Do you have a refined offering and a growing advertising budget, but sales aren't growing as expected? The problem may lie not with what you're selling, but with where and how you're reaching customers. Sales channels are one of those strategic elements that can determine the outcome of an entire business, yet many companies choose them haphazardly.
The Polish e-commerce market is expected to reach PLN 179 billion in 2025, with over 73% of online orders placed via mobile devices, and marketplaces – led by Allegro – accounting for a significant portion of online sales in the country. In this environment, choosing the right sales channels is crucial to a company's profitability.
What are sales channels?
A sales channel is the place or environment where a transaction takes place between a company and a customer. In classical terms, it refers to the point where a buyer completes a purchase – whether it's an online store, a marketplace like Allegro or Amazon, a brick-and-mortar store, or a salesperson selling over the phone.
It's important to distinguish between sales channels and traffic acquisition (acquisition) channels. SEO , Google Ads , and social media campaigns are primarily traffic sources – they direct customers to the point of purchase, but they don't process transactions themselves.
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In e-commerce, this line is becoming increasingly blurred, as platforms like Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping combine product discovery with instant purchase capabilities. Nevertheless, it's worth maintaining this distinction to consciously manage both the sales locations and the ways to drive traffic to them.
Why is one brand touchpoint not enough to make a sale?
Modern consumers rarely buy after a single interaction with a brand. According to Capital One Shopping research, approximately 73% of shoppers use multiple touchpoints before making a decision. They see an ad on social media, check reviews on Google, compare prices on marketplaces, and only then return to the online store. If your company is present in only one of these places, a significant portion of potential customers may be directed to competitors.
Sales channels also directly impact customer acquisition costs and lifetime value. Selling through your own store allows you to build a contact base and reduce costs, while marketplaces provide quick access to high traffic in exchange for commissions and less control over the buyer relationship.
Types of sales channels
Before you start selecting specific platforms and tools, it's worth understanding the basic division: sales channels are divided into three main categories, each with different opportunities and limitations.
Direct channels
A direct channel is one in which a company sells to the end customer without intermediaries—controlling pricing, communication, and customer data. These include its own online store, brick-and-mortar store, telephone sales, a mobile app, and a direct-to-consumer (D2C) model.
The advantage of direct channels is the ability to build your own customer base, test prices, and collect data on purchasing behavior. However, they require you to generate traffic yourself, which involves spending on SEO , paid advertising , and content marketing.
Indirect channels
The intermediary channel between the company and the customer is a partner—a marketplace, distributor, retail chain, or B2B platform. The company gains ready-made traffic and infrastructure, but gives up some margin and loses control over parts of the shopping experience.
Typical indirect channels include marketplaces (Allegro, Amazon.pl, Empik, Erli), retail chains, affiliate programs, and price comparison sites. According to various sources, marketplaces account for 50–60% of online sales in Poland (Ecommerce Bridge).
Omnichannel model
Omnichannel is a multi-channel strategy in which all sales channels form a cohesive system. Customers can start a purchase on their phone, continue on their computer, and then pick up the goods at a brick-and-mortar location—without losing the seamless experience.
The difference between multichannel and omnichannel is significant. In the multichannel model, each channel operates independently, often with different prices and inventory levels. In omnichannel, data, prices, and communication are synchronized – customers see a single brand regardless of where they purchase.
The multi-channel customer buys more
According to a Capital One Shopping study, omnichannel customers buy on average 8% more often and with higher basket sizes than single-channel shoppers. The omnichannel platform market is growing at a rate of approximately 14% annually and is expected to reach over $25 billion by 2032 (Coherent Market Insights).
The most important sales channels in practice
Which sales channels truly generate revenue? Let's take a look at those that are currently driving the performance of companies in the Polish market.
Your own online store
This is the foundation of most e-commerce strategies – a place where the company has complete control over pricing, product descriptions, the purchasing process, and customer data. The store allows for the implementation of loyalty programs, remarketing, and customer segmentation. There are no sales commissions – costs are limited to platform maintenance and marketing activities.
Obtaining traffic from scratch is a challenge, which is why many sellers combine their own store with a presence on marketplaces – this allows them to build a brand and generate revenue from day one.
Marketplaces
Allegro, Amazon.pl, and Empik Marketplace are platforms where millions of users search and buy products every day. For sellers, they mean access to a ready-made customer database, advanced logistics (e.g., Allegro One Fulfillment), and built-in trust mechanisms.
Marketplaces are particularly effective in categories where consumers compare offers from multiple sellers—electronics, clothing, cosmetics, and home goods. Their drawbacks include pricing pressure, commissions that can reach several percent, and limited brand-building opportunities.
It's best practice to treat the marketplace as a complementary channel that generates volume but doesn't replace your own store. Sellers who build their brand solely on external platforms remain vulnerable to any changes in terms and conditions.
Social commerce
Social media now serves as a fully-fledged sales channel. Facebook Shops and Instagram Shopping have been operating on the Polish market for several years, and in mid-2026 they were joined by TikTok Shop – a platform that in other European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Spain) is recording triple-digit growth in daily transaction value.
The global social commerce market is expected to exceed $2 trillion in 2026 and is growing at a rate of approximately 26–29% annually (Mordor Intelligence). In Poland, 31% of consumers say they regularly shop on social media (Adyen's "Retail Report 2025"), and 48% of transactions are for PLN 250 or less.
Conversions up to 30%? The potential of the live shopping format.
Live shopping broadcasts—a format particularly popular in China and Southeast Asia—are also beginning to gain traction in Europe. Conversion rates from such broadcasts can reach as high as 9–30%, although these results primarily apply to Asian markets and categories like fashion and cosmetics. Live commerce is still in its infancy in the Polish market.
Offline channels
Brick-and-mortar sales still generate a significant portion of revenue, accounting for over 80% of retail turnover globally. In Poland, brick-and-mortar stores are important in industries where customers want to see or try on products.
They are also increasingly serving as a pickup point for online orders (click & collect). Research conducted among US retail chains indicates that a significant portion of shoppers who pick up their orders in-store also make additional purchases – a potential that is worth exploring in Poland, especially in industries with extensive networks of brick-and-mortar locations.
Sales channel management – how to do it well?
Simply launching a few channels is just the beginning. Managing sales channels involves coordinating them so that each reinforces the others.
This requires, above all, a consistent pricing policy that takes into account the costs of each channel (commissions, logistics, service), centralization of data in a single analytical system (e.g. GA4 with e-commerce integrations) and tailoring communication to the specifics of the channel – a product description on Allegro is governed by different rules than a product card in a store or a sales post on Instagram.
Tools like BaseLinker allow you to manage prices, inventory and orders from one place, minimizing the risk of inconsistencies.
Multi-channel strategy step by step
An omnichannel strategy isn't about being present everywhere at all costs – it's about choosing the channels that best suit your product, target group, and operational capabilities.
Start by defining your target audience and their purchasing path. If you sell youth clothing, your sales channels might be marketplaces and TikTok Shop , with Instagram and TikTok as your primary traffic sources . If you operate in B2B, your sales channel will be your company website or direct sales contacts, and you'll generate traffic through LinkedIn and content marketing, among other channels.
Next, define the role of each channel. Not every channel needs to generate direct sales – some build awareness (social media, content marketing), others serve conversion (online store, marketplace), and still others support retention (email marketing, loyalty programs).
How to turn multi-channel into loyalty and higher profits?
Ensure a consistent experience: standardized pricing (or clearly communicated differences), consistent service standards, and synchronized inventory. Finally, measure, test, and optimize. Being present across multiple channels simultaneously increases the number of customer touchpoints, which—provided you communicate consistently—translates to higher conversion rates and greater loyalty.
Mistakes that hinder multi-channel sales
The most common problem is dependence on a single channel – if 80% of revenue comes from Allegro or Facebook Ads , any change to the platform's algorithm or terms and conditions poses a direct threat. Lack of integration can be equally costly: different prices in the store and on marketplaces, divergent inventory levels, and separate customer bases generate shopper frustration and additional operating costs.
Another common mistake is copying competitors' strategies without analyzing your own resources - just because another company sells through TikTok Shop doesn't mean that this channel will work for you, especially if your target group spends time in completely different places.
What is changing in sales channels in 2026?
Several trends are clearly shaping the sales channel market. AI is entering daily sales and marketing operations.
According to the MoEngage "State of Cross-Channel Marketing 2025" report, as many as 95,4% of surveyed B2C marketers declare the use of AI in omnichannel campaigns – although it is worth noting that the study mainly covered companies using advanced marketing automation platforms, so the result does not reflect the entire B2C market.
In practice, AI most often supports the personalization of recommendations, communication automation, and chatbots that serve customers in multiple channels simultaneously.
How are live shopping and the secondary market changing the rules of the game?
Live commerce is growing rapidly – livestreamed shopping experiences are attracting new brands thanks to high conversions. Re-commerce is becoming a fully-fledged sales channel. According to the Gemius/IAB Polska report "E-commerce in Poland 2025," 58% of surveyed internet users said they had ever purchased a used product, and among those aged 15–24, this figure reached 72%.
The study focused on online shopping behavior, so it primarily covers platforms like Vinted and OLX—not the entire secondhand market. Nevertheless, the data shows that secondhand sales are a growing channel worth considering in your strategy, especially in the clothing and electronics categories.
Selecting sales channels is a process, not a one-time decision. The market changes rapidly – new platforms gain users, and the algorithms and regulations of existing channels evolve quarterly. Start with two or three channels that fit your business model, integrate them, measure results, and scale what brings real results. This approach will allow you to grow steadily, rather than chasing every new trend.
Frequently asked questions about choosing a sales channel
A sales channel is the final destination where a customer completes a transaction (e.g., your own online store, Allegro, a brick-and-mortar store). Traffic acquisition channels, on the other hand, such as SEO or Google Ads, are tools that direct potential customers to this destination but do not support the purchasing process themselves.
We divide sales channels into three main categories:
- Direct: Own online or brick-and-mortar store. These offer full control over data, margins, and communication, but require you to generate traffic yourself.
- Indirect: Marketplaces (Allegro, Amazon) and retail chains. These offer access to a vast, ready-made customer base, but involve commissions and less control over the relationship with the consumer.
- Omnichannel model: An advanced strategy that fully synchronizes all touchpoints to provide customers with a consistent experience regardless of where they purchase.
In a multichannel strategy, channels operate side by side but independently—they may have separate price lists and unsynchronized inventory levels. The omnichannel model combines all channels into a single, cohesive system where data, pricing, and communication are centralized.
This isn't recommended. While platforms like Allegro and Empik account for a significant portion of online sales and provide a great start, basing your entire business on them is a significant risk. You're then completely dependent on changes in regulations and algorithms. The best practice is to treat them as complementary channels to your own online store.
The major sins include:
- Lack of technical integration, leading to divergent prices and inventory levels.
- Dependence on revenues from a single platform.
- Copying competitors' activities without verifying whether a given channel (e.g. TikTok Shop) actually fits your target group.
Key phenomena gaining momentum include the widespread implementation of artificial intelligence (AI for personalization and automation of customer service), the dynamic development of social commerce (including live shopping based on live broadcasts) and re-commerce, i.e. the growing popularity of the used products market.
Summary
The above article covers the following topics:
- Choosing the right sales channels determines a company's profitability and success in reaching modern customers.
- Sales channels are divided into direct, indirect and integrated in the omnichannel model, differing in the level of control and method of reaching the customer.
- Today, companies' key revenues are generated by their own online stores, marketplace platforms, social media, and brick-and-mortar retail.
- Managing sales channels requires their coordination, data centralization and a consistent pricing and communication policy.
- A multi-channel strategy is based on selecting channels for recipients, defining their roles and ensuring consistency and constant optimization of activities.
- Multi-channel sales are most often hampered by dependence on a single channel, lack of system integration, and uncritical copying of competitors.
- In 2026, the development of sales channels will be driven by AI, live commerce and re-commerce, and success requires their thoughtful integration.
