Since 1999, Overstock.com has been a ripe e-commerce space for the deal-seeking masses. Known to many college freshmen and young professionals looking to fill their dorms and apartments with serviceable (and cost-effective) furniture, Overstock built its foundation around discount pricing and surplus inventory. What was a fledgling startup in 1999 has grown into a billion-dollar e-commerce experience.
Now, third-party retailers can tap into this ever-growing fount of riches.
Why Overstock?
Combined with its own sourced goods, Overstock has steadily expanded over the years and now appeals to today’s consumer on multiple fronts. The furniture and home decor selection is ever present, but Overstock has expanded outside the living room to offer an array of highly sought after goods such as appliances, clothing, general electronics and much, much more.
If you’ve heard the term “Big Three” when referencing the top third-party marketplaces, don’t bother remembering it for long. That unofficial label may soon become the “Big Four.”
In the e-commerce space, Amazon, eBay and Walmart (the Big Three) are household names. But, with a recognizable brand name, a well-established and expansive catalog, and an early influx of third-party sellers, Overstock may soon join that list.
As we gauge the early returns from a variety of new Overstock marketplace sellers, it is safe to (seriously) consider Overstock as your next third-party marketplace integration through Rithum.
Sound interesting? Check out our streamlined roadmap to Overstock integration below for more information or to get your integration underway!
Steps Prior to Integration
As with any successful marketplace, descriptive and robust data is highly sought after by Overstock. Once you begin the process of mapping your inventory data through Rithum to Overstock, you’ll have the opportunity to outline not only your general data, but more specific, category-based details to help position your items higher in search results.
The usual data needs are all here: title, description, country of origin, price, shipping dimensions and at least one image are all required data points.
As always, optimizing your titles and descriptions with rich keywords will better position your listings for success.
You’ll also want to check that your images meet the requirements of the Overstock marketplace. Overstock draws imagery from your items’ parent level data for any variation listings. This parent image is used to populate the first product image you’ll see when you initially reach an Overstock listing page. So, for Overstock, most customers will want to enable additional images (from child SKUs) on your Overstock templates to represent multiple colors or styles of goods that share a relationship.
Overstock’s emphasis on free or value shipping has led to the lack of ability for sellers to pass on their own shipping costs as a separate cost to buyers on orders. And even though Overstock charges a flat $4.95 shipping cost on all orders under $45, that $4.95 goes to Overstock rather than the seller.
The best practice for clients that do not offer free shipping as a general rule is to build shipping costs into your sale price. The power of Rithum logic can help you identify specific shipping costs and add that on top of the sale price of your items.
Post Launch
Overstock has dedicated support staff who are proactive in helping you meet your marketplace needs. As a Channeladvisor Managed Services client, your Client Strategy Manager can help establish these relationships, so your business can thrive even more.
A multitude of opportunities are at your disposal already — participate in Site Sales (these run at least weekly and span all categories of the market), ramp up your search placements with Compass Accrual, and feature your products outside natural search results with Overstock Promote.
Rithum can suggest which actions will be a boon for your business on Overstock, give helpful tips on how to navigate any potential roadblocks with your listings and provide more information upon request.
Ready to get started?
As a valued Channeladvisor client, we’ve made the path to approval and onboarding with Overstock as seamless as possible. To get started, please contact your account representative.
Have questions or want to see the Rithum platform in action? Request a demo today.
