products that have great customer ratings and interest in their search query.

The problem is that your brand is in the environment of the marketplace. You are not as in control of the shopping experience, customer communication and brand presentation as you would be on your own site.

Your Own Website: Create a Brand Owned Store

An independent eCommerce website provides businesses with a dedicated eCommerce store where the visitors can browse the products, purchase them and communicate directly with the brand.

With the help of platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce, it has become more convenient for businesses to start and operate their online stores.

Your website gives you more control over the design, product pages, promotion, checkout process and communication with your customers, compared to a marketplace.

There are other methods of customer relationships that can be built by using consent-based email marketing, WhatsApp updates, loyalty programmes, and repeat-purchase campaigns.

Best suited for:

• Established D2C brands.

• Retailers that have repeat customers.

• Social media and digital brands that invest in their social media.

• Customised or Premium products businesses.

• Companies that are looking to build brands in the long run.

The most difficult thing is getting visitors. It's important to do SEO, advertising, social media marketing, and other marketing efforts to get traffic to your website.

Quick Commerce vs Marketplaces vs Your Own Website – Comparison

This is because each channel is for a different purpose. The one that's right will be determined by your product, business model, margins and marketing budget.

Please note: Selling costs will differ depending on platform, product type, fulfilment option, location and commercial agreement. The costs of your own website include payment processing, shipping, advertising, maintenance and hosting. Thus, don't consider the order costs just commission.

When Is Quick Commerce More Effective?

If customers require an item to address their immediate needs, quick commerce could be a good choice.

Visualise a customer setting up a Diwali party. They suddenly find they need chocolate, some snacks, decorative lights or some personal care products. They don't want to have to travel to a store, and they might want to order online via a quick-commerce app.

That's where fast commerce will come into your brand's aid.

Consider it when:

• Your products are suitable for immediate consumption or use.

• There is high demand in particular cities/neighbourhoods.

• You will have regular replenishment and on-shelf availability of your products.

• The barriers can cover the commercial expenses of the platform.

• Your company can have inventory and fulfillment needs managed.

Quick commerce, on the other hand, is not guaranteed to be profitable, however. While fast delivery could catch customers' attention, there are still product margins, promotional costs, operations and returns/wastage (if any) to be calculated.

When Is Your Own Website a Priority?

When you want to establish a brand that goes past festive orders, your own website becomes significantly beneficial.

Suppose you are a skincare company selling Diwali Gift hampers. A marketplace can assist in finding the product, whereas a brand's website can give a customer a lot of information about a product, ingredient details, gifting options, product bundles, and create a more personalized shopping experience.

You can use your website to:

• Develop an identifiable brand personality.

• Design personalised holiday landing pages.

• Provide special packages and discounts.

• Gather information from customers, taking consent where necessary.

• Deliver customised content and product information.

• Provide retention programs to drive repeat business.

• Know how to use analytics to understand website traffic and customer behaviour.

The primary need is a flawless shopping experience. Your website should be fast to load, load correctly on mobile, have great payment options and have an easy checkout.

If your website is slow or checkout is difficult, your customers will abandon your site and not purchase.

Hybrid Strategy: Why Brands Should Not Rely on a Single Channel

The best thing to do for many D2C brands, is to not select just a single sales channel. It's about the different applications for various platforms.

With a hybrid approach, businesses can engage customers via quick commerce, marketplaces and their own website without losing brand identity.

A holiday gifting company, for instance, could segment their sales strategy as follows:

This not only provides customer with a variety of purchasing avenues but also decreases reliance on one platform.

But the hybrid approach needs to be well planned. Maintain uniformity in price when necessary, track product movement at all points, and avoid/reduce overly confusing promotions.

How to Get Ideal Customers to Become Loyal Customers

Ordering during Diwali is just the first step. The greater opportunity is getting customers to buy from your brand again after the holidays.

If the customer has a good experience with your product and service, he or she could become a regular customer if the customer purchases a gift hamper today.

Here are some tips on how to get customers to return:

Make the Unboxing Experience Great

Make it special by using appealing packaging, thank-you cards and little information about the brand.

Strengthen Website SEO and Rankings

Encourage customers to sign up for product updates, offers, and valuable information. Adhere to relevant consent and messaging protocols.

Give Them a Good Reason to Come Back

You may offer a first repeat purchase coupon or loyalty rewards or exclusive access to new collections.

Recommend Relevant Products

Make recommendations of products based on the customer's tastes and purchases.

Collect Customer Feedback

Inquire from the customers regarding shopping experience, product quality and delivery. Comprehensive feedback can enhance your products and establish trust.

Be Ready to Interact With Your Parents After Diwali!

Don't end the communication after the festive sale. Update new collections, seasonally and helpful updates at logical times.

The goal is to get your customers to remember you, not a discount.

How to Choose the Right Sales Channel for Your Brand This Diwali

Applying these 7 tips to choose the right sales channel for your brand this Diwali will help you reach your target audience more easily.

When deciding on a new platform to invest in, consider these few questions:

What do you have to sell? Prompt commerce websites might possibly be effective for everyday goods, although marketplaces and your own site could be preferable for premium or research items.

Who are your customers? Know your target audience's preferred shopping destinations.

What is the profit percentage? Determine all platform fees, advertising costs, packaging, shipping and operating costs.

Are you able to keep track of inventory? To sell products in several channels, it is essential to have accurate stock management.

What do you want to do in your future? Creating your own website is an essential component of any D2C branding strategy if you want to establish a recognizable brand.

You don't have to sign up on all of the platforms right away. Begin by selecting channels that align with your products, budget and operational capacity.

A marketplace can be a great way for a new business to gauge the demand for their products. Quick commerce can be another channel to customers for a brand that has a product that is frequently purchased and essential. In the case of a growing direct-to-consumer enterprise, an independent website can come to be an important long term asset.

Final Thoughts

Quick commerce, eCommerce platforms and independent eCommerce websites are not mutually exclusive options for all businesses. Different customer need can be served by each channel.

Quick commerce can facilitate the speedy delivery of goods to customers. Marketplaces give access to already existing shopping audiences. Your personal site provides you more control over the brand experience and customer interactions.

The best approach to this Diwali is to know where your customers are doing their shopping, work out your true profit margin per order and select the channels that will help you achieve your objectives.

It's all about the orders, but it's even more about creating a profitable brand that your customers will come back to.

If you're looking to start or enhance your online store, find out more about Cartel Planet's eCommerce development services to create a shopping experience that's built around your products, and your customers.