What if we told you there was a way to expand to five, 10 or even 15 e-commerce marketplaces, without having to hire and train new staff?
You could start selling to international audiences.
You could focus on big-picture initiatives like digital marketing and retargeting.
You might even fine-tune your fulfillment to provide faster, more affordable deliveries.
Believe it or not, this is exactly what Aleratec has done. Here’s their story.
Moving to marketplaces
Even if you haven’t experienced Aleratec personally, there’s a good chance you’ve been impacted by its products. The company designs, develops and manufactures professional-grade electronic equipment that’s used by government, education and enterprise customers. These organizations have long purchased products from several Aleratec lines, including Prosumer’s Choice and TunePhonik.
When e-commerce marketplaces burst onto the retail scene, Aleratec decided to give them a try. The initial goal was to sell products returned from the company’s network of retailers.
Sales picked up quickly, which was great. However, it didn’t take long to realize the company would need a better way to manage marketplaces.
Aleratec faced a decision: Hire more staff? Or look for a different solution? With the discovery of Rithum, they decided to go with the latter.
Seamless integrations, easy decision
When Aleratec first turned to Rithum, the reason was simple: All operations were running on NetSuite, and the company wanted something that would integrate quickly and easily.
Rithum came with the ability to fully integrate with the NetSuite ERP — plus hundreds of marketplaces, advertising platforms, shopping engines, affiliate networks, review sites and fulfilment partners.
In other words…
Aleratec didn’t just find a way to manage marketplaces. The company discovered a whole new way to transform its online growth strategy and propel the business forward.
Maintaining 55% year-over-year growth with ease
Aleratec has been using the Rithum platform for several years now, and business is thriving. Any time there’s a desire to expand a bit more or test an emerging channel, the team can take action right away.
In fact, they can start up virtually any new marketplace within a matter of days.
“Rithum has enabled us to take our product line and make it available on a global basis, which has been just wonderful,” says President and CEO Perry Solomon. “We currently are operating on 15 different marketplaces — not only in the US but also in Western Europe, Australia and Canada.”
When asked how products are performing across those markets, Solomon had this to say:
“As an example, our number one marketplace is currently growing at a rate of 55% year-over-year.”
Now that selling on marketplaces has become a big strength for the company, it’s time to move on to marketing and fulfilling. Solomon has plans to explore new methods for advertising, and may take a closer look at logistics capabilities.
“I’m not aware of anything else out there that can deliver on all of those factors,” Solomon says. “Without Rithum, life would be a lot more difficult. Processes would be a lot more manual, and we’d have to have a lot more staff to get anywhere close to what we’re currently doing.”
Looking to make some similar moves for your organization? Keep Aleratec’s most important discovery in mind: Selling on e-commerce marketplaces isn’t just about getting products listed. It’s important to look for a marketplace management tool that makes it easy to reach ready-made audiences around the world.
After all: Seven in 10 online shoppers make purchases from international sites, and more than 80% of retailers worldwide say cross-border e-commerce has been profitable.
The sooner you get started, the faster your company can start reaping the benefits of an effective e-commerce strategy. If Aleratec’s success story tells us one thing, it’s this: Going global isn’t the overwhelming endeavor it once was. If you’re looking to reach a similar level of growth, several resources will help you get started:
