Selling on Amazon provides an immense opportunity to reach millions of potential buyers. But with increasing competition, it‘s crucial to have the right game plan before diving in. As a small business consultant who has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs successfully earn money on Amazon, I‘ve distilled the most important steps here in this comprehensive guide. Follow them, and you‘ll be off to a strong start!
Choose the Right Amazon Seller Account
The first step is creating your seller account, as this forms the foundation to sell on Amazon. While the sign-up process is free and simple, there are two main types of accounts to consider:
- Individual – Best for new sellers due to the low $0.99 fee per item sold. Allows you to test products before upgrading.
- Professional – For established sellers moving high volumes. The $39.99/month subscription fee saves money at scale.
Before deciding, use the Amazon Fee Calculator to estimate expected fees based on your product category, pricing, and monthly sales volume to determine the most cost-effective account type for your business.
Conduct Thorough Product Research
Choosing which products to sell is arguably the most important decision you‘ll make. With over 12 million items for sale on Amazon, you need to identify products aligned to these criteria:
- High Demand – Target products that rank highly on Amazon‘s best sellers lists in their respective categories. This indicates strong buyer demand.
- Low Competition – Markets with 3 or fewer pages of search results indicate lower competition. More saturated markets will be tougher to rank highly in.
- High Margins – Ensure your product wholesale cost combined with Amazon fees still allows a 30-50% profit margin per sale.
Also decide if you will source finished products wholesale or create your own branded items. Jungle Scout and other Amazon research tools provide robust data to analyze potential products.
Set Competitive Pricing
Conduct competitor pricing analysis for each product you source. As an example:
| Competitor | Price |
|---|---|
| Seller A | $49.99 |
| Seller B | $59.99 |
| Your Price | $39.99 |
Price aggressively to undercut competitors and drive traffic while still preserving healthy profit margins. You can raise prices slowly over time.
Leverage FBA for Fulfillment
Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) handles storage, packing, and shipping for you. Consider the benefits of FBA vs. self fulfillment:
- Prime Eligibility – Products stored locally qualify for Prime‘s free 2-day delivery eligibility, increasing conversion rates.
- Lower Shipping Costs – Amazon‘s scale provides 40-70% discounts over carriers like UPS and Fedex.
- Faster Delivery Times – Amazon promises delivery times up to 15% faster compared to merchants.
According to Feedvisor, over 66% of sellers leverage FBA to simplify logistics.
Enhance Your Listings
Creating a polished listing helps portray your product in the best possible light. Ensure your listing has:
- High-quality product photos and lifestyle imagery
- Detailed features/benefits and product descriptions
- Strong keywords relevant to the product niche
- Compelling titles and bullet points
Splitly and similar Amazon SEO tools help identify relevant keywords to integrate.
Market Your Products
To drive traffic to your listings beyond Amazon‘s organic search, leverage:
- Amazon PPC Ads – Pay to have your products appear at the top of search results. Allows precision targeting. Can be costly but provides real visibility very quickly if optimized effectively.
- External Traffic Sources – Market your products across social media, influencers, email lists, and other external channels to expand your reach. Adds additional cost but doubles down on growth efforts.
- Promotions and Coupons – Periodically offer discounted pricing or BOGO coupons to incentivize customers. Can temporarily boost sales velocity.
Diversify your marketing approach to sustainably grow your business. Measure ROI across each channel.
By following this comprehensive playbook, you can confidently navigate how to sell on Amazon from account setup to product launch and beyond. Please reach out if you need any specific guidance – excited to see you thrive on the marketplace!
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