The Challenge

Fuelled by ecommerce acceleration in 2020, marketplaces have become a critical path for brands to reach their customers everywhere they spend time shopping online.

However, for established brands who have built their business around brick and mortar channel sales, adapting to the unique requirements of selling through marketplaces is easier said than done.

Individual marketplaces have nuanced requirements, inventory management and warehouse logistics require the right setup in order to meet the expectations of modern multichannel shoppers which proves to be a barrier to entry for many brands.

Since 2006, Rex Brown has partnered with brands such as Unilever, L’Oreal  and Mattel taking the first steps to develop a presence on key marketplaces. Acting as an agile extension of its customers’ business and taking on the heavy lifting of integrations, listing and optimization, Rex Brown offers an end-to-end service to manage marketplace listing and order management through to warehouse management and fulfillment.

Seeing early results from key marketplaces including Amazon and eBay, Rex Brown’s customers such as Mattel were keen to scale to sell on multiple platforms which became a time consuming task for large brands with a high volume of SKUs and caused challenges with inventory management and order processing.

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David Ros Hernàndez, Ecommerce New Business Lead EMEA at Mattel Inc, says: “we started collaborating with RexBrown in August 2020. RexBrown partnered with Linnworks, and  in just one month Mattel was launched on eBay UK with 300 listings, providing a clear path for global brands such as Mattel to leverage the opportunity of selling through global marketplaces.”

Ashmeet Kandhar, Director at Rex Brown, says: “there are clear synergies when you combine Linnworks technical capabilities with Rex Brown’s expertise and physical infrastructure which enables brands to have an end-to-end solution to scale to multiple marketplaces. Our goal is to make it a seamless process for any company, small or large, to onboard their products to then sell in multiple verticals, channels and countries. With Linnworks in place to centrally manage multichannel inventory and order management, that scale is possible.”

Suleman Mehar, Head of Acquisition, eBay UK, says: “with traditional retail channels disrupted, it’s great to see so many brands maximizing their ecommerce offering and embracing a wider audience of online customers. Using Linnworks and Rex Brown, brands who do not have a direct to consumer offering can access eBay’s market of nearly 30 million UK shoppers per month.”

Results

Linnworks, in collaboration with Rex Brown, presents a comprehensive technical and physical solution tailored for brands aiming to expand their multichannel ecommerce ventures. This partnership empowers brands with enhanced control over their routes to market, ensuring they reach their target audience effectively.

Furthermore, brands can efficiently scale to new marketplaces and manage an increased number of SKUs without any hassle. The automated processes introduced act as an agile extension of the clients’ business, streamlining operations and reducing manual interventions. This not only helps brands in building and safeguarding their presence on key marketplaces but also ensures they effectively engage with shoppers, no matter where they spend their time online. Lastly, the expansion to new marketplaces has been made effortless. With features like bulk listing, inventory management, and order management, everything is centralized in Linnworks, making the entire process seamless and efficient.

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