Today’s small businesses are thriving in a highly competitive retail landscape that seamlessly blends digital and traditional commerce. Our survey of 1,500 U.S. small and medium-sized businesses that sell goods online (“small online sellers”) reveals there’s no one-size-fits-all solution to the challenges businesses face in the retail sector. To tackle those challenges, small online sellers have more choices than ever at each step of the retail journey, and most combine multiple marketing strategies, sales methods, and fulfillment solutions to find success.

Specifically, 70% of small online sellers use multiple sales methods, including web stores, online marketplaces, wholesaling, and “brick-and-mortar” retail stores. When it comes to selling online, 61% of sellers report selling through online marketplaces, with the average marketplace seller using four of them. While all sales methods are valuable, most (59%) small online sellers say online stores and marketplaces yield higher profit margins than traditional (offline) retail methods.

Beyond selling goods, the retail journey includes many other core business tasks. For example, sellers must market and advertise to potential customers, store and ship products, and handle customer service and returns. Rather than being locked into any single platform or service provider, sellers report having many options for completing business tasks. For example, 83% use a flexible combination of “do it yourself” and outsourced services for order fulfillment, with sellers finding tremendous value when paying for these services. In addition, 77% of small online sellers use fulfillment services integrated into online store and marketplace platforms, with majorities reporting the services help them compete with larger sellers and retail chains.

Digital advertising also exemplifies the choices available to small online sellers. Virtually all (94%) small online sellers consider digital advertising important and use different kinds of ads for different sales methods. Sellers commonly use social media ads to highlight their online stores but say marketplace ads are the most effective for marketplace sales. At the same time, sellers still use traditional advertising like television, radio, and print ads. In short, small businesses leverage digital tools as part of intricate, customized approaches to selling their goods and services.

Despite economic challenges, 94% of small online sellers are confident their businesses will grow in the next four years. This remarkable optimism stems from having multiple viable paths to reach customers and the freedom to choose among platforms and service providers that innovate and compete for their business. Additionally, sellers using more tools are more optimistic about the future of their businesses.

The research presented in this “Super Selling” report reveals a dynamic retail ecosystem in which small online sellers thrive precisely because of robust competition at every level — between digital and traditional sales and marketing approaches, amongst digital platforms, across many marketing options, and between service providers at every step in the retail journey. This competitive environment has created a landscape where small online sellers can compete with efficiency and agility against retailers of any size, anywhere.