3-Step Plan to Build Your Own Sales Channel Outside Marketplaces for Online Sellers

To build your own sales channel outside of marketplaces, sellers need a clear roadmap instead of trying to implement everything at once. A reasonable 3-step plan is: start with your own website to create an independent presence, then build landing pages for specific campaigns, and finally connect a CRM to retain and nurture customer data. Only after establishing a solid foundation should sellers expand into email marketing and automation for long-term operational optimization.

Many online sellers are doing well on e-commerce platforms like Shopee, Lazada, or TikTok Shop. Sales are stable, orders are consistent, and everything seems to be on the right track. But when they take a step back to look at the bigger picture, many start to realize one thing: they are too dependent on third-party platforms.

Policy changes, rising fees, algorithm shifts, sudden traffic drops. All these factors are beyond the seller's control. More importantly, customer data, the most valuable asset of any online store, doesn't truly belong to them.

Many sellers have realized this and are starting to think about building their own sales system. But when they start, they often get overwhelmed by too many things to implement: website, landing page, CRM, email marketing, automation, advertising, data analysis. Then they give up halfway, or do things haphazardly without focus, wasting both time and money.

In reality, building your own sales channel outside of marketplaces doesn't mean doing everything at once, nor does it mean abandoning marketplaces immediately. What sellers need is a clear, step-by-step roadmap, prioritized according to practical business logic.

Why Do Many Sellers Want Their Own System but Often Get Stuck?

The Mindset of Having to Do Too Much at Once

When deciding to build their own sales channel, many sellers' natural reaction is to think of a complete system: a beautiful website, a high-end CRM, automated email marketing, a chatbot, a mobile app. The list keeps growing, and the pressure increases.

As a result, sellers don't know where to start. They hire someone to build a website but are unclear about the goals, buy a CRM but have no customers to manage, set up email marketing but have no recipient list. Everything is implemented in isolation, without logical connection, and ultimately doesn't bring the desired results.

Lack of Understanding of Prioritization

One of the main reasons sellers get stuck is not understanding the order of priority. They don't realize that before thinking about automated customer care, they need to have customers first. Before having customers, they need a place to collect customer information. And before collecting information, they need a place for customers to learn about the products and brand.

Websites, landing pages, CRMs, email marketing, and automation are not substitutes for each other. They are sequential layers in a system. Without the foundational layer, the upper layers cannot function effectively.

Concerns About Excessive Costs and Effort

Many sellers think that to have a complete own sales channel, they have to invest a lot of money and time from the start. They hear about complex CRM systems, email marketing campaigns that take months to build, and automation processes that require high technical skills.

In reality, if you follow the right roadmap, sellers can start with simple and affordable steps. The key is to understand where you are at, what to prioritize first, and to build each layer step by step with certainty.

The Right Mindset for Building Your Own Sales Channel Outside Marketplaces

Build Layer by Layer Following Development Logic

Instead of trying to do everything at once, sellers should think about building the system layer by layer. Each layer has a clear objective and serves as the foundation for the next.

The first layer is the place for independent presence. This is where customers can learn about your brand and products without being constrained by the interface and policies of e-commerce platforms. A dedicated website for sellers is the solution for this layer.

The second layer is where conversions are made for specific campaigns. When sellers have an overall website, creating pages focused on a particular product or promotional program will help increase conversion rates. Landing pages for sellers play this role.

The third layer is the system for retaining and managing customer data. Once you have visitors and they leave their information, storing and organizing this data scientifically is key to reselling and nurturing customers long-term. This is when a CRM for e-commerce becomes necessary.

After these three foundational layers are stable, sellers should then expand to optimization tools like email marketing for online sellers and automation for online sales.

No Need to Leave Marketplaces Immediately

An important point to clarify: building your own sales channel doesn't mean leaving e-commerce marketplaces immediately. Marketplaces are still a good source of traffic and sales, especially in the early stages when your own system is still new.

The right roadmap is to continue selling on marketplaces to maintain cash flow while gradually building your own channel. When your own channel is strong enough, you can be more proactive in allocating resources and gradually reduce dependence on marketplaces.

Focus on Retaining Customer Data

One of the biggest reasons to build your own sales channel is to retain customer data. On marketplaces, sellers do not own customer information. Every time they make a sale, sellers have to start from scratch, relying on the traffic provided by the marketplace.

When you have your own system, every time a customer leaves their information, you are building a valuable asset. This asset can be used to re-engage, nurture, and sell to customers multiple times in the future without incurring the same advertising costs as the first time.

3-Step Plan to Build Your Own Sales Channel

Step 1: Build a Sales Website

Why a Website is a Logical Starting Point

A sales website is the first foundation in the roadmap for building your own sales channel outside of marketplaces. This is where sellers create an independent presence, a space where customers can learn about the brand, view all products, and feel the story the seller wants to convey.

Unlike a marketplace stall limited by templates and general policies, a dedicated website allows sellers to express their brand identity, arrange products in their own way, and build customer trust in a manner they fully control.

Furthermore, the website also serves as the official destination when sellers run ads or share content on social media. Instead of driving traffic to a marketplace stall, where customers can be distracted by other competitors, a website helps sellers keep customers within their own ecosystem.

What Your Website Needs in the Early Stages

An early-stage website doesn't need to be overly complex. Sellers should focus on core elements: a homepage for an overview, a product page with clear descriptions and images, a brand introduction page, a contact page, and sales policies.

The important thing is that the website must be easy to navigate, load quickly, display well on mobile phones, and have clear contact channels. Customers need to feel secure buying from a new website, so trust-building elements like customer reviews, return policies, and transparent contact information are essential.

KPIs to Monitor During the Website Stage

In the early stages when the website is newly launched, sellers should monitor basic metrics such as:

• Number of website visits per day/week
• High bounce rate
• Most viewed pages
• Average time customers spend on the page
• Number of customers clicking on contact buttons or Zalo/Messenger

These metrics help sellers understand if customers are interested in the content, which pages need improvement, and whether the website is effectively serving as an introduction.

Step 2: Create Landing Pages for Specific Campaigns

Why Landing Pages Are Needed When You Already Have a Website

An overall website is great for introducing the brand and all products. But when sellers run a specific campaign, such as a weekend flash sale or a new product launch, directing customers to a general homepage will reduce conversion effectiveness.

Landing pages for sellers are the solution to this problem. These are pages designed to focus on a single objective: encouraging customers to take a specific action, such as filling out a form, registering for information, or immediately purchasing a discounted product.

An effective landing page has concise content, prominent images, a clear call to action, and not too many exit points. Customers visiting the page will know exactly what to do next.

When to Start Building Landing Pages

Sellers should start building landing pages when their website is stable and they begin having specific marketing campaigns. If a seller is running Facebook ads for a new product, or has a special discount program, that's when a dedicated landing page is needed.

Landing pages are also very useful when sellers want to collect potential customer information. Instead of asking customers to buy immediately, sellers can create landing pages to offer free e-books, vouchers, or useful documents in exchange for contact information.

KPIs to Monitor During the Landing Page Stage

Once landing pages are implemented, sellers need to monitor the following metrics:

• Conversion rate: how many visitors take the desired action
• Number of fully completed forms
• Advertising cost per conversion
• Which traffic sources yield the highest conversions
• Which call-to-action buttons are clicked the most

This data helps sellers optimize landing pages and allocate advertising budgets more effectively.

Step 3: Connect CRM to Retain and Nurture Customer Data

Why CRM is the Most Important Step

If websites and landing pages help sellers reach and attract customers, then a CRM for e-commerce is the tool that helps retain and nurture those customers. This is where all the information customers have left is stored: name, phone number, email, products of interest, interaction history.

Without a CRM, sellers often store customer information haphazardly: some in Excel, some in Zalo messages, some in phone contacts. This makes customer management and nurturing chaotic and ineffective.

CRM helps sellers organize data scientifically, categorize customers by group, behavior, or level of interest. From there, sellers can proactively re-engage the right customers at the right time with the right message.

More importantly, CRM helps sellers not have to start from scratch every time they want to sell. Instead of running ads to find new customers each time, sellers can resell to customers who have already trusted and purchased before, at a much lower cost.

How CRM Connects with Websites and Landing Pages

For CRM to work effectively, it needs to be directly connected to the information collection forms on the website and landing pages. When customers fill out a form to request consultation or a voucher, that data is automatically sent to the CRM instead of being manually entered.

This integration saves sellers time, reduces errors, and ensures that no potential customers are missed. As soon as new information is available, sellers can set up a nurturing process immediately.

KPIs to Monitor During the CRM Stage

Once you have a CRM, sellers should monitor metrics such as:

• Total contacts stored in the system
• Number of new contacts per week
• Percentage of leads converted into actual customers
• Average number of follow-ups needed to close a deal
• Repeat purchase rate of existing customers

These metrics help sellers assess the effectiveness of customer management and nurturing, and adjust strategies accordingly.

Expansion: Email Marketing and Automation

When to Start with Email Marketing for Online Sellers

After the website, landing page, and CRM are stable and operating, sellers will have a large enough customer data pool to start considering email marketing. This is the expansion phase, not the foundational phase.

Email marketing for online sellers allows sending information about new products, promotions, or useful content to the existing customer list. Unlike advertising which requires payment per reach, email marketing allows sellers to interact with customers without additional advertising costs.

However, email marketing is only effective when sellers have a quality email list, collected from people genuinely interested in the products. If the list is not large enough or not clearly segmented, sending emails will not yield the desired results.

The Role of Automation for Online Sales

As the system runs smoothly and more customers interact, sellers will realize that some repetitive tasks can be automated. For example, sending welcome emails to new customers, sending reminders to customers who abandoned their carts, sending birthday offers, or post-purchase customer care.

Automation for online sales helps sellers set up automated customer nurturing processes based on specific behaviors and times. This saves time, ensures no customers are missed, and creates a consistent experience.

However, automation should only be implemented when sellers have a clear understanding of the customer journey and have a well-functioning manual nurturing process. Automating too early when the process is unclear will not yield the desired results.

KPIs to Monitor During the Expansion Stage

When implementing email marketing and automation, sellers should monitor:

• Email open rate
• Click-through rate of links in emails
• Email unsubscribe rate
• Revenue from email campaigns
• Effectiveness of each automated workflow

These metrics help sellers know which campaigns are performing well, what content customers are interested in, and what needs to be adjusted to optimize performance.

30-60-90 Day Timeline: A Practical Roadmap for Sellers

First 30 Days: Focus on Building Your Website

In the first 30 days, sellers should focus entirely on building and perfecting their sales website. This is the stage to create the most basic foundation.

Weeks 1-2: Plan content, prepare product images, write product descriptions, and define page structure. If you already have content from your marketplace store, this is the time to revise and refresh it to fit your own website.

Week 3: Implement the website, set up basic pages, install tracking tools like Google Analytics to measure traffic.

Week 4: Thoroughly test, optimize page load speed, ensure good mobile display, and start testing by driving traffic from existing channels like personal Facebook or customer groups.

End of the first month goal: have a stable, user-friendly website ready to receive customers.

Next 60 Days: Add Landing Pages and Start Data Collection

After the website is operational and has initial traffic, the next 60 days are when sellers should build landing pages for specific campaigns and start collecting customer data systematically.

Weeks 5-6: Identify products or programs that need dedicated landing pages. This could be your best-selling product, a new product, or an upcoming promotion. Design simple landing pages with a clear objective.

Weeks 7-8: Run small test ad campaigns driving traffic to the landing pages, monitor conversion rates, and adjust content or design if needed.

Weeks 9-10: Implement a basic CRM, connect forms on the website and landing pages to the CRM so customer data is stored automatically. Start segmenting customers by source and interest level.

Weeks 11-12: Test manual customer nurturing processes. Call or message customers who have left information to understand their journey and identify areas for improvement.

End of the second month goal: have at least one effective landing page and start accumulating customer data in the CRM.

Next 90 Days: Optimize Your System and Consider Expansion

After the first 90 days, sellers will have a basic functioning system: website, landing page, and CRM. This is the time to optimize and consider expansion steps.

Weeks 13-16: Analyze data from the first 3 months. Which pages have the highest conversion rates? Which traffic sources are most effective? Which customers tend to repurchase multiple times?

Weeks 17-20: Based on data analysis, optimize website content, improve landing pages, and refine customer nurturing processes.

Weeks 21-24: If you have a sufficiently large and well-segmented customer data pool, you can start testing email marketing with a small campaign. Send valuable information or special offers to specific customer segments and monitor feedback.

Week 25 onwards: Continue optimizing and gradually expanding. If email marketing yields good results, you can set up simple automation workflows for automated customer care.

End of the third month goal: have a stable operating system, clear data on the effectiveness of each channel, and be ready for expansion or further investment in effective channels.

Comparison: Doing Everything at Once vs. Following Stages

Scenario A: Seller Does Everything at Once

A seller is determined to build their own sales channel. They hire a website developer, buy a CRM, sign up for email marketing services, and start running aggressive ads. All within 2 weeks.

Result: The website's content hasn't been optimized, the CRM has no data to manage, and email marketing has no recipient list. Ads burn money but there's no optimization because the bottleneck isn't clear. After 2 months, the seller feels overwhelmed, doesn't know where to focus, and starts doubting if a dedicated channel is truly suitable for them.

Scenario B: Seller Follows Stages

Another seller decides to build their own channel but starts by focusing entirely on the website in the first month. They meticulously refine content, optimize images, and begin driving traffic from their personal Facebook to test.

After seeing the website functioning well, they create a landing page for a weekend flash sale and run small ads. When customers leave their information, they then start using the CRM to store and track.

Result: After 3 months, this seller has a simple but effective system. They clearly understand the value each part brings, know where to invest more, and feel confident to continue expanding.

Mini Case: From Marketplace Dependence to Owning Your System

Lan has been selling cosmetics on Shopee for 2 years. Her monthly sales are around 50-70 million VND, which is quite stable. But she realized that every time Shopee changes its algorithm or increases fees, her profits immediately decrease. More importantly, she has no way to re-contact customers who have purchased unless they return on their own.

She decided to build her own sales channel but didn't know where to start. After researching, she chose to follow the step-by-step roadmap.

In the first month, she focused on creating a website introducing her main product lines. She didn't try to make the website too complicated, just focused on presenting products beautifully, clear descriptions, and a contact form. She started sharing the website link on her personal Facebook and in loyal customer groups.

In the second month, she noticed a serum product that customers were very interested in. She created a dedicated landing page for this product with a buy-2-get-1-free offer. She ran small Facebook ads driving traffic to the landing page and asked customers to fill out a form to receive consultation. As a result, in 2 weeks she collected over 100 potential customer leads.

At this point, she started using CRM to store and segment these customers. She divided them into groups: purchased, interested but not yet purchased, and needing further nurturing. She proactively called and messaged each group on Zalo with appropriate messages.

After 3 months, she had a list of over 300 potential customers in her CRM. She started sending weekly emails sharing skincare tips and introducing new products. The initial email open rate was around 20-25%, and about 5-7% of customers repurchased after each email campaign.

Lan didn't abandon Shopee, but now she has her own sales channel operating in parallel. When a customer buys on Shopee, she proactively includes a thank-you card with her website link and a discount voucher for their next purchase. Gradually, some customers from Shopee started buying directly through her own channel, where she can proactively nurture and resell without sharing fees with the marketplace.

Self-Assessment: Where Are You in the Roadmap?

To know what to prioritize next, sellers can assess themselves based on the following questions:

About the Website:
- Do you have your own website yet?
- Does the website display well on mobile phones?
- Can customers easily find product information and contact methods?
- Are you tracking website visits and customer behavior?

About Landing Pages:
- Do you have landing pages for specific products or campaigns?
- Do the landing pages have a clear conversion objective?
- Are you collecting customer information through forms?

About CRM:
- Where are you currently storing customer information?
- Can you easily retrieve information for a specific customer?
- Do you segment customers by group or behavior?
- Are you proactively re-engaging past customers?

About Email and Automation:
- Do you have a sufficiently large customer email list?
- Do you send regular email marketing?
- Do you have any automated customer nurturing workflows running?

If most of the answers for the Website section are "no" or "not yet," that's a sign you should focus on step 1. If you have a website but no landing page or are not systematically collecting data, move on to step 2. If you have a website and landing page but customer data is still scattered, it's time to prioritize step 3 with a CRM.

GTG CRM: A Solution to Help Sellers Follow the Roadmap More Smoothly

Once sellers understand the 3-step roadmap and are determined to implement it, the next question is: what tools should be used?

One of the biggest challenges for sellers is having to use multiple tools for each step. The website uses one platform, landing pages use another tool, CRM is a separate system, and email marketing has to be integrated from a fourth service. Each tool has its own usage, its own costs, and connecting them is often complex.

GTG CRM is built with the goal of helping sellers follow this roadmap more seamlessly. Within a single platform, sellers can:

• Build multi-page websites with professional interfaces
• Create landing pages for specific campaigns or products
• Use forms for customer information collection
• Data from forms is automatically sent to the CRM for management
• Store and categorize customer contacts scientifically
• Send email marketing with a simple drag-and-drop tool
• Set up automation workflows for customer nurturing according to processes

This means sellers don't have to spend time learning multiple tools, worry about integrations, or pay for many separate services. Everything is within a unified system, allowing sellers to focus on selling and customer care instead of struggling with technology.

For new sellers, GTG CRM helps implement the roadmap from step 1 to step 3 smoothly. For sellers who already have a dedicated website but no CRM, GTG CRM helps add the missing layers without having to rebuild from scratch.

Conclusion

Building your own sales channel outside of marketplaces is not an impulsive decision or a project to be completed in a month. It's a long journey that requires a clear strategy and perseverance.

The 3-step roadmap provides sellers with a concrete path: start with a sales website to create an independent presence, continue with landing pages for sellers to increase campaign-specific conversions, and complete it with a CRM for e-commerce to retain customer data and nurture them long-term. Once the foundation is solid, expanding into email marketing for online sellers and automation for online sales will become natural and more effective.

The most important thing is that sellers should not try to do everything at once. Focus on each step, build each layer with certainty, measure results, and adjust before moving to the next. That's the only way to build a sustainable own sales system that truly brings long-term value.

If you are an online seller looking for ways to break free from marketplace dependency, start with the first step today. You don't have to leave marketplaces immediately, but you need to start building your own system if you want a more sustainable business future.

Start building your own sales channel with a sales website using GTG CRM today to build the first foundation for your own sales channel.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Do I need to leave e-commerce marketplaces when building my own sales channel?

Not necessarily. Building your own sales channel outside of marketplaces doesn't mean abandoning marketplaces immediately. Sellers should continue selling on marketplaces to maintain cash flow while gradually building their own system. Once the own system is strong enough, you can be more proactive in resource allocation.

2. Where should I start if I have nothing?

If you have nothing, start with step 1 with a dedicated website for sellers. This is the most basic foundation for creating an independent presence. After the website is stable, proceed with landing pages and CRM in the correct order.

3. How long does it take to have an effective sales system?

With the 3-step roadmap, sellers can have a basic system operational within 3 months. The first 30 days focus on the website, the next 60 days add landing pages and CRM, and the following 90 days optimize the system. However, the specific timeline depends on the seller's resources and focus.

4. What is the cost of building my own sales channel?

Costs depend on the tools and scale of implementation. Using an integrated platform like GTG CRM can save costs compared to buying multiple separate tools. It's important to invest step-by-step according to your financial capacity rather than trying to do everything at once and exceeding your budget.

5. I'm not tech-savvy, can I build a website and landing page myself?

Yes. Modern platforms like GTG CRM are designed so that even individuals without technical knowledge can build websites and landing pages using a simple drag-and-drop interface. You don't need to know programming or advanced design to get started.

6. When should I start using email marketing and automation?

Email marketing and automation should be implemented after you have a stable website, landing pages, and CRM, and a sufficient amount of customer data. Implementing too early without data or a clear understanding of the customer journey will not yield high results.

7. How do I know if my own sales channel is performing effectively?

Track relevant KPIs for each stage: website traffic, landing page conversion rates, new contacts in CRM, customer repeat purchase rate. It's important to compare the cost of acquiring new customers with the cost of reselling to existing customers to see the true value of retaining customer data.

8. Can I transfer customer data from marketplaces to my own system?

Typically, e-commerce marketplaces do not provide detailed customer contact information to sellers. That's why building your own channel and collecting data directly from customers is so important. You can proactively invite customers who purchased on marketplaces to join your own channel through incentives or loyalty programs.