What you Should Know Before Selling on Amazon

What you Should Know Before Selling on Amazon

Selling on Amazon seems like such an easy thing to do. You register on their website, set up shop, and start selling and shipping things all from the comfort of your own home. Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

To become an Amazon seller, you have to go through and meet their requirements. Amazon, being one of the biggest e-commerce platforms, must ensure the quality and integrity of its sellers.

Thus, you have to go through numerous barriers to entry, such as documents submission and registration.

And that's just for the creation of your seller's account. To actually succeed on the platform, you'll have to do extensive research and pay fees to enroll in Amazon's programs; all so you can get a head start towards success.

Amazon Store Requirements

Before you dive in and start selling on Amazon, you must first complete the Amazon seller account registration process. You'll need to have a lot of information on hand, such as:

Business information

This includes the legal name of your business, listed address, and contact information.

Email address

It is recommended to have a separate business email readily available. This is so you won't be caught off guard once Amazon starts sending you multiple emails after account creation.

Credit card

You must submit a valid credit card to ensure that your registration isn't canceled.

Tax ID

Your tax identification information, as well as your Social Security number or the Federal Tax ID number of your business.

Phone number

It would be ideal to have your phone ready as you go through registration.

Amazon Seller Registration

The creation procedure for an Amazon seller account is quite basic and uncomplicated. You'll need to fill out some basic information and complete the registration procedure using the documents you've prepared beforehand.

You're ready to start selling on Amazon once this step is finished. But it is worth noting that simply having a seller's account is only the beginning and not a guaranteed path to success.

While registering to sell on Amazon is simple, persuading a large number of Amazon customers to buy your products over those of your competitors is far more difficult.

Kickstarting Success on Amazon

As mentioned earlier, succeeding on Amazon requires deep research and enrolling in programs that would cost you a hefty sum. Let's get into more detail on what it takes to succeed in Amazon:

Amazon FBA

FBA stands for "Fulfillment by Amazon." It's a program that allows you to delegate the fulfillment of your products to Amazon.

You'll be able to ship your products in bulk to Amazon's fulfillment facilities once you create an Amazon FBA login and join in the program. 

When you sell a product on the marketplace, Amazon employees pack and ship it from one of the fulfillment centers to which you send it, relieving you of the hassle of product fulfillment.

The rest is handled for you as long as you maintain or improve the sales and keep Amazon stocked with your products.

Remember that FBA may not be appropriate for low-value items, large-dimension products, or other situations. While it has a lot to offer, it is not a surefire option for every seller.

FBA also comes with numerous FBA fees and operation costs. Amazon charges fees for storing products in their fulfillment facilities, which vary depending on how much space your products take up and how long they stay in storage before selling.

The second aspect is important since Amazon FBA costs rise dramatically as your things wait in storage for extended periods of time.

But despite this drawback, I personally still recommend enrolling in FBA if you can. The cost is made worthwhile by the visibility it offers to the hundreds of millions of Amazon's prime customers. This can prove advantageous for new sellers with ready a product portfolio.

Consider Amazon Brand Registry Program

Essentially, Amazon Brand Registry is a service that provides tools to assist you to protect the intellectual property associated with your brand. It also makes finding and reporting IP infractions to Amazon a lot easier.

Sellers that register as brand registered have access to features that help them create and grow their brands on Amazon by attracting organic traffic.

Enrolling in Brand Registry also gives brands access to extensive analytics and other data that can help them boost sales and improve the Amazon customer experience.

Brand owners must have an active registered trademark or a pending trademark application in each nation where you want to enroll in order to register.

A text-based mark or an image-based mark with words, numbers, or characters should be used as your trademark for brand registry. The trademark text must be identical to the brand name on your application.

If your trademark is based on an image, make sure to provide a copy of the picture as it appears on your trademark registration. Your Amazon Brand Registry trademark should be visible on your items and packaging as well.

Research Your Desired Market

We've discussed about Amazon FBA and the drawback of having your products stay idle in storage which incurs huge costs. To help avoid this, you have to stay on top of things even before you register on Amazon. Study up on product categories and set a unique value proposition before proceeding.

Plan and decide on a product

First and foremost, you'll need to decide what you're going to sell on Amazon before you can get into the finer points of setting up your account and establishing your listings. It's not a simple matter of choosing the best selling products or the ones that garner the most product sales. After all, the things you choose to sell have a big influence on how you set up your shop and run your company.

Go for a niche market

A niche market is a specific area where you can locate a consumer base that is highly engaged and interested in buying your goods. Instead of competing with big-name merchants and organizations in a crowded market, you'll have a higher chance of standing out and meeting customer demand in niche markets.

Is there a demand for your product?

You must be absolutely certain that there is a market for the product you wish to offer. Again, you'll want to stay away from things that everyone else is selling, especially huge corporations. This is because the competition will be too fierce. 

To determine market demand, conduct a Google search for your potential products. You can also review product pages, store pages, and listings of other Amazon sellers.

You can also use a search volume tool to see how many people are searching for your product in any given month.

Set a fair price

When it comes to price, you'll want to strike a balance. Aim for a product that isn't too expensive to buy but can be offered for a reasonable price considering its key features.

Planning for Long-Term Success on Amazon

In today's intensely competitive market, it's not enough to have a plan for initial success. You must also plan for your long-term goals months or even years into the future.

To help you, here are a couple of factors you must consider to achieve success for your online store or Amazon stores.

Get your listings optimized

Consumers must first locate your products in the Amazon search results before they can purchase them. Deliberate, extensive, and precise product data for your Amazon brand registry can assist in achieving this goal. Early on, focus on optimizing your listings.

Put yourself in the shoes of the customer when creating your product descriptions. Start by searching for a similar product to observe what items come up first in the search results and to find words you aren't already utilizing.

You should also only use keywords that are very relevant and accurate in describing your brand, product name, brand logo, and other major features such as colors, sizes, and quantity.

You may also create multiple pages across different platforms to get your brand story across multiple demographics.

Keep track of your product flow

As a seller, it's vital to know how well your products are selling and on which platform. To help secure long term success, track sales and amount of units sold early on so you can establish solid strategies going forward.

Compete for the buy box

The Buy Box is prominently displayed on a product's page. If you've done your homework, you're probably aware of the importance of Amazon's Buy Box. With only one Buy Box available each item, you'll be up against a slew of other shops all vying for the prize.

Your online store must meet Amazon's standards in a variety of areas to win the Buy Box, including a competitive price, a favorable customer feedback score, fast and efficient delivery, and other factors.

Though it takes time for a new seller to establish a sales history that will earn them the Buy Box, concentrating on these characteristics is beneficial to business regardless of the marketplace.

Advertise whenever and wherever possible

Amazon advertising is a must if you truly want to grow your visibility and revenue. However, in this market, a basic manual effort is unlikely to succeed. To build a truly great approach, successful salespeople know to look beyond the basics of keyword selection.

Sponsored products

You must employ sponsored Products, which may be used to promote particular listings, to succeed in the long run. This method employs keywords-based search terms to display your product listings alongside organic search results and are perfect for generating high-quality clicks from people who are actively looking for the products you provide.

Brand sponsors

This can be an excellent strategy to contact customers who are browsing but haven't decided what they want to buy. These banner adverts show at the top of search results pages to alert users to various options in your branded store as they browse through categories and listings.

Promotional coupons

Amazon Coupons allows you to develop appealing promotions for purchase-ready customers in the form of special deals. This self-service tool can help your product listing by offerring discounts based on a percentage or a fixed dollar amount, and it can even be targeted at certain client categories.

Maintain price competitiveness

When you list a product on Amazon, you're likely to be up against hundreds of other sellers who are selling the same thing. Continuously offering cheap prices is one of the finest methods to stand out from the crowd and stay ahead of the competition.

You must, however, maintain a sufficient rate of return and implement safeguards to ensure that you do not unwittingly violate other standards by neglecting to cut product prices across sales channels.

Gather and apply customer feedback

A high customer satisfaction rating is critical not just for retaining current customers but also for attracting new ones.

This is because most people read evaluations before making a purchase, and they trust internet reviews just as much as personal recommendations.

As a result, it's not just what your consumers are saying that matters, but also how you respond to their feedback. This is because, for example, if a consumer had a negative experience with shipping, their review may focus on that experience rather than the product itself. Resolving those concerns can go a long way toward garnering loyalty and trust.

Consider getting Amazon A+ content

Vendors can now upload Amazon A+ content for free and indefinitely. This is a feature you don't want to neglect if you sell first party through Amazon Vendor Central.

More thorough item descriptions, larger photos, more comprehensive comparison tables, interactive displays, and more are all possible for your registered brand with A+ Content.

It's a fantastic approach to promote your brand and better communicate the value of your products to clients when they're making purchasing decisions.

Including A+ Content in your listings can help improve the buyer experience, increase customer engagement, and increase sales.

Some best practices, such as making text scannable and making combined image-texts, might assist you in ensuring that your A+ Content catches the attention of your target audience.

Other Important Notes

I'm now going to list some other tips that can possibly aid you in your start as a seller on Amazon. These deserve a separate article of their own but we're going to go through them as an overview for now.

Choose your selling strategy

You can choose to be a reseller who buys things in bulk and sell them on Amazon. Alternatively, you can be a business owner that manufactures and sells their own products.

A large number of sellers do both. You can use either strategy you deem is most effective for your current or future objectives.

Study up on Amazon's rules and regulations

What kinds of things can you sell on Amazon? It varies depending on the product, category, and brand.

Some categories are open to all sellers, while others require a professional seller account and approval to sell.

There are even products that can't be sold by third parties. Visit the Amazon Seller Central site to know the ins and outs and also to improve your store's navigation.

Employ marketing tactics

Amazon is a testing ground where traditional and innovative marketing tactics are bent to their utmost limits. To succeed, you must have a well-built professional selling plan.

Amazon has its own advertising program, but you are free to use other means to get as much of an advantage as you can get over your competitors.

If you are not confident with your marketing know-how, you can partner up with an individual or an agency that can aid you in this regard.

Conclusion

While it may seem easy to be an Amazon seller, it actually comes with a lot of technicalities and expertise. But like with all unfamiliar things, your chances of success will be a lot higher if you do your research, prepare everything beforehand, and have the adaptability to adjust as you go.

There are a variety of ways to sell on Amazon, and no two people will make the same choice for the same reasons. But with the information offered here, hopefully you'll be able to make an informed decision about how to sell on Amazon.

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