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What to Do Before You Start Selling Products on Amazon
Selling products on Amazon is the dream of many people. Knowing what to do to become successful faster, makes the process a whole lot easier.
Becoming an Amazon seller is a great opportunity that has presented itself in these past few years. This opportunity can seem too good to be true or too complicated to be done by someone without some specialized knowledge. This is simply not the case, there is nothing too intimidating that cannot be overcome by simply knowing a thing or two.
Becoming an Amazon seller is a great opportunity but it is not easy, it requires you to be smart and diligent in order to make the best of the circumstances in front of you. The cost to sell on Amazon doesn’t mean you have to spend an enormous amount of money or time running your business. Before you start selling products on Amazon, spend a little time every day making smart decisions, you’ll save valuable time and resources. The smart decision making should start before you start selling products on Amazon.
Join a community of sellers and get educated on the subject
The benefits of being surrounded by sellers, especially experienced ones are very obvious. Unless you know an Amazon seller that’s willing to answer your questions you should consider joining a community where you can discuss your Amazon seller issues. There are numerous Facebook groups, forums and places like Quora.com where you can interact with other sellers and learn from them.
Joining these communities isn’t enough. You’ll quickly discover that launching your first product is going to be challenging. It’s best to educate yourself before you start selling.
Nothing can fully prepare you for what it’s like when you actually start selling products on Amazon. During your daily routine, find and bookmark a variety of good YouTube videos and channels, as well as podcasts and blogs with good and reliable information.
Figure out what kind of Amazon seller you want to be
There is more than one way to run your Amazon business because there is more than one type of Amazon businesses. Your first decision should be whether you want to fulfill your own orders (FBM- fulfillment by merchant) or would like Amazon to fulfill them (FBA – Fulfillment by Amazon). We wrote an article that goes into the comparison of these 2 options in great detail, I suggest you read it if you are still not sure which way you want to go.
In other words, will you be packing and sending each order by yourself or willing to pay Amazon to do it for you. This article will compare these 3 options in great detail. If you are not sure which way to go, keep reading.
What Business Model Should You Choose?
Wholesale
Wholesale implies that you will be ordering a batch of products that already exist and already being sold on Amazon. Using a “wholesale” model will require less effort since you won’t have to find or manufacture the product or worry about its listing. You just have to find a product that is selling well and find a way to get your slice of the sales volume cake. This can be done in multiple ways, such as: undercutting the price, having a better seller rating than the holder of the buy box, or a special PPC strategy. This is a good way to start selling products on Amazon, without risking too much.
Private Label
The PL model involves selecting a profitable product niche, finding a manufacturer and repackaging or customizing and branding your own products in a certain way. This business model is the most popular because it can make you an enormous amount of money. If you ever heard Amazon seller success stories about people earning millions on Amazon, it was probably by using a private label business model. The downside to the PL model is that you’re starting from scratch (zero rank, zero sales, zero exposure). You have to build your product high in the ranks and establish yourself to make extremely high profits.
Retail Arbitrage
This model is the least risky and it requires resourcefulness and timing most of all. The cost of selling on Amazon is by far the lowest in this model. This model implies that you find products that are on sale either in a brick and mortar store or another e-commerce platform and sell them on Amazon at a higher price. This model requires you to be able to find those deals and react quickly to list them on Amazon and get the sales. This model requires the least amount of effort in terms of listing optimization or PPC maintaining and cost – since none are required.
Keep in mind, that you don’t have to choose between each of these models, it’s easy to switch one to another or run multiple business models at the same time, and on the same seller account. That’s one of the best things about selling on Amazon, you can always try and test something new.
How to Find a Product to Sell
This is a very big and complex topic. If you have done any research whatsoever, you probably know just how complex it is. If you want to start selling products on Amazon, you should never stop learning. The hardest part is figuring out exactly which product is the product you should sell.
This is the time-consuming part due to the fact that it is a very important decision. Your entire business depends on it, and should not be taken lightly. There are many factors to consider such as the weight, the shipping cost, and the manufacturing cost. From the perspective of marketability, you should be aware of the demand and the supply the competitiveness of the product niche, the profitability, margins, the growth potential etc…
Fortunately, we have a lot of great articles to help you; articles that cover different aspects such as guidelines for finding your first product, product packaging and finding a profitable niche. We suggest reading all these articles before you start selling on Amazon.
Rely on Accurate Software
Using software tools is very common for Amazon sellers, at least for those that are serious about making a profit.
The software is another cost of selling on Amazon that needs to be factored into your investment calculation, especially if you want to do things right. There are all kinds of software for product research, such as the AMZScout Chrome Extension (as shown below).
AMZscout is a great tool because it helps you see the sales volume of different products, as well as the margins and other critical data needed while searching for products.
Good, diligent sellers are always on a lookout for new products to source. But the truth is, looking at data is the key to continued success, and finding new products is only one part of the process.
Once you start selling products on Amazon you should be using this data to monitor your competition, to acquire new keywords, to find new ways of optimizing your listing and more!
While considering which software to use, select one with accurate and reliable data that’s easy to use. Most importantly, don’t stop researching - even after your free trial is over. Click here to get a free trial from AMZScout, and set yourself up for success!
Of course, eventually, you’ll need a range of other tools as well. Tools to help you manage customer e-mail campaigns, track your organic ranking and split test your listing optimization. There are many options available and there are bound to be more in the future. We will address some of these issues in our newsletter and blogs, so stay tuned. Good luck sellers!