Many eCommerce see marketplaces as an opportunity to increase their sales, but how exactly is this done? We tell you in 5 steps how to sell on Amazon because, although it is not complicated, you need to know some things to do it with guarantees.
The 5 steps to sell on Amazon
Actually I am going to synthesize the whole process in 5 steps to highlight some milestones that every merchant should know. The reality of your business, its needs and the expectations you have of it will mark other steps and strategies, but the ones we are going to detail are essential.
1. Product and market analysis
Amazon has such a huge volume of business, it sells so many categories and products that, if we make an analysis that is too simplistic, we can think that everyone can sell there. My recommendation is that you do not start from that premise without doing a previous analysis to avoid serious problems later.
I always emphasize that Amazon is not for everyone. You will be interested if:
- you have a good margin: Manufacturers and distributors with good negotiations by volume are the ones that can play more in a market in which price is the most important variable. Fairer retailers should opt for other channels.
- Your product is low competition: if it is the only one better than better, but entering a saturated market within Amazon is a barrier in which, fighting for price, you again say goodbye to your margin.
- You do not have your own eCommerce: Amazon eats everything and will become your competition cannibalizing sales.
Investigate who or who are selling your same product and in what price range. You can do it within the Amazon search engine itself or use reverse lookup tools to find them by (try the tool for instance).
You also have to know, to have all the data in hand, the commission that Amazon receives for each sale of your product. This varies depending on the category and there are 32 different ones that start at 7% and can reach 45% in some specific cases such as Kindle accessories. you can check it .
2. Choose the sales regime
Now that you are clear that you can compete on Amazon, you will have to make the following important decision. There is no single mode of sale so you should know them all with their advantages and disadvantages before launching yourself.
You can choose between Seller Marketplace and Seller Retail. The features are:
Retail:
- Single customer supplier: you only sell to Amazon not to the end customer.
- Last in the hierarchy: the priority is the client, then the platform and, finally, the retail seller and this applies, for example, to any claim or management.
- The negotiation is direct with Amazon: you must make it clear what will happen with the excess stock, or the payment method, which is 90 days by default.
Remember that Amazon decides the price at which it sells your products. If they decide to lower it to an amount lower than what you sell them in your eCommerce or any other platform, they can represent a great threat. In exchange, it will prioritize the sale of these products.
Marketplace:
- You sell to the end customer through Amazon, which operates as a simple intermediary.
- You decide the selling prices of each item.
Although this can be a bit confusing, I must tell you that if you choose to sell as a Marketplace Seller, you would still have to make one more choice. You may sell on Amazon as FBM (Fulfilled By Merchant) which is when you as a seller manage from receiving the order to logistics, delivery… The alternative is the so-called FBA in this case they take care of absolutely everything: we send them the product and they market it.
The sales formulas with the most power for Amazon are always the ones that interest them the most because they are obsessed with process control and customer retention.
3. Upload your listings or products
I am sorry to have to use the word listing but it is the term that Amazon uses with which we will understand each other better.
Obviously when you choose the sales regime and create your account, the next step is to upload the catalog of your products for sale on Amazon. To do this you have to go to Amazon Seller Central and follow the necessary steps. This is what the interface looks like.
When the products you want to sell are already in the Amazon catalog, all you need to do is locate it by searching for its ASIN, name or EAN13, and then add the price and the stock that you put up for sale.
If it is not created, you will have to fill in all the required fields and keep in mind:
- put complete sentences
- include useful information that avoids misunderstandings to customers
- all the images you can
- Product characteristics
- forms of use
- warranty…
There are many other fields that are not essential, my recommendation is complete them all and do it very carefully. make one keyword research to know how your customers search. Use those words in titles, statements, and product features. Work the texts very well and use quality images (at 1,000 x 1,000 pixels)
4. Win the Buy Box
I’m going to make a point to explain what it is the Buy Box because it is a key concept in Amazon. You already know that it is very common for several sellers to bid for the sale of the same product, well, only one appears linked to the purchase button.
The difference between whether or not it appears here is abysmal, one could say that from selling to not doing so. Buthow do you win the buy box? Amazon prioritizes the most authoritative sellers and calculates this based on some signals that its algorithm processes:
Featured Trader Status
You need to prove a history of at least 3 months with a good sales record before you start talking. 3 months that can go up to 6 in certain categories.
fulfillment
For Amazon, the fact of being the final responsible for the management with the client is always a plus, so if you are in FBA you will have more optionsones to win the Buy Box.
shipping times
Amazon wants its customers to receive their products quickly, for a reason they have a very strict delivery time. See that the percentage of orders delivered on time never drops below 97%.
Price
One of the most determining factors is the final price of the product (including all taxes and shipping costs). If you are able to give the best price and the rest of your parameters are normal, you can rank above other competitors even if they have other ranking factors improves comparatively.
To automate this process of searching for prices, comparing and repricing (raising and lowering prices according to what the competition does) you can look for some online payment tools such as Sellics.
reviews and ratings
It makes sense that if the most important thing is to have satisfied customers, the quantity and quality of opinions are decisive. You have to stimulate the buyers to the maximum so that they leave their opinionsask for it directly, even adding some detail to the shipment itself, such as a simple card.
Always act when you detect bad reviews, be interested in repairing the problems so as not to incur claims. Customers have to be satisfied and if they don’t you run the risk of losing rankings (Buy Box and searches) and even if you accumulate too many complaints, they can close your account.
Response time
When you register your seller account, among all the conditions that you accept is the service clause that says that you agree to respond to customers within 24 hours. If you do not do it, you will be penalized or directly without an account for breach of contract.
5. Work uptake
You need drive traffic to your products and, above all, generate sales so that a certain traction begins to exist. Amazon only has one premise: it wants to sell the more the better (taking care of the customer so that it is recurring).
As long as you fulfill your guidelines and respect the rules of the game, they “reward” the best-selling products. This translates into better positions in internal searches () and you will win the Buy Box more often.
You have at your disposal the Amazon PPC (Pay Per Click) platform. It is not that it is wonderful, it is somewhat limited, but in return it is still not as expensive as other alternatives such as Google and Facebook Ads.
It works in a similar way to those already mentioned. Campaigns based on keywords, bids in real time and the product with the best parameters is the one that will occupy a prominent space in searches over those positioned organically.
Everything that pushes sales helps you directly and indirectly to sell even more. Use all the tools at your disposal SEO in commercial search engines, … anything that can generate referral traffic is potentially beneficial.
As you can see, there are many things that you must take into account, but by following these 5 steps you will sell on Amazon with guarantees. I hope I’ve been helpful.
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