Are you interested in learning how to Sell on Amazon? Here's What You'll Be Needing
Whether you already have an established e-commerce business or you're just beginning building your online presence, you've probably considered the advantages and disadvantages of selling on Amazon.
Traditionally speaking, you'll keep more revenue and build more equity in your business by building and maintaining an online store on your site. But, thanks to all the tools that make multi-channel selling more effective -- and lucrative and profitable than ever and you'll be able to accomplish simultaneously and quickly expand your audience.
If you're interested in trying to sell on Amazon or want to know a bit more about how it works in the process, this article will guide you through selling on Amazon as well as what you need to get started.
An introduction to Amazon's marketplace
Amazon is the most popular e-commerce retailer in the world especially in that is true for the U.S., where 70% of adults have Prime memberships. About 56% of ecommerce sales in the U.S. happen on Amazon which has around 200 million active monthly app customers. Based on their own statistics around 7400 items sell each minute in the U.S.
Amazon also ships to over 130 countries, so if you're seeking global e-commerce customers, this is the fastest and easiest way to reach the widest world audience.
Ready? Let's dive into the basics you must learn about selling on Amazon.
Types of Amazon seller accounts
There are two main kinds of seller accounts available on Amazon: Individual and Professional.
Most ecommerce businesses that are seeking a steady revenue stream and growth should choose the Professional model, as the Individual one charges you an amount for each sale however the Professional version charges a fixed monthly rate.
Other selling costs are also a part of the equation. each type of account has to pay, but we'll discuss those later.
A step-by-step guide to the process of setting up your Amazon seller account
Amazon has created a ton of material to help sellers create accounts and start selling. If you're looking to read through their documentation and get started, begin on the following page. However, we've distilled the procedure down to this basic procedure:
1. Make an account to sell
Starting with your Amazon account is as easy as registering. First, you'll create your username and password, you can go on through the steps.
2. Choose the Professional Selling Plan
Then, select the seller account type you'd like to choose. Like we said, you'll want to pick the Professional plan if you're planning to increase your sales using Amazon. If, in terms of sales, you expect to sell over 40 items a month, you need an Professional account.
Amazon will likely not be your only ecommerce platform or marketplace. And it probably shouldn't be because there are many benefits to creating your own online store with . But Amazon lets you expand to new markets you simply would not be able to reach through your store.
3. Sign up to Brand Registry
Amazon provides a Brand Registry service, which must be used before you can build your online store. You can also take advantage of various other tools and features available on Amazon's platform, including seller protections and Amazon Ads. You can also get a 5% bonus on branded sales.
4. Utilize this Stores Builder tool to create your online store
Once you've registered, can use their Stores builders tool as well as drag-and-drop tools to build your store. There are three designs that you can choose from, and after selecting the one you like, you'll have the ability to upload products and start creating pages.
You can adjust the tiles to display product pictures, videos, descriptions, as well as other material so that it makes the most sense for your shop.
In order to get there it is necessary to have an official trademark registered in the nation you're registering from, along with the logo.
5. Design your product listing and begin selling
Once you have selected a template, you can begin with the page manager. It will allow you to add product pages, create categories, design a homepage or whatever else you'd like to add as part of your Amazon shopfront, to generate sales.
There are specific image size specifications, and you're limited to 200 characters for your product name and that's plenty.
"Perfect Launch "Perfect Launch"
Amazon loves to advertise the concept of a "Perfect launch" for brand new sellers This means that you meet five tasks within the first 90 days of creating your account as a seller. These five goals include:
- Sign up to Brand Registry
- Make A+-related content for your pages for products
- Create Fulfillment by Amazon (we'll go over this later)
- Automate your price using Amazon's machine learning technology.
- Create sponsored product ad campaigns coupon codes, sales, or other deals
All this in just the initial 90-day period result more successful results in accordance with their studies and that's the reason they have called it the perfect launch.
When your shop is up and running it is possible to use your brand's analytics data to develop product bundles or combination items that consumers will be interested in. This can increase sales, and enables you to package many items together in one shipment.
Make product descriptions more appealing to be able to use Amazon
Amazon's site functions much as an engine for searching. Shoppers can type in keywords that they are looking for, and Amazon will display products that align with their searches.
This is what needs to guide your approach to creating the product listing and improving the page that describes your products.
Search-friendly keywords
Utilize keywords shoppers may look up that are related to your items. Put them in your titles and descriptions of your products. Use variations or complementary keywords if there's more than one way people might describe your product. Make use of models number, GTINs as well as SKUs.
Informative descriptions and details
Make sure you are precise in the descriptions you write and in the details, especially for products that have many variations, like sizes, colors and flavors.
Use bullet elements to make your lists simple to read and concentrate on the positive aspects in addition to the product characteristics. Benefits focus on outcomesWhat do I benefit from this product? What problem does it solve? What needs do I have that this product can meet, and what is the best way to meet the need? You want to answer those types of questions within your product descriptions as well as bullet points.
Great product images
Understanding Amazon's fees
Like I said earlier There are only two plans to choose from.
The Individual plan costs 99 cents for each sale. Every item you sell online under this plan will cost you 99 cents.
The Professional plan costs $39.99 per month, with unlimited sales. That's where the idea of selling 40 items every month from. But even if you aren't sure whether you'll actually sell 40 items your initial month, still choose the Professional plan if you're dedicated to making it an important part of your business online and hope to increase that number in the future.
If you are looking to promote on Amazon, show up on the Buy Box, sell products from restricted categories (and they are numerous of them), and use other sophisticated selling tools, you'll require the Professional plan.
Amazon also charges several extra selling charges based upon the agreement you have with them.
Referral fee
The two plans both charge a referral cost for every sale you sell, and they can range from 3% to up to 45% in a couple instances. However, the majority of referral fees are between 8-15%, which is quite typical for market places online.
There are many additional fees, plus referral fees on various categories of products on this page.
Storage and fulfillment fees
If you involve Amazon for the delivery, packaging, or other tasks related to fulfillment you will pay charges for it too, which depends on the size and weight. If you only use Amazon to deliver packages, you'll be charged depending on the size and weight of your package.
There's additional costs when you utilize Amazon's warehouses for storing your products. But you might consider doing this because it comes with some other benefits that we'll talk about shortly. The biggest one is that you are able to offer two-day shipping for your customers under the name.
In the months of October and December, storage charges triple that of the other nine months, due to the festive period.
Fulfillment options -- FBM, SFP, FBA
Like we said the decision is yours to make what you'd like to do with fulfillment.
You can choose to fulfill every order yourself, which is known as "fulfillment by merchant" (FBM). Additionally, you can utilize the Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP), a special service for skilled Amazon sellers. It's not something you're able to use yet if you're just getting started. Additionally, you have the option of using Fulfillment from Amazon, which is what they'd like you to use as it comes packed with rewards.
Fulfillment by merchant
This option of fulfillment provides you with the most amount of control over your fulfillment process. It allows you to handle your orders, package them for shipping, then store them in your home, warehouse, or other locations. If you're using dropshipping, that's what Amazon permits, you'll likely choose dropshipping.
One disadvantage of FBM is that it's not possible to take advantage of being an Amazon Prime seller, which offers a host of advantages.
But, if you want to put special care into your packaging process it could prove beneficial, even if it means fewer people order through you due to longer shipping time.
Prime Seller Fulfilled by Seller
In this case, you store your stock in your warehouse. However, Amazon takes care of the distribution process using companies of their choice.
You can't do this until your Amazon store opens:
- Provides high-quality delivery options
- Over 90% of all orders within time
- Has an order cancellation rate lower than 0.5 0.5%
- Utilizes Amazon Buy Shipping Services for 99percent of purchases
- Makes use of methods for shipping that permit weekend delivery
- Successfully completes a trial period
Learn more about the specifications.
Fulfillment through Amazon
Amazon consumers enjoy Prime Day, and all related to Amazon Prime. According to the statistics, approximately 70 percent of U.S. adults have Prime memberships. Therefore, whatever you are able to do to appeal to those members will be to your advantage in terms of sales volume.
If you opt for FBA and you choose FBA, your Amazon shop will be awarded a Prime Badge. When people search for items on Amazon and search for a store, they have the option to narrow their search results based upon stores which have the Prime Badge. Therefore, if your store doesn't have this, you won't show up in search results for those who use this option.
For those shoppers who do not filter their search however, they'll still be able to see the Prime logo next to your listing, if you're making use of FBA.
Also, with Prime Badges it is possible to provide Amazon Prime's complimentary 2-day delivery, as well as all-free shipping. Amazon handles the packing, delivery, returns and issues with customer service.
FBA can also allow you to use Amazon's machine learning technology for inventory management, which helps you plan ahead for customer demand so you don't procure excessive or insufficient stocks.
There is a cost increase for Fulfillment by Amazon however, you'll receive a lot also, and a lot part of the burden of managing an online store is lifted from your hands by having the optimized Amazon fulfillment center.
It's an excellent choice for those who value efficiency and time and do not want to be dealing with shipping or storage. If you'd prefer to handle the task yourself, to cut costs but you're not sure, FBA isn't your best option.
Wait -- inventory?
If you're only beginning to get started in your venture, inventory is something that you've probably not thought very much.
The amount of inventory is influenced by a variety of factors that are different for each business, such as:
- The number of channels that you're selling to
- Your industry norms
- The types of products you sell
- The size of your company
As you expand the channels that you're working with The more items you'll be able to sell. As for stock, this makes it more difficult to manage everything.
For example, suppose you own a warehouse that has 50 units of stock for a particular product, and you're able to sell 30 the items via Amazon within one month. You are feeling great and decide to replenish your stock with another 50.
What if, however, you're selling your products on your store and you sold 20 more merchandise the month before on that platform. This means that your inventory is empty, and if your sales do not increase over the following month, you'll need more than 50.
That's an oversimplified example, because sales don't all happen in a single day. It's a good illustration of how important it is to continuously monitoring your supply and the speed at which they're selling, and the platforms they're selling through Each of these might have distinct fulfillment methods.
Also, you must factor in products that may be non-perishable, products that aren't being sold anymore, as well as high storage costs.
Whatever you're selling, you'll need a procedure for keeping track of all the details. This is more information on Amazon about managing stock.
Service to customers and keeping a high seller rating
When you begin to learn how to sell your products on Amazon and other platforms, you'll discover it's somewhat more challenging than it is with the own online store. You must create procedures to offer customer service at a high quality to earn great seller ratings.
First, be sure to include your product descriptions to be able to answer as many inquiries as you think customers might be likely to.
Second, use good images and other visuals to make it easier for customers to see and understand what they're buying.
3. Respond positively to all reviews Even the ones that are negative. It shows that you're attentive to your customers and you want to provide the highest quality service.
And last thing, on Amazon you have the option of using the tool known as Brand Follow, which is a way for customers to join your list even when they don't purchase anything on their first visit. Any person who decides to follow you is notified of your product updates and you will have the opportunity to regain their attention.
Sell your products on Amazon; build your future with
With , you can benefit in endless freedom, total control, and powerful capabilities that are all free of costs on the platform. Furthermore, you will not have to fret about rival services appearing right next to yours!
Selling on multiple channels helps you reach the highest percentage of your audience and get them to where they are. It offers a range of multi-channel extensions that allow you to connect your online shop to Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Facebook, Pinterest, and much more.