The channel decision

Every product business faces this choice: sell through established marketplaces like Amazon, eBay, or Catch, or build your own direct sales channel through a website, sales team, or agent network. The right answer depends on your product, margins, and growth ambitions.

The marketplace advantage

Marketplaces offer immediate access to millions of potential customers. You do not need to drive traffic or build brand awareness from scratch. The marketplace has already done that.

For new businesses or new products, marketplaces provide validation. If your product sells on Amazon, you know there is demand. If it does not, you learn quickly and cheaply.

The operational infrastructure is also a benefit. Fulfilment services, payment processing, and customer service tools are built in. You can be selling within days rather than months.

The marketplace cost

Marketplace fees typically range from 10 to 30 percent of the sale price, depending on the platform and category. On top of that, you face intense price competition because customers can compare directly with alternatives.

You also lose control over the customer relationship. The marketplace owns the customer data, controls the communication, and can change the rules at any time. Your entire business can be disrupted by a policy change you had no say in.

Brand building is difficult on marketplaces. Customers remember that they bought on Amazon, not from your brand. This makes repeat business and customer loyalty harder to build.

The direct channel advantage

Selling direct gives you full control. You set the prices, own the customer data, control the brand experience, and keep the margins. Every customer interaction builds your brand rather than the platform's.

Direct channels also give you richer customer insights. You know who your customers are, how they found you, and what they bought. This data is invaluable for product development and marketing.

The direct channel challenge

The challenge is traffic and trust. On a marketplace, customers are already browsing. On your own website, you need to attract them. That means investing in marketing, content, and sales.

Building a direct sales channel takes time and money. You need a website, payment processing, fulfilment systems, and a sales process. The setup cost is higher, but the ongoing cost per sale is typically lower than marketplace fees.

The hybrid approach

Many successful businesses use both. They sell on marketplaces to generate volume and visibility while building their direct channel for higher margin sales and deeper customer relationships.

The key is ensuring your marketplace presence drives awareness of your brand, not just anonymous sales. Include branded packaging, inserts with your website URL, and follow up communication that brings marketplace customers into your direct ecosystem.

Adding a sales agent channel

Beyond marketplaces and direct online sales, commission only sales agents represent a third channel worth considering. Agents provide the reach of a marketplace with the brand control of direct sales. They sell your product under your brand, build relationships with customers, and earn commissions on results.

Platforms like Zepys let you add this channel quickly and with minimal overhead. It is particularly effective for B2B products and services where personal relationships drive purchasing decisions.

Choose based on your goals

If you need volume fast and brand building is secondary, start on marketplaces. If you want to build a lasting brand with strong customer relationships, invest in direct channels. And if your product benefits from personal selling and relationship building, add sales agents to the mix.

The best strategy is usually a combination that leverages each channel's strengths while managing its weaknesses.