FAQs and Glossary

Sales and Marketing

What channels does Channel Gate integrate with?

We give you access to list on our own boutique marketplace websites.

  1. Cymax.com

  2. Homesquare.com

We also have APIs that publish your furniture SKUs on our partner marketplaces:

  1. Amazon.com

  2. Amazon.ca - needs a Canadian warehouse.

  3. Walmart.com

  4. Walmart.ca - needs a Canadian warehouse.

  5. Houzz.com

  6. Google Express

  7. Ebay.com

  8. Ebay.ca - needs a Canadian warehouse.

  9. Sears.com

  10. Kroger.com

  11. Target.com

  12. Bestbuy.ca - needs a Canadian warehouse.

  13. RealCanadianSuperstore.ca - needs a Canadian warehouse.

We have 9 private label brands that we use to multiply your product listings on the above channels:

Cymax eCommerce Private Labels:

Atlin Designs, Brika Home, Maklaine, Pemberly Row, Hawthorne Collections, Bowery Hill, Beaumont Lane, Scranton & CO, Rosebery Kids.

How does your private labelling service work?

Some of our private labels have their own website to display the catalog but those websites are not transactional. The transactions will occur on marketplace channels 1-15 such as Amazon, Homesquare etc.

Our private label service will add your products as separate listings where we experiment with separate price points. Often your private labelled products will be sold at a higher price because it allows us to invest more into the marketing of your product.

Can I customize the channels I'd like to sell on?

Yes. Your designated account manager will help you decide on the right channels to increase revenue for your products, and you can activate or deactivate individual channels at any time.

Can I price products differently across all channels?

Channel Gate uses AI algorithms to dynamically price products competitively on third-party marketplaces to ensure your listings are constantly optimized. Our dynamic pricing engine keeps your products competitive and precisely profitable. If you need to manually control your prices on each channel you can talk to your Account Manager.

Is it okay if I only want to sell on 1 or 2 channels?

Yes, the choice is yours. We understand your sales channels need to align with your brand. Our team works with you to determine the best channels that fit your go-to-market strategy.

How long does it take for Channel Gate to push a SKU to maturation?

We often see maturation in 8 months.

What type of growth can I expect?

Channel Gate clients that onboarded in 2020 saw an average of 147% month-over-month growth.

We are a luxury brand that relies on MAP (minimum advertised price), is there a way to control my listing pricing?

Yes. In Channel Gate, you can set any product as a MAP listing, and this will disable our Dynamic Pricing Engine to ensure your MAP is always displayed.

What does Channel Gate do to stop the race to the bottom of the buy box?

  • Our private label service will add your products as separate listings and experiment with separate price points. Often your products will be private labelled to be sold at a higher price because a larger gross profit margin enable us to invest more to market your product.

  • We don’t just look at your top-performing SKUs, we investigate your bottom-performing SKUs and find ways to increase your overall revenue. We want your tail SKUs to become some of your core SKUs.

  • You can also activate MAP (minimum advertised pricing) for your products at any time.

  • You set a wholesale price and your account manager will help you set custom allowances for shipping, returns, shipment damages, and marketing. We make sure to align with your business so we can sell your SKUs with a profit margin that works.

What is Muzeboard?

Muzeboard is a drag and drop tool in Channel Gate that enables you to create bundles and product sets to create unique looks that increase your AOV (average order value).

 

Order Management, Shipping and Fulfillment 

Can Channel Gate integrate with my 3PL Inventory Management Systems and Software?

All orders can be processed through an EDI feed, which will allow a seamless fulfillment process.

How does shipping and fulfillment work?

Channel Gate includes an order management portal where our clients/vendors can:

  • Accept or decline orders.

  • Provide updates about backorders or estimated shipping delays.

  • To manage shipping and tracking information for parcel or LTL freight shipments.

Channel Gate can integrate with your EDI feed to automate fulfillment, so you don’t need to manually provide tracking or inventory updates.

For freight shipments, Channel Gate also helps facilitate the Bill of Lading and scheduling warehouse pickups.

Why are your shipping rates so low? Can we use your shipping account?

You can save on shipping by leveraging our shipping accounts. Some clients prefer to use their own shipping account and we can integrate with their EDI feeds.

Our rates are low for 2 reasons:

  1. We’re a large volume seller and we’ve been shipping eCommerce products for 17 years.

  2. Shipping providers love us because of our sister company Freight Club. Freight Club has an extensive network of shipping relationships that our clients can leverage for LTL and parcel shipments.

 

How to get started

How much is the monthly subscription fee? Is there a free plan available?

There are no upfront costs and no monthly subscription fees to use our platform. To start all we need is your wholesale price and your catalog. Then our team will customize a program that encompasses all allowances for shipping, damages, customer service and marketing budget that fits your needs.

Can I create new listings in bulk?

Yes. We provide an easy-to-follow template that allows you to upload products in bulk. You can also create individual product listings within Channel Gate and have them published to 15+ Channels.

Do I need an eCommerce store to get started?

No. All we need is a list of your SKUs and product information and we can list your products on the marketplace channels of your choice.

Can I use Channel Gate if I sell outside of the US?

If your warehouse or fulfillment centers are in the United States Channel Gate you can sell your products on any of our .com marketplaces.

To benefit from our Canadian .ca marketplaces, you will need a warehouse or fulfillment center in Canada.

How long will it take for me to start making sales with Channel Gate?

You can upload a list of products/SKUs using our given template and get running within the day. Typically, after an upload, your images or product descriptions will need to be edited. Channel Gate provides a content score on every SKU to ensure your product images and descriptions are channel-ready before launch.

Our onboarding team will work with you to improve your digital assets, and we can help you with your bulk upload if you need it.

To get started, click Request Demo, and our eCommerce specialists will show you the platform.

 

Account Management and Tech Support

What type of support is available for me as a client?

We have a free online knowledge base. All Channel Gate clients get assigned a designated Account Manager and a Marketing Manager.

We operate from Monday to Friday. The account management team is always working hard to meet your requests and provide you with SKU-level recommendations to help your business.

For any urgent matter, please email us at support@channelgate.io

How does Channel Gate help with Digital Marketing?

Every client gets assigned a Marketing Manager. Our clients often start with a marketing budget and Channel Gate starts bringing in revenue with profitable CPA%. Our clients often ask us to increase their marketing spend.

Your marketing spend goes towards Google PPC, marketplace PPC, marketplace banner ads, and limited-time discount campaigns. There’s no upfront cost because we initially invest in your marketing.

Does the Channel Gate customer service team handle my customer's questions?

Yes. We have a large team of DTC service specialists that handle your customer requests, and we get back to them within 24 hours.

Let us handle your customer service from every channel. We field your customer emails, messages, and phone calls for product inquiries, shipping, damages, tracking, returns, refunds, exchanges and more.

Customer service hours: 630am-530pm PT or 930am- 830pm ET.

How does Channel Gate handle my returns?

Our customer service team can work with your customers to accept or reject returns.

Our team works with the shipper to validate damaged shipments and store that data in Channel Gate so you can improve packaging.

If the product has a manufacturing defect the customer will be refunded in accordance with your returns policy.

Your Account Manager will work with you to adjust your budget allowance for returns, damaged shipments, or buyer's remorse. These are individual budgets based on the vendor’s business.

ALT for fulfillment

When your customer places an order, Channel Gate’s technology helps you fulfill the order.

Here’s what happens:

Customer purchase on any channel – Channel Gate releases the purchase to vendor/client’s order management system – vendor accepts or declines order – vendor updates any estimated shipping delays or back orders in the Channel Gate Order Management Portal – vendor provides tracking information - order gets shipped once all purchase items have tracking – purchaser and the marketplace channel gets tracking info