As with Google becoming the most reliable source for information in our daily routines, Amazon has become the most reliable e-commerce channel for new product searches. The immense growth of Amazon has led to the technology behemoth dominating a diverse array of product verticals, making it the go-to shopping source for digital nomads. The ability to transact online with the expectation of receiving a bundle of delights within 24 hours (Amazon Prime) has further entrenched The Everything Store for all kinds of online shoppers. Expediting the shipment of goods to users that cannot satiate their shopping habits with just one purchase has transformed the Seattle e-commerce leviathan into a retail juggernaut, leaving all competitors in the dust. As a result, professional sellers and well-known brands have flocked to the platform to increase market share and generate another revenue stream.
Selling on Amazon – It’s Gotta be Easy, Right?
As much as Amazon maintains that it’s relatively simple to become a professional seller within their digital ecosystem, there are an inordinate amount of logistical components to consider before dedicating a wealth of resources to listing products on their platform. Some of these considerations include:
- Set up a Vendor Central or Seller Central account? Note: with Vendor Central, you’re practically relinquishing control to Amazon over pricing strategies for your products and limiting your marketing efforts within the platform.
- Do you utilize FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) or ship independently? Note that FBA drastically increases conversion rates as products become “Prime Enabled,” permitting users to receive products within one to two days.
- How quickly can you make your Seller Account profitable on Amazon? With various selling fees clawing away at your net margin, selling lower-priced items may provide a slew of challenges to reaching profitability.
- How many competitors are selling similar products? In some cases, you’ll also identify competing accounts selling the same products you’ll be promoting on your store, culminating in the difficulties of winning the Buy Box.
As exhibited above, dipping your toes in the daunting e-commerce waters on Amazon presents a considerable amount of hurdles that may arise. Before significantly investing resources in marketing on Amazon, either as an established brand or new seller, it’s crucial to perform a comprehensive audit reviewing all competitive and market factors. For example, any searches related to mobile accessories or smart home products exhibit various accounts selling similar or identical products. A typical professional seller strategy, both within North America and overseas, aims to create as many accounts as possible to maximize impressions for products they own. As a result, the smart home plugs that appeal to you may be shown in varying degrees from multiple accounts, each utilizing black-hat marketing strategies to boost positive reviews artificially. Unfortunately, significant issues manifest in this case because it presents difficulties for new sellers to earn their way to the top, either having to rely on alternative strategies to increase their sales rank or engage in similarly deceitful tactics to compete.
Benefits of Selling on Amazon
Regardless of your current situation, whether operating a successful e-commerce business or getting a taste for selling products online for the first time, developing a presence on Amazon opens up a new sales channel. Considering half of all digital shoppers begin a product search by venturing to Amazon, building a viable business on the world’s most popular e-commerce platform opens you up to a whole new world of consumers.
Additionally, utilizing Fulfillment by Amazon provides significant back-end support without needing to ship products directly to consumers. By sending your stock to Amazon’s warehouses, you can focus your marketing efforts to end consumers and dedicate resources to unlocking new sales opportunities. The only caveat to being reliant on Amazon’s logistical infrastructures is paying excessive fees for low-margin products, necessitating high-volume sales to stay afloat. Fortunately, having a wide array of tools at your disposal, such as inventory tracking and in-depth analytics, allows you to streamline business operations and channel your attention on keeping your stock relatively healthy.
Lastly, once you build up your sales rank and have a treasure cove of positive reviews, the impact of ranking on the first page for broad searches in competitive verticals is enormous. Amazon’s algorithm will focus on featuring products that are routinely selling well, have healthy stock levels, and are optimized for relevant search queries.
Amazon Consulting Services
Despite all the roadblocks present on Amazon, there is light at the end of the tunnel for most brands willing to invest the time and resources required to build a sustainable e-commerce channel. After tackling various challenges to increase sales for brands of all kinds on Amazon, I’ve boiled my strategic consulting services down to the following tactics.
Amazon Marketing Audits
Analyzing the entire infrastructure of setting up an Amazon seller account for ongoing management is critical in any marketing strategy. From the onset, it’s crucial to have a comprehensive understanding of the competition’s pricing tactics, primarily if you’re relying on selling the same products other vendors have listed on their stores. If you’re a manufacturer or brand owner venturing to Amazon for the first time, ensuring your product line is fully secure with Amazon’s brand registry program will be of the utmost importance.
An in-depth market analysis will examine the demand for the products in your repertoire and invaluable seller intelligence that will determine the competitive level on a product and category level. After compiling a vast amount of data, we’ll transform initial learnings into actionable procedures to decide on which selling method is more effective and the pricing strategy to employ. Amazon sellers that have an established presence on the platform may find particular challenges impeding their ability for growth, which is where an in-depth audit of existing listings can unearth issues preventing sustained success and how to outmaneuver the competition.
Amazon Product Listing Optimization – Amazon SEO
Amazon’s ranking algorithm is a fickle beast, but just like other prominent search engines, there’s a practical guideline to follow to establish prolonged success on the e-commerce platform. Product listing optimization requires a multitude of skills, ranging from fundamental SEO techniques to CRO experience and copywriting mastery. Similar to optimizing web pages for Google, your product listings need the ability to distill the most relevant keywords and phrases that accurately describe the items you’re selling. While conventional search engines rely on a more contextual approach to gauging relevant, Amazon is a little more direct in how it handles matching products to search queries. Detailing the pertinent features of your product, ranging from colour and size to unique functionalities, is required to ensure that your product listings have a snowball’s chance of ranking. In addition to the more contextual features of optimization, a thorough audit will also produce recommendations on converting traffic into sales by tailoring your imagery and complementary page content (A+ Content for Vendors, Enhanced Brand Content for Sellers) with a more sales-driven approach.
Review Management & Remarketing Strategies
How often do you consider purchasing a product that has absolutely no social proof or testimonials whatsoever? What about products that have an average rating of one or two stars? Think of the Amazon ecosystem as a virtual high school, where the most popular products will stand out and garner the most attention from engaged shoppers. Unfortunately, products devoid of positive feedback or glowing testimonials will fall to the wayside, blending in with the assortment of misfit products affixed with ratings of fewer than three stars. Fortunately, marketing strategies can be employed to enhance your listing’s appeal by remarketing to customers and engaging with social influencers to promote your product line. As with any tried and tested formula, I have also been privy to the mistakes leading brands have encountered with circumventing Amazon’s guidelines. As a result, my recommendations have a foundation based on activities that have been greenlighted by Amazon and will not cause your brand harm. Various Amazon “marketing specialists” can provide product rating-boosting services, with the only caveat being to engage in somewhat duplicitous marketing tactics.
Amazon PPC Services
You didn’t think marketing on Amazon would be a free ride, did you? Investing in strategic pay-per-click advertising will yield increased brand awareness, and most importantly, increased traffic to your newly optimized product listings. Whether you have attempted to become a media buying expert on Amazon or are new to the system, I can help guide you on how to effectively segment your campaigns to accurately track your return on advertising spend as finitely as possible. In some cases, utilizing bid adjustment programs can assist in high-volume campaigns, but spending a little bit of time tweaking your campaigns can provide you with the competitive intelligence required to scale your marketing activities.