Most people think that when they buy something on Amazon, they’re buying it from Amazon itself.
But over 45% of everything sold on Amazon is sold by a third party.
A third party is someone who sells a product but didn’t manufacture it themselves. Sometimes they’ve imported the product from overseas, or perhaps they’ve bought product on sale via other retailers or they purchased from a distributor who heavily discounted the product due to over-supply or maybe it’s last season’s model.
As we are well aware, Amazon drives more than 50% of ecommerce trade in the USA. Selling merchandise on Amazon.com can be an extremely lucrative business – and there are even ways to operate that can save you a lot of work and effort, such as using “Fulfilment by Amazon” (FBA), where Amazon essentially takes care of everything involved with order shipping and customer service.
Anyone can become an Amazon seller, but there is a lot of competition out there! More than 500,000 sellers to be precise.
Reviews are the lifeblood of an Amazon seller’s account. It’s difficult to sell products from an account that has no feedback or ratings. Would you buy something from a seller with zero stars? It’s vitally important to work hard to get positive feedback in your early days of selling on Amazon. There are a lot of ways you can do this, but two of the best options are 1) Offering your product for free to a small number of people in exchange for honest reviews (perhaps via Amazon’s Vine program), and 2) Hiring an automated email service to solicit reviews from your buyers – make sure to choose a service that follows all of Amazons strict solicitation policies.
Many prospective customers will ask questions about your product on the product page. If a response is posted within the first 12 hours that customer is much more likely to purchase the item. Likewise, if a customer has bought something from you and filed an issue, be extremely responsive and flexible. More often than not, people will be happy that you take care of the problem as opposed to dragging your feet to solve any issues that arise.
Like we mentioned before, reviews are an Amazon seller’s lifeblood. Just as positive reviews are essential, it is equally important to avoid negative reviews. Be kind, generous, honest and positive when working with customer complaints. Even if you have to offer compensation or returns at a loss – it will help you in the long run by avoiding unwanted negative reviews. Sure, there are a lot of people out there that can be difficult and some people will complain even when you’ve done a great job and delivered an excellent product, but when it comes to selling on Amazon, it’s better just to bite the bullet and do what it takes to keep customers happy.
Getting on the first page of an Amazon search for your product can be incredibly difficult, but even if you aren’t on the first page or the buy box, all hope is not lost! You can utilize Amazon’s advertising tools by promoting your products with PPC advertising (Amazon sponsored products and sponosred brands). Amazon says “Sponsored Products are ads for individual product listings on Amazon. They appear on search results pages and product detail pages, helping drive sales and product visibility.”
Unlike google’s text copy, Amazon’s “search” ads pull images of your products from the listing page.
As you probably know, there are a lot of ways to make money selling on Amazon. Selling brand name products can get you some cash, but the real money maker is when you can create a brand! You can work with Alibaba and other manufacturers to get a great product to sell that has your very own brand on the label and product. Having your own brand can make you stand out, and it allows you to build a reputation for the future. When you pick your brand name and logo, take the time to strategically plan the type of brand that will be successful for years to come. Building a brand is a long-term commitment and will likely need advertising support (video ads and display ads) however this brand will allow you to foster a reputation and use the halo (customer preference/strong reputation) of one product to sell others.
There are more than 20 factors that determine your success on Amazon and we have covered 20 of those in our four part blog series. Should you need expert advice for your products, the team at Podean would be very willing to provide you our consulting services.
It can be tempting to find the most popular products that are sold on Amazon and jump on the bandwagon to get your share of the market. But the more popular the product, the more competitive the buy box and pricing will be. Consider finding a semi-popular product that you can sell that will still have buyer demand while remaining less competitive with other sellers.
Keep close track of your profit margins and expenses. You don’t want to rush into purchasing a large inventory order before you know what your net profit will be after you sell it all. Learn your numbers and carefully plan your projected sales and income. Consider bringing in the help of an Accountant if needed, and don’t forget that if you’re running other advertising that they are all related… your Google search and video also helps build your brand, as does any other online or TV advertising – it all helps build your brand and ultimately enhance Amazon conversions.
Although you can sell almost anything on Amazon, there are still some limitations on what you are allowed to list. Some of the items on the restricted products list are surprising, so never assume you’re safe until you specifically check! You can find the full list of Amazon’s product restrictions here.
And even if the product is allowed, Amazon can be quite cautious around sellers. For example in the case of selling fine jewelry, a history of legitimate selling and minimum turnover is required.
When you sell on Amazon, everyone wins – this means that it is in Amazon’s best interest to help you succeed. Amazon has produced some useful tools to assist you in marketing and selling your product. Learn how to use these tools, and you’ll be heading in the right direction towards making a living selling on Amazon.
There are also many companies who have developed tools to work with Amazon. some of them leverage Amazon’s APIs, and others scrape the site which is frowned upon by Amazon and rumored to be shut-off in the near future.
The Podean team has evaluated over 50 companies and their tools/platforms and is able to provide clients unbiased advice tailored to your specific needs.
Do you know the difference between turquoise and teal? How about maroon and burgundy? Even if the manufacturer describes the product as a specific color, it may in fact, be a different shade or different color entirely. Make sure you properly name the color according to what the actual product is. By doing this correctly, you will avoid unhappy customers and unwanted product returns.
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