There may be good reasons for a brand to sell on a number of online marketplaces — most notably that by appearing on a variety of marketplaces, a merchant has access to a broader and more varied collection of possible customers.

But it ain’t easy. Doing what it takes to manage a brand’s products across marketplaces requires a considerable number of tools and a sizeable amount of manpower.

Just ask Mike Ritter, president of online retailer CPO Commerce. “You have your control panel, your product information manager, your pricing system,” Ritter says. “Then you have inventory, which is tied to warehouse management, and transportation and all that other stuff.”