6 Steps To Getting Started Selling On Amazon
by Arpita D. S.E.OCongratulations
on your decision to become an Amazon seller! Selling private label products on
Amazon can be very exciting, but it can also be confusing. AND it’s not
uncommon for new sellers to feel incredibly lost when they first start,
especially with important decisions like choosing an initial product to begin
selling with.
Plus,
if you have never run a business before, let alone an e-commerce business, we
totally understand how overwhelming jumping into private label sales can be.
But don’t stress…we have your back!
Fortunately,
we have access to tons of insights from many Amazon sellers, past and present,
to deliver helpful advice on the best ways to effectively begin your Amazon
journey.
According
to recent statistics, virtually half of all retail purchases made online in the
United States are done through Amazon.com. That means by choosing to sell on
Amazon, you are tapping into one of the largest sources for online retail
traffic in the world, giving your product a great opportunity to be seen and
generates sales!
Step 1: Find a product type you want to sell
Before you even get involved with Amazon, it’s best to
know WHAT you plan to sell on the famed e-commerce platform. Beyond choosing a
product that interests you, picking a product that is PROFITABLE is the name of
the game on Amazon. So how do you go about finding a profitable product to
sell?
This is where proper and thorough product
research is about to be your new best friend. Why? Because gone are the days
where you can just put up any product on Amazon and expect sales. You must
choose products to sell that people already WANT TO BUY, not just read about.
Customers search for products to buy on Amazon in the
same way you search for things on Google–by typing in words and phrases to get
a relevant result. And like Google, Amazon is a search engine; instead of
producing results for information on websites, Amazon returns products that
match search queries.
How Sales Work On Amazon:
- Amazon
champions products that customers are SEARCHING FOR and ALREADY EXIST; if
you are trying to sell a new product that no one has ever heard of before,
nor currently has a demand, Amazon is NOT the platform to sell this new
product on.
- Success
on Amazon revolves around having your products found via CUSTOMER SEARCHES
using KEYWORDS that are relevant to your product and then generating sales
because customers chose to purchase your product over similar products
displayed in the search results.
Choosing
a product to sell on Amazon can be a very personal choice for many new sellers.
Some opt to go with products that they themselves are familiar with or like
while others simply research what products are selling well and choose
something that appears to be trending upwards in sales.
Whatever
path you choose, the product you settle on should meet the following criteria:
- A
verifiable demand for the product niche as proven with keywords – Demand
for products on Amazon is evident by their relationship to specific words
or short phrases that customers type into the search box, a.k.a. keywords.
Moreover, product demand is determined by how often customers search for
the item using keywords that Amazon has deemed relevant. The more people
search for a specific type of item, the higher the demand for it.
- A
relatively low number of competitors – If this will be your first product
launched on Amazon, you would do well to choose a product niche that is
not oversaturated with many competing products on the market. Try to
choose something with only a few competitors at maximum. You chances of
success with your new product will be much higher with less competition.
- A
relatively high number of sales among the few competitors – You’ll want to
ensure that there is a profit to be made in the niche as well. Even
if the you find a great niche that has high demand and low competition,
the few products that you find should be generating revenue. If no one
product is generating a significant number of sales, you may want to look
into another niche, or something similar to find something that can be
profitable.
Do
not feel too intimidated just yet because of the competition you may face. Rest
assured, you will encounter others selling similar products to the one you
ultimately choose. However, studying your competition before throwing your hat
into the ring can be very beneficial.
When
you study your competition very carefully, you can discover very valuable
information such as:
- Product
listing best practices – Pay
attention to how each competitor sets up their respective product listing
to find similarities or trends for successfully engaging with customers
and enticing them to make a purchase. Details to look at include the
product images and video, bullet points, product description, and
questions answered about the product.
- Optimal
keywords to incorporate into your own listing – When you read each competitor listing, take note
of the words that seller uses often when describing his or her product.
The prime locations for Amazon keywords is in the product title, bullet
points, and product description.
- Problems
customers have with your competitors’ products – If you read through many of the top customer
reviews and compare each competitor’s star rating, you can quickly get a
sense of which competitors you can study to discover improvements that can
make your product more desirable. Take note of issues customers mention on
each competitor listing to find common traits that you can fix in your
design to attract more customers.
- Who
many of your top competitors may be – While
using data from Amazon tools will certainly pinpoint your top competitors,
a quick and easy way to start building up your PPC competitor list is to
look in the “Sponsored products related to this item,” “Customers who
bought this item also bought,” and “Customers also shopped for” sections.
- Product
targeting ad opportunities – Using
the same sections mentioned above, you can begin making a list of possible
competitor products to target with the new Amazon Product Targeting ad
function that allows you to put advertising for your product on competitor
listing pages.
- How
competitors handle customer service – By
reading over the Q&A section of a competitor listing, you can see what
concerns or questions people have asked about products similar to the one
you plan to sell and get a glimpse at how they go about providing customer
service. Pay close attention to the sellers who give highly-rated answers
to questions and how they structure their return policy.
Additionally,
be sure to fully research your competition, target keywords and phrases, and
sales trends to see if you can afford to enter into the product niche. A
product niche may sound like a good opportunity, but you must take all of the
above information into account, coupled with the actual monetary costs of
selling the product such as manufacturing, shipping, any referral fee, and
storage fees.
Some
Helium
10 tools that can greatly assist you with product research tasks
include:
- Black Box
- Cerebro
- Xray
- ASIN Grabber
- Profitability Calculator
- Inventory Level
- Review Downloader
- Profits
Step 2: Look into your private label branding
Once you have chosen your product to sell on Amazon, you
should consider establishing a private label brand name to associate with your
Seller Central account. This brand name will serve as your seller identity on
Amazon, and will come to represent your Amazon business as a whole.
When you have chosen a name, you should look
into trademarking your brand name to protect you from malicious sellers and
help with any legal troubles in the branding realm.
Additionally, make sure your brand gets
indexed by applying for Amazon’s Brand Registry.
Step 3: Sign
up for an Amazon Seller Central Account
Amazon Seller Central is the online
platform where every seller manages his or her Amazon listing storefront, sales
and revenue, inventory management, credit card information for payments on
business fees, customer service inquiries, and more.
However, there are some considerations to make
before you sign up:
- Determine
what category you plan to sell your product under, as certain categories
are restricted to sellers with Professional plans.
- How many
products do you plan on selling with your listing? If you plan to make
your Amazon business your full-time job in time, you may want to consider
upgrading to a Professional Seller Central account.
- How are you
going to declare yourself? You have a few choices:
- Individual
- Sole
Proprietor
- LLC
- C/S Corporation
For everyone starting out with their first product on
Amazon, we suggest you start off with an Individual plan that only charges you
$.99 per product sold on your Amazon listing plus other applicable taxes and
fees.
For those looking make their Amazon business a
steady stream of reliable passive income, you may want to think about
eventually signing up for the Professional plan once you begin selling more
that 40 inventory items per month. Instead of being charged per item, you will
be charged a monthly subscription fee of $39.99.
If and when you decide to upgrade, wait until
you are ready to send in your inventory to Amazon FBA to avoid being needlessly
charged. Two notable exceptions to this rule would be that a) the category you
want to sell in is restricted and only available for the Professional level
plan OR b) you want to get unique label barcodes to get them printed onto your
product packaging.
To sign up for the Amazon USA marketplace, you will also need the
following:
- Valid credit
card
- Bank account
- Phone number
- Tax
information
Depending on your situation, you may also need
to present one or more of the following:
- Scanned
copies of your passport
- National ID
- Bank account
statement
- Credit card
statement
Additionally, you will also need to
participate in a step-by-step online interview to determine whether you will
need to complete a W-9 form (as a U.S. taxpayer) or a W-8BEN (as a non-U.S.
taxpayer).
At this time, you may also want to decide how
you will fulfill each order your receive. Order fulfillment has to do with
storage and logistics, and you must choose whether to do all of this yourself
as the merchant or entrust the Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) program from Amazon to
handle your items.
Step 4: Setup a dummy listing to see if Amazon requires any additional info prior to you placing your inventory order
The purpose of setting up a dummy listing is to
accomplish two things:
- You will
learn how to use and manage your Amazon Seller Central account
- You will
receive the Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit (FNSKU) for your
product; this is how Amazon identifies the item as unique to a particular
seller)
You need the FNSKU for shipping and
potentially your packaging, unless you use UPC codes. Creating this place
holder listing now will trigger any Hazmat review that your products may incur.
It will also confirm if your category or product has any gated restrictions
(the product you are trying to sell is proprietary and is protected by a patent
or trademark, meaning you do not have permission to sell the product.)
To create a dummy listing, follow these steps:
- Go to your
Seller Central account and Click Catalog, then Add Products
- Add your
product name to the search box and click Search
- Click Create
a new product listing. (Do not click on Suggested Similar Products)
- Type in name
of your product into the search box to find your correct category, then
click Find Category.
- Cycle through
the available categories until you find the most relevant one
- Fill in Vital
Info required fields
- Fill out
Offer required fields
- Fill in
Description required fields
- Save and
finish
Step 5: Settle
on a supplier
Now that all your product research is complete and your
Amazon Seller Central account is all squared away, you are now ready to find a
supplier to build your product inventory for your business.
Sometimes you can dig deep into your
competitors to find out what suppliers they use to give you an idea of what to
look for. However, this may be turn out to be fruitless because a) your
competitor has an exclusive deal with that supplier and you cannot legally use
them to produce a similar product, or b) you cannot find out who the supplier
is anyway.
Your best bet is to enlist the help of a
supplier agent, a professional headhunter of sorts that can help you to find a
suitable supplier for your type of product utilizing their wide network.
Most suppliers you are likely to find will be
in China, so be prepared for a lot of international conversations. However, you
may be able to find suppliers outside of China depending on the item you are
looking to create. Many top brands will often opt to manufacture their products
in the USA or Europe to catch the attention of customers or for a perception of
quality.
When you have narrowed down your list of possible
suppliers to about five or six, have them all send you workable samples of your
proposed product to you for review and thorough examination. While looking over
these samples, be sure to scrutinize every detail because if there is a flaw,
your sales and reviews will let you know the hard way.
Choose the supplier who provided you with the
best quality build at the best price point. And be sure to order your first and
second batches at the same time, so that you can avoid running out of inventory
as you launch your product on Amazon. (Hint: running out of inventory,
especially for extended periods of time, can hurt your Amazon ranking and
nobody wants that!)
Step 6: Create
a social presence to generate interest in the product
This final step may seem simple, but it may demand the
most time and effort.
Create social media pages to attract people
who may be interested in your product. Such platforms include Facebook,
Instagram, Etsy, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and maybe even your own website. Choose
the platforms that will be the most conducive for your product type and the
target audience you are trying to attract.
Allow people to converse with you and others about
subject matters that are relevant to your product, such as activities or things
that involve your product type. For example, if you are trying to sell a cat
toy product, you may want to create social media pages that revolve around cat
toys, or cats in general.
PLEASE NOTE: You
may not want to state that this page is dedicated to selling your product
because people may think you are being disingenuous. Create your social media
pages like fan pages of subject matter that is directly related to your
product, but don’t mention it quite yet.
It’s through these channels that you can begin
to develop a relationship with your target audience and build trust with them.
Additionally, you can gain insight into how they think and what they want in an
item like yours for further product refining.
Once you have been conversing and
participating on these channels, you can mention to the group that you are
planning on releasing a product that may cater to their needs, and ask if they
would be winning to give your product a try. You are more likely to get a
positive response from people who have come to trust you and can act as your
initial reviews in the future when you finally launch your product.
You can also use this tactic in other
established social circles, adding valuable input in relevant chat threads,
comments, and such to establish yourself in the community before revealing your
product.
Stay tuned for a follow-up blog where we will
cover more steps on how to launch your product and build out your product
listing!
Sponsor Ads
Created on May 7th 2019 17:11. Viewed 685 times.
Hello! welcome! this is a personal invitation
to join APSense GROUPE ! your success is mine! WELCOME TO :
APSense TIPS &TUTOS GROUPE :
@ http://www.apsense.com/group/baghzafapsense
JOIN APSENSE YOUTUBE CHANEL§ SUBSCRIBE! LIKE ! COMMENT! SHARE APSENSE VIDEOS ! INVITE YOUR CONTACTS TO LEARN MORE HOW TO BE EFFECTIVE WITH APSENSE! your success is mine!:
@ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCngmCJTFqDHhjSobuoOsLCA
Aug 26th 2019 14:01