It is convenient to sell products through a reputable third-party sales channel or even a platform. However, these advantages come with a significant amount of risk, especially if businesses solely rely on them for sales.

In fact, there is a tremendous upside in having your own online store brand that may not be clearly visible to business owners.

Here’s a list of reasons on why having your own store brand is beneficial:

1. Complete Autonomy

Yes, that’s right. 

You have total control on how you want to manage your store brand and also set terms that are favorable to your business. 

This could mean anything from setting the delivery pricing, product positioning, offers, colors, design, and more — something large platforms don't allow sellers to do.

2. Personalized Customer Relationship

Knowing who your customers are is essential for the survival of a business. 

Let’s face it, we’ve all been to that coffee place which has mediocre coffee at best but we still keep on returning because of the way the staff treats us and they know the way we like our coffee even without us having to say a word. 

Relationships like this cannot be built on a third-party sales channel or platform. This will take us to the next point.

3. Customer Loyalty/Retention

An increase in customer retention increases the longevity of a business. 

Customers frequent businesses that make them feel special and welcome, unlike businesses in third-party sales platforms which frequently differentiates themselves from their competitors solely on pricing.

4. Access to Customer Information

By implementing payment solutions that capture customer data, merchants will be able to gain deeper insights and make strategic decisions on a new marketing campaign to capture new customers or even to retain existing customers based on their spending patterns. 

Business owners will also be able to identify which products are doing well and which ones should be discontinued, letting them make an informed decision.

5. Keeping Your Margins

In engaging with third-party sales platforms, generally businesses will have to give up a significant chunk of their margins (usually between 20% - 35%). 

By having your own store brand, businesses get to keep a bigger portion of their margins which can then be used for other portions of the business.

6. Quicker Dispute Resolution

Should there be a dispute between the business and a customer, the business will be able to communicate directly with the customer in reaching a resolution. 

With third-party sales platforms, these resolutions can take days or even weeks with potentially countless back and forths with customer service representatives from the third-party sales platforms.

Having your own store brand doesn’t guarantee the success of your business for the foreseeable future, but it sure will improve the odds for that!