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Amazon has over 200 million subscribers and even more users. However, while it may seem like Amazon is an accessible market to penetrate, you might have trouble selling the proverbial pen if you don't have the right tips for selling on Amazon.
In this article, you will find all the secrets you should know before starting as an Amazon seller.
This article is divided into three sections;
- Your product
- Marketing and Branding
- A Must-Do List
The parts should help you narrow your focus on your marketing strategy in the places that matter. While there are many tips for sellers out there, it is more productive to use them systematically.
1. Product
Products are at the center of everything you are doing on Amazon as a seller. The following tips will help you sell your products more efficiently.
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a) Find Your Category
A buyer goes to a category of items to find a preferred choice. Therefore, your product needs to be categorized correctly. Are you selling electronics, sports equipment, beauty products, or books? Amazon has many categories your product can fall under.
Additionally, finding a category on Amazon means knowing which items sell most and from which categories. Obviously, some products will always do better than others.
Items used daily are a good place to start. After all, changing your product to one that is in more demand is one way to increase sales on Amazon.
Once you find your category, it will be easier to narrow down to a specific product to sell.
b) Find Your Product
Can you access the product? And can you make it move? You do not need to have a product since you can sell on Amazon without inventory. Nonetheless, you have to find a product to sell.
You can prioritize a product you believe in and are familiar with because you will sell it more naturally. Furthermore, you can resonate more and be more helpful to clients when they need it. Nevertheless, finding your product goes beyond just beliefs.
c) Consumer-Friendly Products
A product should be one that is easy to use and simple to understand.
If you are a reseller, you can look at what the reviews are saying before you settle on a product. Do not focus on the positive reviews only. Furthermore, well-priced items are consumer friendly and may earn you some potential customers.
d) Good Photos
Good product photography is responsible for more than half your sales according to this study.
Amazon has product images from multiple angles as a well-rounded image might convince a buyer to make an order. Clients make decisions based on what they see, so get a professional photographer.
Ensure you do not use unrealistic filters when posting images, as you do not want to catfish your clients. The photo should look somewhat similar to the product so that the buyer gets what they are seeing.
Apart from the photos, you can include a short video in your description. Getting professional content might be a bit costly, but there is a reason companies spend most of their budget on marketing.
e) Product Descriptions
Your product descriptions are an important part of the customer journey. Ensure you have everything the photos can not capture in the description. The more elaborate your description is, the higher the chances of winning potential buyers when you are storytelling.
f) Be a Storyteller
Focusing more on the experience the product will give the client is better than focusing on what the product does. The client already knows what the product will do unless the item has a feature that sets it apart from others. Your main focus should be on how your option will improve the client's life.
2. Marketing and Branding
Without marketing and branding, you will be stuck with your products and make no significant difference. These marketing tips will put your products in the best position to sell.
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After all, you can have the best product, but if no one sees it or knows about it, you may end up not selling it. So, what do you need to do to put your product out there?
a) Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is a strategy used by more established brands and sellers. New sellers may need to resort to a self-service advertising solution. However, how close can you get to achieving influencer marketing as other sellers do?
First, you can use models in your product shoots. This makes the product more appealing. Take a scroll through Amazon and pay attention to the people in the photos. That is a good place to start before you land your product in the hands of a celebrity.
Ever asked yourself why products pull away whenever a celebrity has a scandal? It is because visibility is currency.
b) Promotions
When you sponsor your product, you showcase your brand and product portfolio. Additionally, sponsorship can put you on the first few pages of Amazon's search results. These pages have a very lucrative real estate which everyone wants.
Visibility is currency. Obviously, it costs a lot of money for your product to show at the New York Times Square for a day. Meanwhile, just as many people visit Amazon, where you can market your product for much cheaper and to an audience that is looking for items.
You will need to know how much it costs to be an Amazon-sponsored brand and what it takes to have your product promoted for you.
c) Free Shipping or Not
Amazon customers pay close attention to shipping, and if you go through enough review comments, you will realize that it is one of the major issues. After all, when you do shipping correctly and promptly, you are building trust with your clients.
When a buyer is comparing two items, and one is offering free shipping while the other is not, they are more likely to go for free shipping. It is upon you to ensure the client feels that your product is not only the best but the easiest to get.
Free shipping is a great selling strategy. However, you need to know how much it will cost you to pull that off. Plus, offering to ship is one of the customer-centric approaches to improve Amazon sales.
d) Customer-Centric Approach
There are many ways you can get the buyer to trust you. One way is to ensure your product has a warranty and a good return policy. This calms the buyer, knowing they can trust your product.
To begin with, say more about the product in the product description. This page will help you gain the buyer's trust as they will clearly know what they are buying.
Secondly, respond to the questions section to get to your buyer's needs and make more sales. Also, respond to online reviews and ensure the buyer can fully trust your product. After all, unanswered questions on a product page are a bit of a turn-off because it feels as though no one will be there to help if an issue with the product arises.
Regardless of how caring you are, exceptional customer service will not be the reason why a buyer will click on your product. The price often is.
e) Competitive Pricing
The one thing that will make a buyer click on a product detail to read your descriptions in the first place is the product price. Amazon sellers have known this and are employing different tactics to come up with a competitive price.
There is a business model used by many, the 99 cents approach. For instance, consider these two prices; $12.59 and $12.99. One looks cheaper than the other, and they all look cheaper than $13.00.
There are three pricing strategies you can consider.
i) Manual Repricing
This is where you go to Amazon seller central and change the price on your own, assuming you already have an Amazon seller account.
ii) Algorithm Repricing
This is the pricing that the algorithm sets based on real-time data. The advantage of this form of pricing is that it eliminates the biases we as humans tend to have when making such decisions.
iii) Rule-Based Repricing
This is the form of pricing that is dictated by the market. One of the Amazon seller tips is to use an already existing market to set the lowest price and compete favorably.
Furthermore, pricing is an important bit that you include in your brand content and is one of the main selling points that you always need to talk about.
f) Deals
Admittedly, pricing is not enough. Does your product have the best deal in town? Your deals can be themed and well-timed to get the best results.
Look at your yearly calendar and note the periods when you will need to have deals. The best times include during holidays, Black Friday, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Year's when everyone is broke, and more.
You can also have a deal when no one else is having one. One of the best methods to employ is using a coupon.
g) Coupons
Amazon allows you to include coupons in your products. One should have an exciting time when shopping through your products, and one of the best engagements is to include coupons.
Once your prices and deals have convinced your visitor, you need to turn them into a buyer as fast as possible. You can use a buy box to help you achieve that.
h) Buy Box
A buy box is known to be responsible for more sales. Product listings with the box included do better compared to the ones without. You can earn a buy box to realize more sales.
i) Brand Content
What are your clients seeing, and what more information can they get if they need assistance or clarification? Are your social media sites in order, and how do they look? Brands are hiring content managers who make their brands look up to par with the competition in the market.
Use neat images on your page, as this has a direct impact on your Amazon business.
Things a Professional Amazon Seller MUST-DO
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Selling online means you have to be smart and diligent when going about your marketing. After all, there are some things every Amazon seller does, and you should do too. Whether you are one of the third-party sellers or not, you need some form of strategy. Here are a few strategies that can get you started on making sales.
i) Keyword Research
Every successful Amazon seller has put some thought into the wording they use on their products. Keywords are at the core of any online business on Amazon or any other platform.
Know how to use keywords, as this is one of the best SEO practices for your business; you can not sell products if no one can find them to begin with.
The challenge is you can have great keywords, but you can not include all of them in your description. That is where you will need backend search terms.
ii) Backend Search Terms
The backend search terms will only be visible to you and not to a visitor to your page. Additionally, these search terms will have an impact on your product indexing on Amazon.
Backend keywords indicate to the algorithm that the terms are relevant to your product. Plus, a buyer may still find your product when they use one of the backend terms, even though it is not on your product title or description.
For you to be able to do all this, you need to have a professional seller account.
iii) Professional Seller Account
The Amazon marketplace has a front end and the back end. The front end is where the buyers see, but the back end is where all the behind-the-scenes actions take place.
You need to have a professional seller account to access the great tools that Amazon has to offer. Some of the tools include automated pricing, business analytics, support, page management, where you can find the selling fees, and more.
One of the best tools on Amazon is Product Listings.
iv) Product Listing
The products listings page is where all your products and prices are. Here, you enter your product descriptions, images, and price to help the shoppers decide whether they will buy your product.
One way to tell if your clients are satisfied is through customer reviews.
v) Customer Reviews
The buyer is almost always right, even when they are not. When you pay attention to what the customer is saying, you will realize they are buying your product based on an experience they have had before or one they want to have. Your product needs to help the buyer get this experience. As it is often said, you are not selling a drill but rather a hole. After all, a drill is a product, while a hole is an experience.
Once you have figured out how to sell the hole, it is time to sell the most holes possible. The best way to do that is to follow the rules Amazon has put down.
vi) Follow Amazon Rules
Amazon's rules are not there to create a harsh and punitive marketplace, but to guide you on the best path to success. If you follow these rules, you can end up using services like the Amazon FBA or drop-shipping without any headaches. Taking advantage of these rules makes you more efficient and you can cater to more clients than you otherwise would.
vii) Build a Store
Once you are working on your brand, it needs a home where someone can find all your information and other products. You can build a store that can be a one-stop for anyone interested in your products. A store is also a clear indicator that you are dedicated to your course.
viii) Inventory
You can manage your inventory or have Amazon do it for you. If you want to move faster, you need to delegate some functions to Amazon and just pull the necessary strings.
Seller Central has the necessary tools to help you manage your inventory among other things.
ix) Performance Metrics
One tool that most sellers should rely upon after a few months is how their business is doing. Knowing how the business is performing will help the seller know where to improve. Amazon has all the necessary tools in seller central.
x) Connect with other Sellers
Do not reinvent the wheel when other people can help you out. There are a lot of Amazon seller forums you can join to learn some tricks.
Final Thoughts
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You can find more Amazon selling tips than you can use. However, they are of no use when you do not apply them. The best thing to do is go a few steps at a time and implement each of the tips above. All the tips are equally important and geared towards making your business better.
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