Amazon is a powerful sales channel, but businesses built entirely on Amazon are fragile. Fee increases, algorithm changes, listing suspensions, and account reviews can all disrupt revenue overnight. Expanding fulfilment beyond Amazon — while retaining Amazon as one channel — is the strategic move that creates resilience and unlocks higher-margin growth.
Amazon gives sellers access to millions of buyers, but on Amazon's terms. When Amazon changes its fee structure, raises FBA storage rates, or introduces new compliance requirements, sellers have no option but to absorb the cost. When a listing is suspended pending review, revenue stops immediately. Sellers who have built their entire business on Amazon have experienced exactly how catastrophic single-channel dependence can be.
A multi-channel strategy typically combines: Amazon (for the traffic and Prime conversion), eBay (for price-sensitive buyers and used/refurbished product markets), Shopify or WooCommerce (for direct-to-consumer sales with higher margins and customer ownership), and increasingly TikTok Shop (for discovery-driven sales in consumer product categories).
Each channel requires separate listing optimisation and marketing attention, but they can all be served from a single inventory pool through a 3PL with multi-channel WMS integration.
Amazon's referral fees typically range from 8% to 15% depending on category, on top of FBA fulfilment fees. A DTC Shopify sale of the same product at the same price often carries a total platform cost of 2–4% (Shopify subscription + payment processing). Even accounting for higher customer acquisition costs, the margin difference on DTC sales is typically 10–15 percentage points — which is transformative at scale.
Amazon doesn't let you contact your buyers. A DTC channel allows you to build an email list from every order — and email remains the highest-ROI marketing channel in eCommerce. Brands with large email lists can drive significant revenue from promotional emails at near-zero marginal cost per contact.
PackPro's WMS integrates with Amazon, eBay, Shopify, WooCommerce, Etsy, TikTok Shop, and more — managing a single inventory pool that serves all channels simultaneously. View all platform integrations or discuss your multi-channel setup.