While there is so much to be done to get your brand festive ready on marketplaces, it can be overwhelming for your team to juggle several tasks. The last thing one wants around this time is to make mistakes that could have been easily avoided. 

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That's why our team has compiled a list of common mistakes made by brands to help you save time and be ready during the busy festive season.

Mistake #1: Not being transparent about the number of stores and warehouses

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Each online marketplace has guidelines for the minimum number of stores & warehouses required to onboard. Hence, the brand must ensure giving accurate details to our onboarding team. If the mandate is not met and the wrong details are shared, the brand faces hiccups during onboarding with the respective marketplace.

Mistake #2: Not having the required documents & other details ready

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While most of the online marketplaces have similar requirements, they may vary slightly. It is essential for brands to read the checklist carefully and stay prepared with updated documents at the time of onboarding. 

Mistake #3: Not onboarding all marketplaces in one go 

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Some brands may prefer onboarding on one marketplace at a time. However, our advice is to have your onboarding strategy ready and onboard on maximum marketplaces in one go. It saves you valuable time you would otherwise spend collating the necessary documents and requirements and the redundancy of going through the same process multiple times.

Mistake #4: Not having your stores ready to accept & process orders at the time of going live

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The stores listed by brands on marketplaces should be ready and equipped with the right resources, manpower, and infrastructure. On failure to do so, the non-ready stores get delisted and pose problems for brands, also causing disruptions in their onboarding process.

Mistake #5: Not procuring the packaging material on time

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To process marketplace orders, brands need specific packaging bags. If the material is not  ordered ahead of time, stores will not be able to process the orders.

Mistake #6: Not reporting system issues and discrepancies in time

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The effect of seemingly insignificant system issues can be amplified during sales events. For instance, a small lag in processing every one out of 100 orders becomes five times as big when 500 orders are being processed at once.

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This is why brands are advised to check for and address system issues with our teams well before the festive season. This gives time to solve these issues at scale and ensure smooth functioning during the sales events.

Mistake #7: Lack of transparency about marketing spends and expectations to our business teams

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Information from the brand on their ongoing performance marketing campaigns, spends, and sales expectations for the festive season helps our business teams forecast order volumes as accurately as possible. This sets realistic expectations ahead of the festive season and helps our RTI team scale the systems accordingly.

Mistake #8: Having scattered data in multiple files

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Brands are advised to keep all attributes readily available in a single sheet. Some brands also keep the listings for all products together, including ones they do not intend to take live on marketplaces during the festive season. In such cases, it is advised to have exclusive sheets for listings. This makes it smoother and faster for you to transform your catalog and list your products on different marketplaces. A one-time effort saves your valuable time, effort, and resources.

Mistake #9: Not having trained staff

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Cataloging is a skill that a non-skilled person will struggle with and spend way more time with. Having skilled catalog executives, especially during the festive season, ensures efficiency in the process and saves time. Attrition is a common challenge retail brands face; hence, brands should plan human resources in such a way that they have well-trained staff and a plan ready when most needed.

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Your catalog manager may also find these most common errors made during cataloging helpful to avoid errors and extend timelines:

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Mistake #10: Not giving product listings enough time to garner traffic

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The number of product reviews and clicks on a product display page are important criteria for marketplaces to rank their products in search results. Listing products or updating pages too close to the festive season will not give them enough time to garner those much needed clicks and reviews. 

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Mistake #11: Not maintaining a good presence across all marketplaces 

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If you are an apparel brand, you might have a bias toward marketplaces like Myntra, and you may prefer listing a higher number of products and taking more locations live on them. However, this turns out to be a common mistake, leading to loss of sale opportunities on other marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. A unified presence across marketplace ensures expanded brand visibility, increased revenue, and reach to different sets of target audiences. While you list your stores on Myntra, listing all those stores on other marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart secures your rankings on their search result algorithms. Hence, list the maximum number of products and locations on every marketplace where your brand is present.

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Mistake #12: Not conducting refresher trainings at fulfillment locations

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Most retail stores see frequent changes in management and store staff, and newly hired employees often need additional training to understand the fulfillment processes employed by different marketplaces. Not conducting the required refresher training at such stores can cause hiccups in fulfillment amidst the festive season rush. 

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Now that you are aware of the mistakes to avoid, top up your game!

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When it comes to pre-festive season prep, there’s a lot to be taken care of and some hiccups are normal. Our teams at Fynd leverage their extensive retail experience to help brands navigate these challenges smoothly and ensure complete readiness for big festive sales.

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Want to become a part of the growing Fynd family? Reach out to us and let our teams transform your business with their decade long retail experience and expertise. This festive season, trust Fynd to help you achieve all your sales goals and surpass them. 

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