The one thing you carry around with you like everyone else is a cell phone. According tostatistics collected by Coupon Hippo, mobile is the future of India. There will be 986,000,000 mobile phones in use and the most preferred operating system is Android.
Etailers have specialised apps for online shopping to make the most of this trend. And this is where focus mostly lies when cellular usage and online retail are spoken of together.
However, consumers are not the only ones marketplaces provide apps for. Online sellers also have mobile apps to help them do business from anywhere.
What are the top online seller apps and what do they help you do?
We considered seller apps by the big names in ecommerce and noted their functions and how the everyday seller rated them. We also spotted a couple of interesting seller testaments from the Google Play Store to bring out the facts of seller apps from online marketplaces.
What does it help you do?
- Sign up and register as new sellers
- Manage listings by updating prices, quantities and calculating earnings from listed products
- Receive quick alerts about new orders received and product listings gone out of stock
- Manage orders by viewing upcoming or completed orders, preparing shipping labels, dispatching orders, tracking shipments and downloading manifests
- Raise support tickets
- Find new products to sell
- Monitor payments and returns
- Provide feedback through the app
- View detailed information on rate card while viewing transaction details for order item
What does it not do?
The Flipkart seller app facilitates numerous functions like the above, but at the same time, it doesn’t support Flipkart Advantage!
Seller reviews
Flipkart seller hub has an average rating of 4.0 from its total users. But what are sellers saying about the app? Some say they had a decent experience with Flipkart’s online seller app.
But that wasn’t the case for every user of the app. Some sellers claim to have had negative experiences with the Flipkart Seller Hub app.
What does it help you do?
- Quickly create listings
- Manage inventory, update product quantities and prices
- Manage orders through product sales and pending orders updates and confirming shipments
- View sales, amount payable to you Amazon and when it is due
- Determine profit estimates on products
- Contact seller support
- Find new products, check current selling prices, competing offers, sales ranks and customer reviews all by using text search or by scanning product images and barcodes continuously
- Receive on the go notifications of opportunities to sell better
- Respond to customer messages and questions quickly with customizable email templates
- Capture and retouch product images through mobile device with Photo Studio on the navigation menu
- View slow moving ASIN badge in product search results
What does it not do?
To avail of these facilities through the Amazon mobile app, sellers must create a seller account on the marketplace.
Seller reviews
Amazon Seller is a common app for sellers in various counties. As a result, the app has many more users in comparison to Indian online marketplace apps. The app receives an overall good response from sellers. At the same time, they also feel the app could be better as it is lacking in some cases.
What does it help you do?
- Receive alerts for new orders, returns and inventory
- Share product on Snapdeal on social media
- Make products irresistible with Snapdeal recommended price
- Raise and reply to queries
- Scan / search items to sell
- Call Snapdeal help at a touch of a button
- Navigate to understand linked payments and receive payment alerts in real time
- View Snapdeal plus and non-Snapdeal plus ratings separately to determine which is best for business
- Edit mobile number, bank details and upload signature
- Avail of fulfilment mode support
Seller reviews
Snapdeal Seller has received good reviews too that have put it at an approximate rating of 4.0. The etailer recently revamped its brand entirely and the reviews for its seller app have been pretty positive.
Yet, some have pointed out instances where the app has caused them trouble and disappointment too.
What does it help you do?
- Sign up by creating a new store
- View quick snapshot of business and payment on Paytm, order summary and status, catalogue, overall customer reviews and ratings
- Receive notifications of new and cancelled orders
- Obtain overview of all orders
- Manage orders, process them and create necessary slips
- Search specific orders, items, SKUs, fulfilment, Shipper ID or AWB number
- Manage listed product and Update stock and prices
- View expected payouts and product variants available
- Share products on social media
- Calculate estimated proceeds from new items
Seller reviews
Paytm Seller’s ratings are at 4.1 on Google Play Store. However, this month the app had issues with displaying notifications, but the issue was fixed soon.
Other issues with the app include invoice format on the app as you can see here.
What does it help you do?
- Obtain manifest order details
- Manage inventory, orders, returns and payments
- Update product prices and quantities
- Create an online store on the platform for free
- Connect with seller support
- Respond to customer queries and messages
- Create and expand product listings and catalogues faster
What does it not do?
To avail of the facilities on the Shopclues mobile app, sellers must create a seller account on the marketplace first. This can be done through their website.
Seller reviews
Shopclues reviews are far less compared to other seller apps. The Shopclues Seller app has a rating of 3.5. The etailer has also received some negative reviews about its apps performance.
Which is the best seller app? Will sellers shift to apps soon?
To determine whether online sellers see themselves moving on to mobile apps, we decided to ask a couple about their experiences with them.
Online seller Asad Virani of eShop 24×7 says, “Desktop panel or Marketplace place seller central are always more user-friendly and easy on the eyes due to large screen vis-a-vis a mobile screen.”
According to the multi-category seller, there are numerous reasons why mobile apps are good for online sellers. Even though, right now the desktop version of seller panels is much better.
He says, “Notifications of items sold is the best part as it gives a lot of joy when we get a notification of item sold, other features are:– easy to track inventory– edit pricing on real time basis
– know the next remittance due amounts”
When asked what they lack he says, “Proper tracking of remittances and there are no detailed reports available either on the app.”Virani uses multiple marketplace apps to sell online. He mentions, “We use Amazon, Flipkart, Paytm, Snapdeal and eBay. But, in our opinion the Amazon and Paytm seller apps are the best so far.”
Electronic category seller Akash informs us that he uses only Flipkart’s app for online sellers. He claims it is ideal for viewing his business summary while on the go. So far he hasn’t experienced any issues with the app he says. At the same time, he doesn’t see himself switching to the app full time.
Another online seller we spoke with told us he too feels the desktop version of online selling is better than the mobile app. The seller, Abdul Quadir, deals in the sale of furniture and pet supplies and has been selling online for 3.5 years now.
“I have used a Snapdeal, Amazon, Shopclues, Flipkart, Askmebazaar seller apps. Out of them all Snapdeal seller app is the best,” claims Abdul.“We can work anytime anywhere using a cell phone. That’s the biggest advantage of marketplace apps. However, we receive too many notifications,” states the electronics seller.
Nova Enterprises mentions that Snapdeal has the better ecommerce app for sellers. The online seller has used both Amazon’s and Snapdeal’s seller apps. He says instant sales tracking and price updating make seller apps a good tool to online merchants. But the seller also claims that desktop is far superior in comparison to mobile apps.
What features do online sellers want on marketplace apps?
After sieving through various seller app reviews we identified these some features that online sellers wanted to see in their marketplace apps.
On Flipkart, online seller Mahendra Gupta says he wants to see FA related details.
Flipkart seller Sahil wrote that a barcode scanner would make things a lot easier for app users.
An online seller on Snapdeal, Varun Jain states, pending orders are missing in addition to other notifications on the mobile app panel.
In case of Paytm, seller Rabinarayan says, the etailer must simplify its features also the option to view previous tickets is unavailable.
For Shopclues, there need to be multiple changes states, Mansoor a seller on the platform.
The online sellers who spoke with IOS also said they’d like to see new features added to marketplace apps for them.
eShop 24×7’s Virani says, “If marketplaces can share their inventory info via their apps and sync with each other then it will take away lots of pressure on the seller. There are 3rd party service providers which do this seamlessly. However, some often fear data privacy may lack with such service providers.”
According to Nova Enterprises, features relating to shipment and ASR creation are what online marketplaces really need to work on.
So, all in all, the seller app facility for online sellers has not peaked yet. In fact, it is far from it. Online sellers know the advantages seller apps have to offer and there is much more marketplaces can do with them. Then again, there is the fact that sellers have better control over their actions via desktop panels.
What about you, what is it you expect to see from online marketplace apps? Do you think they are worth the download or a waste of phone space?
Sellers Hub marketplace website
ReplyDeleteDealsRover is India's no1 commission less online marketplace website, Here you can sell your products online without any upfront registration fees., also You can post and purchase here electronic & mobile accessories, home appliances, child toys, cloth and smart gadgets like as many products for online sale.
https://dealsrover.com/home