To create wins for technology products, electronics, and other category brands, OCD simplifies complex sales ecosystems as a trusted third-party sales partner.
– Adam Shaffer, General Manager, OmniChannel Distribution
OmniChannel Distribution (OCD) understands that the way brands and manufacturers sell through online marketplaces is continually changing. Successfully selling new or refurb/end-of-life/excess/b-stock products across multiple channels is more complex, time-consuming, and expensive than ever before.
Founded in 2007, the Costa Mesa, California-based firm is on a mission to help established brands in technology, electronics, and other product categories win through streamlined sales and distribution as a trusted third-party (3P) seller. OCD uses its multi-channel experience, deeply connected sales infrastructure for sellers and distributors, and extensive secondary market supplier network to create profitable outcomes for leading brands from around the world.
We had the pleasure of speaking with Adam Shaffer, EVP and General Manager of OCD and E-commerce. He was happy to discuss with The Chief’s Digest how OCD’s innovative turnkey 3P solutions and multi-channel distribution networks allow brands a unique opportunity. We’ll let him tell you the story.
Can you explain to us exactly how OCD works with brands to sell their products?
At OCD, we operate as a 3P seller under a unique model we call “2P”. Where brands might sell to other 3P sellers or brokers and lose control of their merchandise in the channel after the sale is complete, OCD offers a partnership arrangement that allows brands to maintain significant control over their sales channels, marketing, and pricing. This partnership helps brands preserve their integrity in the market while turning over day-to-day selling to someone else.
Brands sell their products to us wholesale, at an agreed-upon fair price that is better than what they would get from going to a broker or other 3P reseller. They get instant access to selling their new or refurb/end-of-life/excess/b-stock products through our multi-channel network that includes broadline distributors, direct to consumer channels, other resellers, and marketplaces like Amazon.
At $300 billion and growing, Amazon is the world’s biggest marketplace, so every brand wants to sell there. It’s often trickier to be successful in that marketplace than a brand would expect. What kind of solution does OCD offer to brands trying to sell on Amazon?
While the opportunity on Amazon is too big to ignore, shockingly, some brands do. They either sell products to brokers, or directly to Amazon, or do nothing. What happens next is unfortunate and predictable.
Unauthorized sellers begin selling their products at a variety of prices, destroying their MAP. Channel conflicts occur, which cannibalize the brand’s sales from their current catalog. Trust in the brand and its products are destroyed, and the brand loses out on the marketplace’s opportunity. The good news is, this is all avoidable.
OCD offers brands our Amazon Marketplace Management Program. It’s a turnkey solution that simplifies the Amazon ecosystem for our partners. We provide all the services to represent and grow their products on Amazon in five key areas – Brand Protection, Supply Chain and Fulfillment, Customer Experience, Marketing, and Account Management.
We’re a five-star and highly rated 3P seller on Amazon. We sell a brand’s products on our Amazon storefront from an OEM’s current catalog or their refurb/end-of-life/excess/b-stock. We leverage both FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) and SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime), and we’re also certified for the Amazon Prime Badge and the Renew medallion.
Especially when we’re talking about OEM technology and electronics brands, refurb/end-of-life/excess/b-stock products are a hot market right now, with more people than ever working and schooling from home. Can you tell us about the issues that brands encounter selling these kinds of products and how OCD solves them?
Refurb, end-of-life, excess, and b-stock products are a growing, multi-billion-dollar market right now. The usual problem is that a brand has a warehouse full of certain aging, slow-moving products. They tried to sell the products themselves but couldn’t move it fast enough, or it got in the way of selling current product lines. Then they try selling through brokers, but at a lower than needed cost recovery. Often, they find their products wind up back in the channel and on marketplaces, which creates conflict and hurts their brand.
We offer these brands a turnkey solution by selling refurb, end-of-life, excess, and b-stock through our network of B2B and B2C channels. We are an authorized and integrated sourcing partner for Ingram Micro and Tech Data, the US’s largest broadline technology distributors. From their catalogs, products are available to the largest resellers and the smallest value-added resellers; Mom & Pop stores, retail stores, and even overseas channels.
What makes OCD different for brands than going with another 3P seller or selling direct or selling to a broker or Amazon?
Any brand selling with OCD gets the benefits of our proprietary IT platform, Optix. It’s a powerful software that optimizes pricing, marketing, logistics, and strategy for brands across multiple channels. It gathers marketing reporting data in one place and enables tracking of the user journey, target KPIs, ROI, and it creates customized reports.
How we work with brands is different from other sellers. Our goals are to create a long-term partnership by being easy to work with, and growing and protecting their brands in a mutually beneficial and profitable way.
Finally, I’d say that we do something that most sellers would never think of – which is that OCD guarantees velocity, profitability, and offers a risk-free trial.
If you’re an established brand in technology, electronics, and other product categories looking to win in multiple eCommerce sales channels, OmniChannel Distribution offers an innovative and profitable growth opportunity in B2B and B2C markets around the world.
The Leader Behind Innovative 3P Ecommerce
Adam Shaffer, General Manager
Adam serves as the EVP and General Manager of OmniChannel Distribution and eCommerce. He is a pioneer in technology eCommerce with over 30 years of experience at industry-leading companies. Previously, he was CMO and EVP of Product Management at PCM and the President of TigerDirect.
“There are various go-to-market strategies that brands can employ to be successful in selling on Amazon or other channels, without losing control of your brand, pricing, or creating channel conflict with your best partners. The fact is, selling is easier and more profitable with a trusted 3P partner that knows the game and can let you just be the manufacturer.”
