Two-thirds of small online retailers do not have their own online shop and are therefore wasting a lot of potential in terms of customer loyalty and sales via various channels. Having your own online shop is particularly important when building relationships with customers.

For sellers using multiple selling platforms, in-store is by far the channel through which most customers return, as reported by 40% of respondents. This is the result of the FORSA study commissioned by STRATUSin which small online retailers with a turnover of less than 1 million euros were surveyed.

The potential of online market platforms is not yet recognized

Online retailers are also wasting their potential in offering their products effectively on different platforms. This shows the reasons that prompted small online retailers to decide on their own online shop: The online sales platforms integrated into numerous online shop solutions only play one role for them when choosing an online shop solution minor role, even more Half of the sellers who have a store also sell their products on these platforms. In the STRATO online stores, too, only 18% of sellers use the integrated interfaces to Amazon, eBay and Google Shopping.

Customers who always use online sales platforms cause unnecessary charges

“Online retailers should not only sell their products on these platforms, but also in their own online shop in order to retain customers. If they don’t, they risk that their regular customers will always buy through platforms that charge high fees,” he explains. Christian Böing, CEO of STRATO. «The smartest thing is to acquire new customers via sales platforms and keep them in the online shop. To achieve this, online sellers should use online store solutions that allow them to effectively manage multiple selling platforms,” he adds.

Difficulties in creating an online store: technical and legal issues

In order to set up their own online shop, sellers have to overcome certain hurdles. The main ones are the lack of technical knowledge and information about the legal basis of electronic commerce and the dangers of security breaches. For this reason, half of the small online retailers get external help when setting up their shops and a quarter go to an independent expert for online shops.