Being able to sell smart on the Amazon marketplace is a necessity for any e-commerce professional looking to increase their profits and brand awareness.
Like any other sales channel there are a number of best practices sellers can implement on Amazon to not only build a positive reputation, but also increase their profits greatly. In this blog post we will discuss small improvements you can make to your Amazon business to work smart and sell more.
FBA stands for Fulfillment by Amazon, where Amazon handles the warehousing and logistics of your goods. Every seller is allowed to have both an FBA offer and a non-FBA offer on the same ASIN in the Amazon marketplace. While Amazon customers typically prefer FBA orders to non-FBA offers, it’s worth having those non-FBA offers for your products to help you capture lost sales should your FBA stock run out. Amazon also offers another service, FBA onsite, that is a slight twist on the FBA model.
By having stock Fulfilled by Amazon you’re encouraging growth of your e-commerce by:
The Amazon Buy Box is the box on a product detail page where customers can begin the purchasing process by adding items to their shopping carts. A key feature of the Amazon platform is that multiple sellers can offer the same product. If more than one eligible seller offers a product, they may compete for the Buy Box for that product.
According to Amazon 78% of all sales are made through the buy box so getting your product front and center for customers is crucial to increasing sales.
Your products can win the buy box by:
The Amazon marketplace does prohibit sellers from circumventing sales to other sites, but you as a seller are aloud to market your products to a degree. You are allowed to include a print catalog in your orders, even if that catalog includes a non-Amazon URL in it. You’re also allowed to promote your Amazon storefront URL to existing Amazon customers.
If you’re fulfilling through FBA and Amazon is warehousing your goods be sure to have any marketing material, or catalog you wish to include with your shipments attached to your product prior to shipping it to FBA.
This will help encourage repeat customers through Amazon and increase brand awareness for your e-commerce further establishing your reputation.
For all of your non-FBA orders it is important to cut down on shipping costs as much as possible. Whatever you save on shipping can be applied to your products pricing giving your customers further savings and allowing you to stand out amongst competitors.
As an e-commerce seller chances are you have accounts with UPS and FedEx, but often times it’s possible to get better shipping rates through DHL Global Mail, especially when it comes to products weighing 3 to 16 ounces. Never give away valuable margins to uncompetitive shipping costs. You’re greatly affecting your business and your representation on the Amazon marketplace where price is more important than ever.
Most Amazon customers do prefer FBA products to non-FBA products, but as a seller how do you go about becoming a trusted merchant, one that will make customers feel ease when clicking that ‘Buy’ button on products fulfilled by you?
Start by building up feedback on your past transactions. As an e-commerce seller you must be pro-active in asking for past customer feedback. Whether you’re implementing tools such as FeedBackFive, or FeedBackGenius your company’s reputation must be represented in a positive light to encourage conversions and increased profits.
Amazon’s Seller Performance is another aspect of selling on Amazon that all sellers should consider. Amazon tracks your stores performance and if you begin increasing in sales at a rate that is higher to the amount of feedback you receive from customers, then Amazon may delay payment to you in order to avoid situations where vendors are unloading large quantities of poor quality products. This further demonstrates why it’s so important for your e-commerce to be constantly asking for feedback from your customers and building a solid reputation on this marketplace.
When on vendor central be sure to go to the “Manage FBA Inventory” section and select the ASINs in which you would like replenishment alerts. Amazon will automatically send you emails notifying you whenever FBA inventory drops below a level that you’ve set. This will allow you to take action on low stock much faster than manually going through your inventory on a daily basis.
Save yourself the time and effort through this convenient Amazon marketplace automation process. The goal is to be in stock all the time and have a consistent flow of your inventory that way you can be in front of potential customers all the time.
Work Smart. Sell More.
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