Selling on Amazon can be wonderful way to make a living. If you’re looking forward to someday owning your own business, Amazon offers a smarter way for you to earn money, gain financial freedom and liberate yourself from the drudgery of daily toil.
But like all endeavors worth pursuing, selling on Amazon has its own benefits, privileges, challenges and pitfalls. If you’ve marked this day as the day when you no longer will let anyone push you around, then you’ve come to the right place.
Start your journey on the right foot to get you to the path of financial success. Learn the ins and outs of Amazon as well as the challenges faced by others so you can avoid costly mistakes and make an informed decision as to what you need to do right from the start. Outlined in this article are proven online business success strategies that are tailor fitted especially for Amazon vendors.
- Research Amazon’s selling guidelines and policies
The first thing you need to do is know and understand the policy and guidelines for selling on Amazon. These rules are designed to keep Amazon working efficiently, and Amazon is counting on you as seller to abide by the rules and regulations they have set. Ignoring their policy could get you banned.
Although the rules are by no means perfect, they are there with the intention of keeping transactions, interactions and communication between parties as efficient as possible. So conduct yourself with professionalism, and show respect and positivity when interacting with Amazon.
- Become a featured merchant the easy way
Many vendors want to become a featured merchant, but shrug off the idea, thinking this is something difficult for them to do. The thing is, it’s actually a simple process that takes just a little time and effort to achieve.
Focus on carrying items that are durable, easy to ship and sell. Be sure to provide great customer service, be prompt in answering questions, and be there for your customers when they have complaints or problems about using your product. This way you’ll be assured of return business. If you maintain a good standing with your customers and Amazon, it’s likely you’ll achieve the status in just a matter of months.
Being a featured merchant is a privilege that allows buyers to be redirected to your store when they click the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button. Needless to say, this will make a huge positive impact on your sales volume.
- Leverage fulfillment by Amazon to your advantage
If you manage your online store well, sooner or later it will grow into a thriving business. When that happens, you’ll run into problems with regard to fulfilling products and orders. Fulfillment by Amazon or FBA helps you cope with large or several orders at once. When you’re enrolled under the FBA program, Amazon will take care of shipping the items to your customers. This frees you up so you can devote your time taking care of your business instead of running here and there trying to get items shipped to your customers on time.
- Take a Win-Win Approach to Pricing Your Products
The number one mistake many Amazon sellers make is pricing their items too low. When you underprice your products, your profit will be minimal even when you’ve made a lot of sales. Find a balance between profit and customer satisfaction. Remember there are a lot of other variables to consider when pricing your products. These include shipping costs, taxes and FBA fees. All these variables must be factored in when selling or creating your pricing strategy.
Of course you have the competition to take into consideration as well. So whenever possible, choose to sell a product where there is little or minimal competition.If you feel that you need to put slow moving items on sale to boost your revenue, then go for it. You can also give discounts to a select number of customers to enhance your Amazon Sales Rank a bit and keep track of how well the items are doing after the sales.
A more viable long term pricing strategy would be to sell your goods at more profitable prices while maintaining an aggressive marketing strategy and always keeping your customers happy with their purchase. This also boils down to how well you write your product descriptions and how well you deliver on your promises.
- Use sufficient shipping packaging
Sending your goods to Amazon will not do you any good unless they get there in good condition. Consider the possibility of your goods being dropped accidentally or subjected to extreme temperatures in transit. Will your packing provide enough protection to ensure your items remain safe and unharmed through the ordeal of shipping?
A generous layer of half inch bubble wrap can do wonders in keeping your goods fresh and protected during shipping. Add a couple layers more for items that are breakable or fragile.
- Keep track of Seller Central updates and reports
Amazon provides an interface called the “Seller Central” where you can easily access your vendor account. As an Amazon vendor, you want to make sure you are earning profits and that you have enough products to sell. Now Amazon Seller Central offers great facilities for keeping you updated with the latest reports about market trends, whether another seller is invading your market, and whether your niche continues to be profitable.
Simply click on the download button to get these reports, learn what’s hot and what’s not, use the forecasts to your advantage and stay ahead of the competition.
- Pay close attention to your profits
In any type of business, particularly when selling on Amazon, your profit margins are a critical variable for success. Without it your business won’t survive and there’s no point struggling to fight a losing battle.
When selling your goods, keep in mind all the fees and basic product costs that need to be covered. Just because you have products to sell does not mean you have to sell them at a losing price just so you can compete against others. That is a recipe for disaster. If fees, taxes and other costs are eating away your profit, you are not going to remain in business for long.
Profit is everything in business. So start doing your research and understand manufacturing costs, shipping costs, storage fees and selling fees. If your efforts are not contributing to your bottom line, you’re doing it wrong and need to change your strategy.
Monitor your profit margins closely to get to the top.
- Leverage Amazon’s marketing tools
Amazon offers an expedient way to give your products the exposure they deserve. Although Amazon’s marketing tools have been around since inception, many sellers surprisingly fail to take advantage of these features. Here are some of the most important ones:
- Promotions – Generate coupon codes using this feature. This is a proven strategy for driving more engagement and sales. For instance, you can edit your landing page to display a promo giving buyers a 15 percent discount if they purchase above a certain volume or number of items. Customers who prefer to buy in bulk love discount coupons.
- Enhanced Branded Content Solutions – as an Amazon seller it’s easy for you to enhance brand awareness with Amazon’s Enhanced Branded Content pages. This works by allowing you to generate a listing that boosts your product’s popularity and sales. In addition, you can display your products via the Amazon storefront where you can pitch your brand.
- Advertising – if you have a product that needs an exposure boost, Amazon can get you the visibility you need for a fee, so your product appears as a sponsored ad on the first page of search results. It takes a while for a new product to appear in organic searches, so you might want to consider investing in this service for the time being.
Once you’ve begun to build a decent sales history and accumulate a number of favorable reviews for your new product, you can switch your focus to organic search results. Until then, Amazon’s marketing tools are your best option to give your products the jumpstart they need.
- Focus on products you are truly interested in
The best products to sell are those that are related to you hobbies and interests. If you are musically inclined, like if you happen to play the guitar, you would do well selling guitar strings, guitar accessories, guitar sheet music, instructional videos, and the like.
Focusing on things you love will help you create engaging and convincing sales copy because you are passionate about them. It’s easy for you to become your customers’ go-to person if you’re genuinely into the products or items that you sell.
- Stock Up for the Holidays
This seems an obvious strategy, but it will surprise you how many vendors run out of stock at the beginning of the holiday season. This is the time of year when practically all kinds of products get a big boost. While prices are cheap, begin to stock up on items you know are going to be a great hit during the season. However, avoid the other extreme of overbuying such that you have a lot of surplus after the New Year. Do some research months ahead to know how much to stock up on.
Get your timing right and you can easily triple or quadruple your sales during the holiday season. If you run out of stock early because you failed to prepare, you’d end up kicking yourself in the rear for failure to anticipate the rise in demand.
Bonus Tip:
Selling on Amazon provides vendors like you great opportunities for business success. Now it is up to you to be vigilant in protecting the interests of your customers, defending your seller rights and positioning your brand for success.
But like all endeavors, running an online business is fraught with uncertainties and risks. If there should come a time when you are no longer able to cope with the task of collecting or keeping track of your reimbursements from Amazon, don’t hesitate to seek the assistance of experts like the Seller Investigators. Using a service like that will free up your time for more important things, like running and growing your business.
