In today’s digital-first world, even a simple purchase like a new winter sweater can lead consumers on a journey across multiple touchpoints—comparing materials, styles, and prices on websites, social channels, and online marketplaces. With so many options, consumers move fluidly from one channel to the next, making purchasing decisions based on convenience and supply.
For e-commerce sales leaders, this shift highlights the need for a robust multichannel strategy that reaches customers wherever they’re shopping, maximizing opportunities for growth and engagement.
To connect with these multichannel shoppers, brands and retailers are increasingly turning to third-party (3P) commerce as a key growth strategy. For brands, 3P commerce expands reach by connecting them with new audiences through established marketplaces, while retailers gain the advantage of offering a broader product selection without additional inventory risks. And it’s working: according to Rithum’s The State of 3P Commerce report, conducted by Wakefield Research, three out of four executives consider 3P sales essential to their company’s growth, with 59% planning to increase their use of 3P selling in the coming year.
Why Multichannel Matters Now More Than Ever
With recent economic conditions weighing on the retail industry, sales leaders are under pressure to find new ways to grow revenue in a market where margins are tighter than ever. A solid multichannel strategy is essential for brands and retailers seeking to adapt to shifting e-commerce landscapes, helping them meet consumers across the platforms they’re already using. The report found that 99% of retailers and brands globally view 3P selling as the best model to weather economic volatility. This model supports strategic growth by allowing brands and retailers to adjust their offerings as needed and expand strategically while managing costs effectively.
By diversifying their presence across multiple channels, businesses can capture shoppers who search for the best deals and make their operations more resilient during periods of economic uncertainty. This ensures brands and retailers can maintain stability even when the market is uncertain.
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Technology Will Accelerate 3P Selling Even Further
The success of a 3P selling strategy depends heavily on the ability to keep operations running efficiently. AI-powered tools support everything from managing transportation logistics to improving shipping speeds and optimizing inventory placement, ensuring products are available exactly when and where needed. Getting a handle on supply chain challenges is crucial to meeting growth targets for nearly all executives (91%), with 1 in 5 seeing AI as essential to managing their e-commerce operations.
By integrating AI and automation into their operations, sales leaders can reduce bottlenecks, maintain product availability, and boost responsiveness to consumer demands. Think back to the shopper’s journey for a winter sweater. Leveraging machine learning (ML), retailers can provide accurate delivery estimates to customers at the time of purchase. Today’s ML models can predict both order processing and transit times based on real-time data like warehouse inventory and weather conditions, so a customer knows exactly when they’ll have their new sweater in hand.
Fine-Tuning 3P Strategies to Manage Complexity
As 3P commerce becomes a core part of e-commerce growth strategies, it also brings its own challenges—particularly the need to manage multiple e-commerce platforms. According to the report, companies now use an average of four platforms to support their 3P sales, which can make it difficult for sales leaders to measure performance, keep up with customer engagement, and maintain consistent product information across every channel. Yet, with pressure to meet consumers on their terms, many businesses feel they have little choice; in fact, 71% of executives report plans to expand to even more platforms.
Despite these hurdles, companies still see value in 3P selling—but at what point does it shift from a growth opportunity to an operational burden. There is a clear need for a unified strategy to reduce the complexity of managing multiple technologies. Nearly all executives (97%) agree that consolidating 3P efforts under a single tool would be a “game-changer.” By reducing redundancies and centralizing data, a unified solution can help brands and retailers maximize growth by avoiding issues like inconsistent customer experiences and missed sales that can arise from fragmented 3P management.
The key to long-term success is profitable growth. As traditional retail models struggle to keep pace, 3P commerce has proven to be a dynamic, flexible solution that distributes risk and enables companies to adapt to today’s market pressures. The future of retail belongs to those who can adapt swiftly and scale smartly across channels. For many brands and retailers, 3P commerce is the key that unlocks both.
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