Let’s suppose you’ve finally taken the plunge and opened an Amazon seller account. If you’re like most new sellers, you probably have many questions about how to start selling on Amazon. The good news is that this guide can help answer many of your questions so that you can get off on the right foot and be successful from day one.
In this guide, we will be discussing why and how you can start selling on Amazon right now.
Well then, let’s get started.
Why Amazon?
Amazon’s revenue for the year ended September 30, 2021, was $457.965 billion, up 31.62 percent year over year.
With over 150.6 million users accessing the amazon app in September 2019, I don’t see the reason why not considering this ever-growing platform should be your number one choice.
It’s also worth noting that Amazon is far ahead of the competition. Walmart, the second-most popular shopping app, has only 120 million monthly mobile app users.
Amazon FBA vs. Amazon FBM
FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) is amazon’s storage and fulfillment service that allows retailers to deliver products to an Amazon warehouse and have their orders dispatched by Amazon. FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) is a fulfillment technique where the seller is solely responsible for inventory storage and order fulfillment.
When you use FBA, Amazon charges a fulfillment cost as well as a monthly inventory storage fee. You can either store and ship items yourself or outsource fulfillment to a third-party (not Amazon) with FBM.
Selling on Amazon: Steps to follow
- Decide on itemes you will be selling.
- Choose your Amazon selling plan.
- Register to start selling.
- List your products.
- Drive traffic to your listings.
- Ship Orders
- Get Paid
Let’s discuss each of these steps in detail.
Decide on items you will be selling
One of the first things you should do is decide what items you will be selling on Amazon.
The key to success on Amazon is having a product that sells well, and it’s a good idea to stick with products that are proven to sell.
Before you can sell on Amazon, you have to make sure you have quality items to sell. There are a few ways to do that. You can research and find products that are trending, or you could simply go through the top seller’s list on Amazon and find products that aren’t selling well.
Indeed, the most common option is to use a drop shipper. You can find one by searching for the term “dropship supplier” on google, or you can use one of the many drop-shipping directories available. Once you find a supplier, simply tell them what product you want to deliver, the drop shipper will deliver the product straight to the customer.
However, if you have a product that is selling well on Amazon, then you may want to consider making your own unique brand and start selling on amazon. Creating your own brand will give you the opportunity to create an identity that sets you apart from other sellers.
Choose your Amazon selling plan
As an Amazon seller, you have two different ways to sell your products. You can either sell products yourself or you can use Amazon’s FBA program. Both options have their own pros and cons, so you need to choose the one that best suits your business strategy. If you are interested in selling products yourself then this section is for you.
Moreover, if you are just starting to sell your own products on Amazon, it is recommended that you start with Individual Selling Plan (Individual Seller Account). This plan allows you to sell your items for a higher price than the other selling plans and gives you more control over your products.
The individual plan starts at $0.99 per item sold (including additional selling fees). On the other hand, a professional plan starts at $39.99 per month (including additional selling fees).
Choose an Individual selling plan, if you are:
- selling fewer than 40 units a month.
- unsure what you would be selling.
- uninteresred to advertise or use advance selling tools.
Choose a Professional Plan, if you want to:
- sell more than 40 units a month.
- advertise your products
- be at the top of the product detail pages.
- take benefits of advanced selling tools, such as APIs and reports.
- sell your products in restricted categories.
Pricing:
Features:
Register to start selling
Amazon has built a platform that allows anyone to become an online retailer by simply registering and entering your bank account information.
It’s never been easier to sell on Amazon, and there is no cost associated with selling on Amazon. Moreover, Amazon is the biggest online marketplace, which means that the traffic you will get from it will be worth its weight in gold.
Registering is easy. It is a 10 step process:
- Go to https://services.amazon.com.
2. Click the button ‘Sign up.
3. Enter your email and password and click ‘Next’.
4. Choose your ‘Business location’ and ‘Business Type’.
5. Enter your business information.
6. Enter your personal information.
7. Choose your marketplace(s).
8. Enter your billing information.
9. Add the information for your product(s) and Amazon store.
10. Validate your address.
List your products
Before you can begin selling it, you must first list your goods on Amazon. You can include information about your product such as its category, brand name, features and specs, photos, and price. Your customer has access to all of these facts to assist them in purchasing your product.
To showcase your products on Amazon, you must list them in one of two methods from your Seller Central account:
- Add a new offer by using the Seller App to scan the product barcodes.
- Create a new listing by uploading your product images and completing all the details.
Drive traffic to your listings
By now, you must have created your amazon seller account, registered it, and have listed your products. Now what?
Well, it’s time to drive traffic to your listings. How do you do that?
It’s simple.
Amazon is a great place for sellers to list their products and one of the best ways to drive traffic on your product listings is by optimizing your listing.
Firstly, you need to ensure that all the required fields are filled. The second step is by ensuring that you have a good quality product image. Apart from these, there are some other things you can do to make your listing stand out and get noticed by buyers.
Secondly, you need to make sure all your product listings are optimized for search engines. Your product name, product image, and product description must be optimized.
Learn more about how you can optimize your Amazon listings in 6 steps:
Amazon SEO: Optimize your Product Listing in 6 steps
Ship Orders
Finally, you are getting traffic and sales too. Now, it’s time to ship your orders to your customers.
You have two options:
- Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
- Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)
FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon) is amazon’s storage and fulfillment service that allows retailers to deliver products to an Amazon warehouse and have their orders dispatched by Amazon. FBM (Fulfilled by Merchant) is a fulfillment technique in which the seller is solely responsible for inventory storage and order fulfillment.
Amazon charges a fulfillment fee and a monthly inventory storage fee when you use FBA. You can either store and ship items yourself or outsource fulfillment to a third-party (not Amazon) with FBM.
If you are choosing FBM, you can also go with the dropshipping solution.
Moreover, if you do not want to keep inventory in your warehouse, dropshipping is for you. It is not only hassle-free but also saves your storage cost.
However, on the contrary, dropshipping leaves you with comparatively lower profit margins. You would also have lesser control over your supply. Lastly, the low barrier of entry will lead to high competition.
Get paid
Amazon sellers have found that the more payment options they have available to their customers, the better their sales go. According to a study by eMarketer, 45% of consumers said they would abandon a shopping cart if they couldn’t use their preferred payment method. As a result, it makes sense to offer as many payment options as possible to your customers.
Payment options can include debit cards, credit cards, cash on delivery, and even gift cards.
To accept credit card payments, Amazon sellers can use a variety of payment gateways. Payment gateways are services that take care of all the complex transaction processing and complete the sale on a merchant’s behalf. Although there are many payment gateway options available, it is important to choose the one that best fits your needs.
In addition to selling on Amazon, many sellers also choose to create their own e-commerce websites. For these sellers, choosing a payment gateway that supports both platforms is ideal.
How PIM helps sellers on Amazon?
A product information management (PIM) software, such as Apimio, allows vendors and retailers to easily manage all their products in a central location. It allows users to import all product data to their amazon store, easily and efficiently.
Moreover, if you also have a store on Shopify, it also lets you integrate your Shopify store with Apimio in just a click.
Conclusion
Amazon is a great place to sell your products and make money. However, you must follow all of their rules and guidelines carefully when listing your products.
By reviewing our Ultimate Guide to Selling on Amazon today, we hope that you will be able to avoid some common mistakes made by new sellers. We would love to hear from you in the comments section below! Lastly, if there is anything else we can do for you, please let us know by commenting or visiting our website today.
