A brand’s channels are the routes through which products, services, and messages reach customers. Whether it’s your own ecommerce store, a third-party marketplace, or even a social media platform, channels are the backbone of how modern commerce works.
Getting channel strategy right isn’t optional—it’s the difference between your business thriving or falling flat. A smart channel strategy aligns where you sell with how your customers prefer to shop, ensuring you’re visible, competitive, and easy to buy from. Done well, it helps you balance reach, cost, and customer experience across multiple sales touchpoints.
Here’s what business owners mean when they talk about channels—and how to approach channel strategy development as an ecommerce business owner.
What is a channel strategy?
The term “channel strategy”can refer to either a marketing channel strategy or a distribution channel strategy. A business’s marketing channel strategy is its plan to promote its brand to potential customers and encourage them to convert. Its distribution channel strategy is how it will sell its products or services.
In both cases, “channel” refers to the various online and in-person systems the business uses to connect with target audiences. Developing either type of channel strategy involves choosing the right channels for your business and identifying the best way to use each one.
Beyond this, marketing and distribution channel strategies have little in common. They sound similar (and even use some of the same systems), but they’re separate plans focused on different parts of the customer journey.
How marketing channel strategies work
Your marketing channel strategy is the part of your business’s larger marketing strategy focused on the in-person and digital channels you use to connect with your target audiences. It identifies the marketing channels you’ll use and outlines your plan for each. Marketing channel strategies typically include the following elements:
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Target audiences. Different marketing channels serve different audience segments, and your channel strategy will specify which customer groups you’ll target on each channel you plan to use.
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Tactics. Your strategy also names key tactics by channel, such as posting short-form videos to YouTube or sending weekly email marketing newsletters.
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Key messages. You’ll use your target audience information and knowledge of channel-specific best practices to outline key marketing messages for each channel listed.
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Goals and KPIs. You’ll also set channel-specific goals that ladder up to your larger business by identifying corresponding key performance indicators (KPIs). These are the metrics you’ll use to track success.
An effective marketing channel strategy can maximize your business’s return on investment (ROI) for its marketing efforts. You can do this by ensuring the content you create reaches the right consumers at a time and place relevant to your business objectives.
How to use common marketing channels
A good marketing channel strategy factors in customer preferences and behavioral patterns. Business owners use channel-specific market research to identify the segments of their audience base active on each channel and learn how users engage with content. You can use this information to select channels, create channel-specific messages, and identify the tactics and KPIs most relevant to your goals.
Marketing strategies often involve multiple channel types. A business might focus on email marketing to retain existing clients and direct mail and digital advertising to attract new customers, for example. There are no hard-and-fast rules about which channels are appropriate for which goals. The answer depends on your business model and audience base. Many small businesses combine audience research, competitive analysis, and marketing experimentation to find what works for them.
Here are a few popular channels and strategies to consider:
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Email marketing. Build an email marketing list and use it to increase brand awareness and drive interest in your brand.
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Paid advertising. Purchase paid ad space from publications or online platforms and use it to promote your company.
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Search engine marketing. Bid on specific keywords to purchase higher placement on search engine results pages (SERPs).
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Content marketing. Create and publish valuable content to build authority with target audiences and stay top of mind with existing customers.
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Direct mail marketing. Send marketing materials to target audiences through the physical mail.
How distribution channel strategies work
Your distribution channel strategy is your plan to sell products or services through a specific assortment of distribution channels, also known as sales channels. These include any platforms, systems, or partnerships you use to move products.
There are two main types:
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Direct sales channels allow you to sell directly to customers
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Indirect sales channels involve a third-party intermediary
A company’s ecommerce platform, physical store, and sales team are examples of direct channels. Social media platforms, retailers, wholesalers, and online marketplaces are indirect options.
Effective distribution channel strategies also address the ongoing work of coordinating distribution platforms and distributor relationships. This process is known as channel management. Your sales channel strategy will outline key channel management tasks, specify roles and responsibilities, and allocate resources appropriately.
How to use common distribution channels
Developing a distribution channel strategy involves choosing channel types, vetting and selecting channel partners, and planning sales and distribution infrastructure. Like marketing channel strategy, it also involves setting goals for each channel and identifying the KPIs you’ll use to track success.
Distribution channel selection typically involves a trade-off. More control over the customer experience and greater proceeds come with increased responsibility for managing distribution processes and expanding market reach.
Successful channel strategies often mix direct and indirect channels and may involve multiple options of each type. To choose channels, business owners analyze their available resources—including budget, time, and infrastructure—and research how consumers shop for the type of products or services they sell. Here are popular distribution channels and how ecommerce businesses use them:
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Retail store. Sell products out of a physical, brick-and-mortar store using a point-of-sale (POS) system.
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Ecommerce store.Sell products online from your own ecommerce store.
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Direct sales. Activate your in-house sales team to sell products.
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Online marketplaces. Sell from one or more commerce-first, multivendor online platforms maintained by independent software vendors such as Etsy, eBay, or Amazon.
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Retailer channel strategy. Sell products to retailers who resell directly to end customers.
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Wholesale channel strategy. Sell products in bulk to wholesalers, who sell to direct or value-added resellers at a higher price.
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Social commerce. Leverage social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube,Facebook, and Instagram to make sales.
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Search engines. Sell through search engine commerce tools like Google Shopping.
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Franchising.Franchising is when you license independent business owners to sell your products under your brand in exchange for a fee.
Multichannel strategy vs. omnichannel strategy
Many ecommerce businesses sell on multiple channels. Depending on configuration, this is referred to as either multichannel or omnichannel distribution:
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Multichannel distribution sells products through multiple independent sales channels
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Omnichannel distribution offers a seamless, connected experience across distribution systems
A company using a multichannel strategy might sell products on TikTok, through an online marketplace like Etsy, and from an ecommerce storefront, for example. This provides consumers multiple ways to find and purchase products, but it can also create a fragmented customer experience. The business will have a limited ability to tailor marketing strategies based on a holistic view of customer activities.
Omnichannel commerce consolidates data from various channel sources to offer a unified customer experience across touchpoints. It improves a business’s ability to learn from customer data and allows it to target customers with increasingly personalized marketing messages.
Ecommerce apparel retailer AG Jeans provides one example of the benefits. Unifying online and in-person customer data helped the business improve customer service processes, boost revenue, and lift conversion rates by 1.5 points.
Channel strategy FAQ
What are the four Ps of channel strategy?
The four Ps of an effective channel strategy are product, price, place, and promotion. They apply to marketing channels.
What are the six Cs of channel strategy?
The six Cs of channel strategy are customer, cost, convenience, control, collaboration, and competitive advantage. They apply to distribution channels.
What is an example of channel marketing?
Some business owners use the term channel marketing to refer to the marketing efforts of a business’s distribution channel partners, such as resellers, marketplaces, affiliate marketers, or other intermediaries. A yarn store that stocks your products and features your newest featherweight alpaca skeins in its newsletter is an example of channel marketing.
What is the difference between marketing and channel marketing?
Some business owners use the term channel marketing to refer to the process of encouraging distribution channel partners to promote their products for them. When a reseller, marketplace, affiliate marketer, or other intermediary promotes your brand or products, the result is channel marketing.
