Everything You Need to Sell on Amazon And More

Founded in 1994 in Bellevue, Washington, U.S, by Jeff Bezos, Amazon has gained tremendous popularity globally. Initially started as an online marketplace for books, Amazon slowly crept into other categories, such as apparel, food, toys, furniture, electronics, etc. However, today, Amazon is not just known as a great ecommerce platform, it is also known for its services in cloud computing, digital streaming, artificial intelligence, and self-driving cars.

The services offered by Amazon can be broadly classified into:

1. Products and Services

—Amazon Fresh
—Amazon Prime
—Amazon Web Services
—Alexa
—Appstore
—Amazon Drive
—Echo
—Kindle
—Fire tablets
—Fire TV
—Video
—Kindle Store
—Music
—Music Unlimited
—Amazon Digital Game Store
—Amazon Studios
—Amazon Wireless
—Amazon Academy

2. Logistics

—Amazon Air
—Amazon Flex
—Amazon Logistics
—Amazon Prime Air

3. Other Subsidiaries

—Amazon Maritime
—Brilliance Audio
—Annapurna Labs
—Whole Foods Market
—Twitch
—Soul
—Ring
—Kuiper Systems

BEFORE YOU START SELLING ON AMAZON

Amazon is a gigantic platform that caters to individual and professional sellers. To be able to sell on Amazon, sellers must register by choosing the plan that serves them better. Currently, Amazon lets the sellers choose from two types of accounts:

1. Individual
This is a good option for those people who sell less than 40 items in a month and are starting with this platform. For every item sold, the seller pays Amazon $0.99 per item.

2. Professional
If you sell more than 40 items per month and want access to more professional selling tools, then this is the right plan for you. The seller is expected to pay $39.99 per month, regardless of the number of items they sell.

On both, types of accounts, Amazon charges a referral fee on each sale. This is s percentage of the total transaction and varies with the products sold from different categories.

However, you need to fulfill a few other requirements. You must have the following:

—A bank account number
—Tax details
—A valid and active phone number
—A national ID
—A chargeable credit card

AMAZON SELLER CENTRAL

After setting up your account on Amazon you will get access to an Amazon portal to manage your account. This includes managing payments, inventory, product details, etc. This portal is known as Seller Central and keeps you up to date with all your account activities so that you can manage all your activities swiftly.

PRODUCT LISTINGS

Before you start selling on Amazon, you need to create a product listing. Amazon has existing product listings too that you can use to categorize all your products. However, one thing you must keep in mind is that not all product listings are open for all accounts; some listings require the seller to have a professional account.

Some categories with restrictions on Amazon are:

1. Alcohol
2. Baby products
3. Automotive and Powersports
4. Beauty topicals
5. Certified refurbished
6. Collectible coins
7. Dietary supplements
8. Electronics

These are just a few categories with restrictions. This list is way beyond the scope of the article to talk about. To keep yourself updated with these categories, you can check out the official product listings page on Amazon’s website.

WHAT DOES A PRODUCT LISTING CONTAIN?

If there is another seller who is selling the same products as you, there would be an existing product listing that you can use. If there is no product listing, then you can create your own. The following details are usually present in a listing:

1. Product price, condition, quantity, and shipping options

2. Keywords for better search results

3. Name, category, brand, description, pictures

4. A product ID that is created by you to track the product in your inventory (SKU)

5. A product identifier code to specify the product you are selling. This can be the UPC, ISBN, GTIN, or EAN.

THE PERFECT PRODUCT DETAIL PAGE

The product detail page is very crucial as it provides all the details to the buyer. The buyer would particularly be more interested in this page as it states all the relevant information regarding the product. As multiple sellers sell the same products on Amazon, buyers are generally looking for all the product details and specifications.

The following details are an integral part of the product detail page on Amazon:

1. Title

2. Images

3. Product description

4. Images

5. Product variations

6. Features in bullet points

7. Any offers

ATTRACTING CUSTOMERS AND BOOSTING YOUR SALES

Amazon is a platform where multiple sellers sell the same products. Based on the price, offers, and shipping options, customers usually make their final discussion.

The following tactics help to attract customers to your store:

1. Shipping
You can provide your customers with fast shipping options if they have signed up for the Amazon Prime option. This helps to provide your customers with a better shopping experience.

2. Offers
Putting up offers helps to increase your visibility and brand awareness. Offers help to promote your products and encourage customers to shop from your store.

3. Pricing
Setting competitive prices will help to attract more customers. Since most customers are looking for the best price available, it is better to set prices that are somewhat similar to what other sellers have set. Furthermore, having lower prices for bulk purchasing is another incentive that you can give to your customers. Bulk pricing can be set automatically by the tools offered by Seller Central.

4. Reviews
Asking customers to review your products is their purchase helps to gain the trust and confidence of your potential customers. Having mostly positive reviews by your customers helps to boost your sales.

5. Sell globally
Amazon is a platform that lets sellers sell their products globally. By selling globally, you can grow your business at an exponential rate.

6. Advertising
The Seller Central lets the sellers advertise their products and brand as a whole on the platform of Amazon. Advertisement can be carried out in the folioing ways:

—Sponsored products
These ads appear on the search results page and the product detail pages and are ads for individual projects. This helps to achieve better visibility of products on Amazon.

—Sponsored brands
The top 3 products along with your brand’s logo and portfolio are featured on the search results ad.

—Amazon stores
These stores are multipage shopping destinations for individual brands. You can share your products and brand story here.

7. Performance metrics
Amazon provides its sellers with performance metrics so that they can monitor the performance of their store in one window. Certain key metrics have to be monitored for sellers to ensure that they are meeting all their targets in the Seller Central. These metrics are:

—Order defect rate
This should be less than 1% and it indicates the standards of a seller’s customer service.

—Pre-fulfilment cancel rate
This rate should be less than 2.5% and this indicates the cancellation rate by sellers before the shipment.

—Late shipment rate
This rate should be less than 4% as this reflects more on the seller’s services.

FINAL THOUGHTS

If you are new to the concept of running a store on Amazon, you must consider hiring professional marketers who can help you run your store smoothly. You may think that Amazon is a complex ecommerce platform that is difficult to operate, but if you work with the right people, your store will flourish. DigAptics is one such company that offers services to help manage your Amazon store. With ample experience under their belt, they can help you launch your Amazon store and also manage the marketing aspect of your store. With their professional and reliable help, your Amazon store will generate higher sales in no time. With the services provided by DigAptics for your Amazon store, you can expect to get a higher ROI (Return On Investment) and more customers. Contact a team member from DigAptics to discuss the management of your Amazon store.