Should You Sell Your Products On Amazon?
Almost anyone can list their products on Amazon
www.Amazon.com makes their platform easy to use for all of its users – both buyers and sellers. In fact, it takes only minutes to sign up and get live product listings on the site. The company’s emphasis on attracting as much selection as possible matches the functionality of the site itself, allowing you to set up your eCommerce store in a matter of clicks.
However, the ease of signup should not be the only factor when selecting your eCommerce platform. Below, we’ll dive into the various reasons why people choose to sell over Amazon, and whether or not the platform is the right one for your eCommerce store.
Top 5 reasons people sell on Amazon
To build their existing business
Firstly, there are currently 150 million Amazon Prime subscribers. Also, customers trust Amazon. 89% of buyers agree that they are more likely to buy products from Amazon than other eCommerce sites, making it a great platform to gain customer loyalty and trust while building up your brand and business.
To gain more product/brand visibility
23% of online shoppers will first visit Amazon for inspiration when they don’t have a specific product in mind for purchase. Having your store on the platform allows you to reach prospects that you originally wouldn’t. Similarly, if shoppers turn to Amazon with the intent to shop, despite not knowing what to buy, your store will generate more sales qualified visitors who are ready to purchase without travelling down your sales funnel or being pitched to.
To increase sales
On average, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) located in the US sell more than 4000 items per minute. Additionally, Amazon was responsible for 45% of US eCommerce spending in 2019. Each month, more than 197 million people around the world get on their devices and visit Amazon.com. That gives your business ample opportunity to boost sales and increase brand awareness. In the same way, with their high volume of Prime Members, who spend approx. $1,000/year, you will undoubtedly see a spike in sales.
There’s no listing fee
Amazon won’t charge you anything to start listing your products on the site. In fact, they will only begin to charge you until you’ve sold something. So, you can list as many products as you like, and leave them listed for a longer period of time. This enables sellers to widen their offering and increases the possibility of selling their products.
Product testing
One of the best ways to test a new product is by selling through Amazon. The data you gather from Amazon can tell you whether there is a demand for the product, what that demand is, and more importantly, what you can charge for that product. This type of data is vital for those planning to launch a successful online store and compete with market values.
Top 5 things to consider before you start selling on Amazon
Small online businesses should still maintain their own retail site
eCommerce businesses shouldn’t replace their own site for their Amazon shop, but rather use their Amazon shop to build up their customer base. The intent is to bring customers back to your original site. In fact, 80% of sellers also sell on other platforms outside of Amazon. If you can gather contact information from your Amazon.com buyers, you can inform them about offers or products that are not available through your Amazon store. Because Amazon is the leader of online sales, your site will never reach the same number of people, or at the same speed; the number of eyes on your store will never compare to the exposure Amazon allows. However, if the cost of running both sites is too high – in terms of time, energy, or capital, then this might not be the option for you.
Sellers should maintain a realistic approach to their success on Amazon
While Amazon offers customer reach that is unthinkable through any other marketplace, including the potential for global distribution, success isn’t easy and can’t be expected. Amazon is a highly saturated platform with more than 2.5 million sellers currently selling in the marketplace. In that sense, there’s a great need to differentiate yourself and your products on Amazon. Indeed, it can be challenging to make your business stand out, especially with their competitive offering and range of low prices.
Amazon sets its own rules
Businesses competing directly on the same listings that Amazon Retail offers is not likely to be a successful business model long-term. Also, Amazon has the ability to gather tons of customer data and analytics which it doesn’t share with other sellers on the platform, giving it access to consumer trends and insights that will enable them to sell more and sell better than any other store on their platform.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
FBA is the platform’s fulfilment program, which is offered to all third-party sellers. When a customer places an order, the order is sent to one of Amazon’s fulfilment centres, as opposed to the seller fulfilling the order themselves. Sending your products to Amazon’s warehouses expedites the shipping process and frees up your time as a seller. They handle the shipping, tracking, and customer service components while ensuring product quality. However, Amazon does charge both storage and fulfilment fees for their FBA program. To make this worthwhile for your business, and to reduce storage fees, you’ll need to understand how quickly your inventory moves.
Amazon controls customer relationships
When you make a sale on Amazon, the sale is a one-time transaction. Equally important, the customer cannot be marketed or re-marketed to after their purchase, which gives Amazon the power to control your relationship with that customer. In this sense, if you are unable to get your customers to visit your own site and make a purchase directly, then you will miss out on nurturing and converting those prospects down the line. Similarly, your business will miss out on the opportunity of having your customers re-enter your sales funnel.
