How To Sell on Amazon: An Easy 5 Step Guide
Given its global e-commerce leadership, it's hard to argue against selling products on Amazon. Other online marketplaces to sell your products include Etsy, eBay, Shopify and Facebook marketplaces. Still, Amazon is without a doubt America's largest and most popular e-commerce marketplace.
Did you know that there are 300 million active users and about half of them, i.e. 153 million he is estimated to be an Amazon Prime customer by the end of 2022.
Amazon's third-party sales partners are approximately 2 million small businesses. By the end of 2021, 56% of Amazon's sales will come from these businesses.
Selling on Amazon is relatively easy once you have a viable product. Amazon guides sellers through the five steps outlined here. Their sales guide offers videos and content.
Benefits of Selling on Amazon
Selling on Amazon has many advantages.
- Massive reach gives small businesses international exposure
- attractive sales channels
- Give credibility and trust to sellers
- Affordability for embedded infrastructure
- We handle packing and shipping
With all these advantages, sellers can face stiff competition. To be successful on Amazon, it is up to merchants to do their own market research to find the best locations when choosing products.
Amazon Restricted Products
Before proceeding, please review Amazon's Restricted Products List to ensure that potential products are not listed. These Restricted Products may contain items that may be unethical or illegal (such as alcohol, drugs or drug paraphernalia) or may not comply with federal, state or local laws or Amazon policies. It is a combination of products with
After review, Amazon may approve the product, but many products remain restricted.
5 Steps to Selling on Amazon
Step 1: Investigate Product Viability
If your product is not restricted, you will need to conduct customer surveys to determine the viability of your product.You can use Google Trends to see which products are popular. Niche products such as fashion, arts and crafts, and home goods tend to be in high demand.
It is good to understand the following factors:
The competitive nature of the market – Do you have something unique to sell? You should research your competitors' products and compare them to yours. Healthy competition is not necessarily a bad thing, and may highlight that there is strong demand for your product.
Is there strong demand? Through research, you should emphasize the uniqueness of your product.
What are barriers to entry? Low barriers to entry are desirable (but not so low that there are too many competitors). Look for viable suppliers who want to work with you and your products.
Selling quality products at relatively low cost gives you higher margins, better business prospects, and the flexibility to offer incentives to your customers. You don't want to enter the market with a low profit margin price because your product won't last in such a scenario.
Other selling options
Other selling options include dropshipping, retail arbitrage, or private label.
Dropshipping is an order fulfillment option that allows Amazon sellers to outsource functions such as procurement, storage, and shipping to third parties. The Amazon seller must be the seller on record on the invoice, packing slip, or other information. You can use another supplier or use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA).
Another option is retail arbitrage. In this case, you can find clearance items at deep discounts (beds, baths, beyond) and resell them to your customers for a profit. You can also consider looking at private labels for successful products. Manufacturers can add your company's label to existing products.
Amazon provides the means to build a good reputation, trust, and goodwill, but you are the product master, finding the best products to sell, finding potential customers, and driving traffic. is up to you.
Two ways to sell: Fulfilled by Merchant and Fulfilled by Amazon
There are two ways to sell on Amazon, and some sellers use both.
Shipped by Merchant (Fbm)
FBM is a selling method in which a seller lists products on her Amazon store and manages storage, shipping, and customer support all separately. This method may help those who have dealt with some of the more difficult aspects of inventory management.
Sellers decide how to store inventory, how to pack and ship products, and how to handle returns or refunds while providing excellent customer service. They can maintain control and send the goods to the buyer.
If the seller has the resources to process the inventory, they can save some of Amazon's service fees on Amazon's storage and shipping. If your customers have the logistics to handle their products, you sell products in small quantities, and you can handle complex packaging and shipping requirements, it might work well for your seller.
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
Fulfillment is the process of storing, packing, shipping orders, and processing returns and exchanges. FBA provides the infrastructure, such as fulfillment centers and warehouses, to manage your customers' orders, deliver them on time, and keep you up to date on the products in your inventory.
Additionally, FBA can give a seller's business a competitive edge in attracting desirable Amazon Prime customers. Amazon Prime members spend more than non-Prime customers at $1,400 per year compared to just $600.
If a competitor is serving customers with her FBA, she doesn't want to risk poor inventory management or product delivery that could disappoint her customers.
There have been severe supply constraints since the pandemic. As an e-commerce leader, Amazon may be better positioned than individual sellers to overcome these issues. According to his JungleScout report on Amazon sellers in his 2022 report, despite severe disruptions due to problems with his chain of supplies, his three-quarters (76%) of sellers will continue to sell his goods in 2022. will make a profit for the year.
Step 2: Create an Account with Amazon
Amazon provides specific instructions on how to create an account for anyone who wants to become an Amazon seller. For convenience, we provide those instructions here.
Residents of these countries are eligible and may become Amazon Sellers.
You will need:
- Use your Amazon customer account or business email address
- Credit card that can be charged internationally
- Government ID
- tax information
- telephone number
- Bank account information for Amazon to remit sales proceeds
Choose Your Selling Plan
After setting up your selling account, you can choose a plan in Amazon Seller Central. There are two plans, the Personal Plan and the Professional Plan.
The Individual plan is suitable for those who may sell less than 40 items per month, with sellers paying $0.99 for each item they sell, plus additional sales fees. New sellers may be just starting to think about what to sell and don't want to advertise their products or use Amazon's advanced tools just yet.
Amazon doesn't limit the number of products you sell. The Professional plan is $39.99/month (excluding additional sales fees) and is suitable for users with more than 40 units per month. This plan is more robust than the Individual plan. This allows sellers to take advantage of her advanced Amazon selling tools, such as dashboards and product reports, to qualify their products to rank higher on Amazon.
Amazon collects an additional referral fee from both plans. This includes referral fees per sale (percentage of total transactions that varies by product category).
Step 3. Add products
You can sell many products, categories, and brands, but check the list of restricted products. Some types may require professional planning.
To start selling products, Amazon requires you to create a product listing in Seller Central (or via the API).
- Product identifiers such as GTINs, UPCs, ISBNs, and EANs are required to accurately identify the product you are selling. You can get your UPC code directly from GS1 or request an exemption.
- A SKU is a product ID that you create to track your product.
- Offer details such as price, product condition, availability, and shipping options.
- Product details include name, brand, category, description, and image.
- Keywords and search terms to help shoppers find your product.
If another seller already offers the same item, we'll match it to an existing listing (meaning details such as the item ID are already set). Create a new listing if you are the first seller to offer the item.
Amazon provides videos and content to help you engage customers once you've completed your listing.
Product detail page
When creating product detail pages, you need to create SEO-friendly listings to attract customers and increase demand.
Prospects search for keywords with relevant titles, clear images, product descriptions, and bullet points to help them find your product. Emphasize the uniqueness of your products to make them stand out.
The better your listing, the more you can convert it into sales. Ultimately, your product should rank on the first page for the best visibility.
Step 4: Acquire and Sell
Once your product is ready and listed on Amazon's store, Amazon offers three suggestions to attract customers. This can lead to higher costs and impact your margins. To stand out from the competition, you may need to:
Offer fast shipping
Amazon is known for its fast shipping, and customers want their products as soon as possible. A robust FBA plan (as mentioned above) allows for fast shipping. Alternatively, some sellers choose to offer the product themselves.
Advertise and promote your offer
Sellers can promote their products with Sponsored Listings for an additional fee, but this is only available on the Professional plan. This strategy helps increase awareness of individual products and increase brand awareness by placing ads in search results and product pages. Consider running sales and coupons as another way to promote your products. Select the products you want to advertise, keywords suitable for those products, enter your cost per click, keywords and his SEO image.
set competitive prices
Amazon Seller Central's built-in tools help you stay competitive with pricing automation and bulk pricing for your business customers. Amazon recommends including shipping incentives as part of the value you provide.
Additionally, check out Amazon's recommendations that might help your business. Most of their offers will affect your margins, so weigh the benefits over the higher costs.
Access to Amazon Selling Coach
Amazon Selling Coach provides personalized recommendations to help you increase your success on Amazon.
Prime Fulfillment with FBA
When you choose FBA for your products, you get great benefits from Amazon: Amazon fulfillment centers pack and ship them to your customers. By leveraging our fulfillment network and expertise, your items qualify for Prime and free shipping.
hub by amazon
Hub by Amazon is another comprehensive solution that frees you and your staff from daily package management, from skyscrapers to garden-style apartments. Hubs do not require an Amazon Prime membership and do not charge residents.
promotion
Buyers consider various promotions when shopping online. This includes price discounts and discounts, free shipping, and more.
Free shipping is what draws buyers to her Amazon. You, too, can make a big impression on buyers by offering a promotion. I found
Step 5: Get Customer Reviews
Customer product reviews benefit customers and sellers. You should review Amazon's policies and potential violations when trying to gather legitimate customer reviews. Read our guide on right and wrong ways to increase product reviews and avoid policy violations.
final thoughts
Becoming an Amazon seller exposes you to a huge global market that can help you grow your business online, whether it's a full-time job or a lucrative side hustle. Do your homework and take advantage of Amazon's reach, infrastructure, and guidance.