Amazon has become one of the largest retail giants on the planet with over $107 billion in total sales last year and over $12M in average sales per hour. With huge sales numbers like this and amazing sales incentives such as Amazon Prime it is no wonder that Amazon is dominating the online market. Many retailers, both brick and mortar as well as online, are worried about reduced sales and profit margins. Many have already succumbed to this market pressure.
The old adage applies here. If you cannot beat them, then join them. This approach applies with Amazon and in fact Amazon encourages businesses of all sizes to join them and sell their products through the amazon ecosystem. We have collected a series of tips that many experts, including Tom Buckland have learned in their journey to use Amazon to further their online business interests. Instead of experimenting and learning slowly, expedite your sales and profit curves by following these well tried experiences.
Tips on how to skyrocket your amazon sales:
The first concept to embrace is that as a novice online retailer with Amazon, that you need to learn everything you can about the company and its approach to selling to customers. Service, presentation, searchable products, and customer reviews are all part of the ecosystem that must be mastered.
Search Engine Optimization
Amazon is really a search engine that focuses on the market place it has created. If your products cannot be found, then potential customers will never see your products. Consumers search for products all of the time. The company uses ranking factors to decide which products meet your potential customer needs and presents them to them. Pay attention to Amazon SEO factors. Titles, subtitles, description, Q&A, images etc. all will determine how your product will rank. Make sure that relevant keywords are used in the titles and descriptions.
Reviews are Important Too
Early on it is difficult to obtain reviews, but they are important to show customers have purchased your products and reported their experience about the order process, the product quality etc. Avoid trying to solicit reviews and break the terms of service agreement.
Understand Profitability
Know and understand your costs – production, fulfillment, overhead and customer service. Will you make money or just benefit Amazon and their customers?
Utilize Sell with Fulfillment by Amazon
FBA reduces your workload filling orders and allows you to focus on the core business issues. In addition, your products are eligible for Amazon prime, which has a higher conversion rate by far with all of the sales advantages offered through this service.
Use Pay with Amazon’s “Pay with Amazon Button”
Customers trust Amazon much more than they trust your company and Amazon already has their credit card details saved for easy checkout. Use this button on your own site to elevate sales and garner trust through association with Amazon.
Consider Diversification
Through all of the hard work of becoming successful using Amazon, you and your team will have learned many skills about SEO, marketing online etc. Use these skills to diversify with other online giants such as Facebook and Google Ads and your own storefront website.
Accuracy Is Important
Negative reviews about inaccurate descriptions, mis-ships and out of stock situations, poor customer service etc. can only lead to poor sales in the long run. Focus on making sure that there are no inventory errors, incorrect product descriptions that lead to poor customer satisfaction situations.
Avoid Competing On Price Alone
If your company offers the same product that ten others do, you may find that you’re competing on price alone which is often a race to the bottom with poor profit margins. Establish your own brand reputation for superior customer service.
Organize your listings and products, apply SEO techniques to all of your descriptions, focus on accuracy, provide superior customer service and get recognized by positive online reviews. Don’t forget to include quality images so that customers can see exactly what they will receive. Develop your own brand and market this brand on Amazon, Facebook and Google. Use high quality images and videos. Make your products stand out from the competition.