How to Maximize Your Sales on Amazon (in 5 steps)

amazon sale

Many eCommerce owners see in marketplaces an opportunity to increase their sales but they have no clue how exactly is that done? Well, in this article we will tell you the 5 most important steps that you should know in order to succeed.

The 5 steps to sell on Amazon

I will actually synthesize the whole process in 5 steps to highlight some milestones that every merchant should know. The reality of your business, its needs and the expectations you have of it will mark other steps and strategies, but these that we are going to detail are essential.

1. Product and market analysis

Amazon has such a huge volume of business, it sells so many categories and products that, if we do too simplistic an analysis, we can think that everyone can sell there. My recommendation is that you don’t start from that premise without doing a previous analysis to avoid serious problems later on and you need to make sure that you do proper research for the best amazon seller tools

I always emphasize that Amazon is not for everyone. You will be interested if:

  • You have a good margin: manufacturers and distributors with good volume negotiations are the ones who can play the most in a market where the price is the most important variable. Retailers who are fairer should opt for other channels.
  • Your product is of low competition: if it is only better than better, but entering a saturated market within Amazon is a barrier in which, fighting for the price, you say goodbye again to your margin.
  • You don’t have your own eCommerce: Amazon eats everything and will become your competition by cannibalizing sales.

Find out who is selling your product and in what price range. You can do this within Amazon’s own search engine or use reverse search tools to find them by ASIN (try Helium 10’s “Brain” tool, for example).

You also need to know, to have all the data in hand, the commission Amazon receives for each sale of your product. This varies depending on the category and there are 32 different starting from 7% and can reach 45% in some specific cases such as accessories for Kindle. You can consult it here.

2. Choose the sales regime

Now that you are clear that you can compete on Amazon you will have to make the next important decision. There is no single mode of the sale so you should get to know all of them with their advantages and disadvantages before launching.

You can choose between Seller Marketplace and Seller Retail. The characteristics are:

Retail

Single customer supplier: you only sell to Amazon, not to the end customer.

Last in the hierarchy: the priority is the customer, then the platform and finally the retail seller and this applies, for example, to any complaint or management.

The negotiation is direct with Amazon: you must make it clear what will happen with the excess stock, returns policy or payment method that by default is 90 days.

Remember that Amazon decides the price at which it sells your products. If they decide to lower it to a lower amount than you sell them in your eCommerce or any other platform so they can represent a great threat. In exchange, you will prioritize the sale of these products.

Marketplace

You sell to the final customer through Amazon that operates as a simple intermediary.

You decide the selling prices of each item.

Although this can be a little confusing for you, I must tell you that if you choose to sell as Marketplace Seller you would still have to make one more choice. You can sell on Amazon as FBM (Fulfilled By Merchant) which is when you as seller manage from order receipt to logistics, delivery … The alternative is called FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon), in this case they take care of absolutely everything: we send them the product and they market it.

The sales formulas with the most power for Amazon are always the ones they are most interested in because they are obsessed with controlling the process and retaining the customer.

3. Upload your listings or products

I’m sorry I have to use the word listing but it’s the term Amazon uses so we’ll understand each other better.

Obviously, when you choose the sales regime and create your account, the next step is to upload the catalog of your products for sale on Amazon. To do this you have to go to Amazon Seller central and follow the necessary steps. This is what the interface looks like.

When the products you want to sell are already in the Amazon catalogue, all you need to do is locate them by looking for their ASIN, name or EAN13 and then add the price and the stock you put up for sale.

If it is not created, you will have to fill in all the required fields and keep in mind:

  • put complete statements
  • include useful information to avoid client misunderstandings
  • as many images as you can
  • product features
  • forms of use
  • guarantee…

There are many other fields that are not indispensable, my recommendation is to complete them all and do so with great care. Do keyword research to find out how your customers are looking. Use those words in titles, statements and product characteristics. Work the texts very well and use quality images (at 1,000 x 1,000 pixels).

4. Win the Buy Box

I’m going to do an excerpt to explain what the Buy Box is because it’s a key concept in Amazon. You know that it is very common for several vendors to bid for the sale of the same product, well, only one appears linked to the purchase button.

The difference between appearing or not here is abysmal, you could say that from selling to not doing so. But how do you win the Buy Box? Amazon prioritizes the most authoritative sellers and this is calculated based on some signals processed by its algorithm:

Outstanding merchant status

You need to prove a track record of at least 3 months with a good sales history before you start talking. 3 months that can go up to 6 in certain categories.

Fulfillment

For Amazon, the fact of being the final responsible of the management with the client is always a plus, so if you are in FBA regime you will have more chances of winning the Buy Box.

Shipping times

Amazon wants its customers to receive its products quickly, for something they have a very strict delivery time. It tries to ensure that the percentage of orders delivered on time never falls below 97%.

Price

One of the most determining factors is the final price of the product (including all shipping fees and charges). If you are able to give the best price and the rest of your parameters are normal, you can rank above other competitors even if they have other ranking factors comparatively better.

To automate this process of price search, comparison and repricing you can look for some online payment tools such as Sellics.

Reviews and ratings

It makes sense that if the most important thing is to have satisfied customers, the quantity and quality of the opinions are decisive. You have to encourage as much as possible buyers to leave their opinions, ask them directly even adding some detail in the sending itself as a simple card.

Always act when you detect bad criticism, be interested in repairing the problems so as not to incur in claims. Customers have to be satisfied and if they don’t you run the risk of losing positioning (Buy Box and searches) and, even if you accumulate too many complaints, they can close your account.

Response time

When you register your merchant account, among all the conditions you accept is the service clause that says you agree to respond to customers within a maximum of 24 hours. If you do not do so you will be penalized or directly without an account for breach of contract.

5. Work the recruitment

You need to bring traffic to your products and, above all, generate sales so that there is a certain amount of traction. Amazon only has one premise: it wants to sell the more the better (taking care of the customer so that it is recurrent).

As long as you follow their guidelines and respect the rules of the game, they “reward” the products that sell best. This translates into better positions in internal searches (SEO) and you will win the Buy Box more often.

You have at your disposal Amazon’s PPC platform. It’s not that it’s a wonder, it’s somewhat limited, but in exchange, it’s still not as expensive as other alternatives such as Google and Facebook Ads.

It works in a similar way to those already mentioned. Campaigns based on keywords, bids in real time and the product with the best parameters is the one that will occupy a prominent space in searches over those positioned organically.

Anything that drives sales helps you, directly and indirectly, to sell even more. Use all the tools at your disposal email marketing, SEO in commercial search engines, social media … everything that can generate referred traffic is potentially beneficial.

As you can see, there are many things to keep in mind, but by following these 5 steps you will sell on Amazon with guarantees. I hope I have been helpful.