9 Pitfalls for New Amazon FBA Sellers

Starting any business can be daunting especially when you don’t know the starting point. This also happens with Amazon FBA Sellers, who often fall into different pit holes out of sheer excitement and end up in resentment. Based on our experience selling on Amazon and client feedback globally over the years, we are going to share 9 traps usually new sellers encounter and discuss their solutions. We will touch a couple of topics briefly before addressing these mistakes.

1. Amazon FBA Sellers DNA.

We need to identify the DNA of a new Amazon FBA sellers as everyone come with their own mindset, targets and reasons to enter Amazon FBA. Some come for quick money, some want to leave their 9 to 5 jobs, some want an alternate income channel, some come for an exposure into Ecommerce while some come just to see what the fuss and the excitement is all about! Based on their objectives, sellers choose a business model according to their objectives i.e. Retail Arbitrage, Wholesale, Private Label, Drop shipping, FBA vs FBM.

2. Timing in the Year.

It is pertinent to mention here that the timing of starting Amazon FBA business is extremely important and usually new sellers are unaware of the calendar of Amazon sales.

If new Amazon FBA sellers are entering and venturing in January – March then they will experience slowest pace of sales for sure which can become demotivating and can kill the excitement altogether. While the sales skyrocket from October to December, the new sellers can start their journey on a positive note, profitably.

3. Copyrights

It is very easy to fall prey to this trap.

Selling on Amazon is usually induced or is at times executed after attending a course of a guru. What new Amazon FBA sellers see is the final result or the fruit after the tree has fully grown facing enormous hardships and challenges unique to the product. Their thought process usually goes like this.

Getting excited after searching a product on JungleScout chrome extension and getting an encouraging opportunity score like 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Step 2 would be to have a quick search of keywords to see the frequency of searches on Amazon for the product. Then they quickly open Alibaba to find a supplier, shortlist and finalize their orders.

What they miss is to do patent searches to see if there is already someone who has the copyrights to sell the same product or has a similar design. Their inventory will arrive in the warehouse, once their sales start they will come on the competitor’s radar. A complaint will be lodged in the post-natal phase. It’s very easy to check the copyrights and patents via google patents you just have to spend some time to go through.

Alternatively, you can hire an expert to do this for you and you will easily find a competent/ experienced professional on fiver or up work.

4. Seasonal Products

Newbies are naïve and consider all products behave in a similar manner all year round. Amazon FBA Sellers are generally targeting products that will yield reliable and consistent profits to them all round the year.

If you are selling winter caps or bean caps, chances are that they will be in demand in the winters only and people will not be buying them in summers most likely. So, your sales might skyrocket in the winters while they will plummet in the summers.

We are not saying that seasonal products are a no go niche but in case you are planning to enter into it then you should be mentally and financially prepared to enjoy the ride while its moving at a fast pace at its peak and when it’s not at trough.

If you work on seasonal products in the right manner, you can easily reap off tons of money for that particular time of the year and they are a definitely a great add on in your portfolio of products. You just need to be wary of your expectations.

5. Prohibited Listings

Many times sellers procure products from suppliers without knowing whether they are allowed products or not. Below are some of the examples of prohibited items that you cannot sell on Amazon:

  • Products that are subject to recall or safety alert
  • Dietary supplements, such as weight loss products that contain undeclared or prohibited ingredients or are marked as unapproved new drugs such as:
    • Growth hormones or products that claim to support or promote hormone productivity
    • Homeopathic drugs that are prescription, mislabeled or unapproved new drugs
    • Patches marketed as dietary supplements
    • Sexual enhancement products
    • Steroids
  • Supplements claiming that they can be used to cure, mitigate, treat or prevent diseases
  • Supplement listings that include disease names in their keywords

Sellers still take chances what they don’t understand is that all it takes is for one person to come along and complain or report. You might get away by selling the above items using different names but you will eventually be caught. So this can never be a long term thing as Amazon can remove your listing or ban your account.

6. Identification of a Fad

There are products that will come and go, they will have some fashion life maybe for days or months but their days are numbered for sure. Like iPad or iPhone accessories will change with improvements in versions and eventually they will not be in demand as and when technology improves.

Similarly fidget spinners were a craze of their time, a fad that died out after sometime and many sellers fell victim to it. You need to work on products that have a history of sales, estimating total market size in terms of revenue. It needs to be high for a considerable time so that when your product reaches Amazon warehouse in USA in about 1 – 2 month’s time, their demand doesn’t diminish.

You need to check your product results on Keepa and Google trends regularly to get a clearer picture and see through the product fate.

7. Liability Insurance

This is a common falling point for new Amazon FBA sellers as well. They enter into categories with chemicals, oils or substances that are applied to the body without appropriate documentation and paperwork. Many times, Amazon FBA sellers are clueless on this subject as they do not have any business or retail background. modafinil online romania https://lustfel.com/ Substances that can cause an obvious accident risk or an allergic reaction by using them needs to get the required approvals. It takes a lot of time and will require some serious money to get the approvals from the right authority in each category.

If someone starts selling such products without approval then Amazon will eventually ban them and ask them to take away their inventories from the warehouse.

8. Calculating Amazon FBA Costs

People are often snared while inaccurately calculating the product cost after it reaches the warehouse and when it reaches the customer ultimately. The best way is to use Amazon’s calculator which will give you each and every cost in detail. You can easily estimate your projected cash outflows based on the results and be wise while investing.

9. Data Analysis

This is the biggest issue within the new seller communities. They get excited after looking at scores using different market intelligence tools like JungleScout, AMZ Wordspy, Keepa etc. One needs to sit and take an overview of these stats and then dive into different details to get the most accurate and holistic picture of the product performance.

People hastily select products just to throw them in the market and see how do they respond? Most often or so, poor homework results in disappointment. One of the most common mistake rookies commit is to type incorrect keywords, extracting and interpreting the results in their own favor. They do not understand that the same product can be searched with other names as well.

Earning profits and running a successful business on Amazon is tediously complex now and you might want to consider a mentor or an expert by your side to avoid the pitfalls mentioned above.

If you have fallen prey to some of these points, you don’t need to feel bad about it as even experts and seasoned Amazon FBA sellers also have battled on the same grounds. You just need to avoid these pitfalls and stay away from trouble right from day 1 by doing the right things.

Thanks for reading. Check out our optimization services and new blogs

The 4 Steps Of Effective Amazon Advertising

Today there are approximately 90 million Amazon Prime members, and each one spends an average of $1,400 a year on Amazon. Consider that math. It’s astonishing really.

But you probably already know about these figures. The question that you, and everyone selling on Amazon, is asking: “Given those numbers, how do I continue to gain market share in a huge space that’s super-competitive?

In truth, it all becomes more nuanced by the day, but the most successful brands on Amazon do have one major thing in common: they dominate Amazon Advertising.

Effective Amazon Advertising Is No Longer an Option, It’s a Necessity.

A staggering amount of space in Amazon search results is taken up by ads today. To be seen, you need to get in the game, and you can’t simply throw money at ads and hope it works. It doesn’t work and it burns through your budget like wildfire. You need a strategy, but right now, there are so many ways to advertise and so many placement opportunities that it’s easy to get confused or distracted.

So where should you focus your Amazon Advertising efforts? We suggest building a strong foundation upon these four PPC cornerstones:
  1. Campaign Quality
  2. Keyword Quality
  3. Budget Efficiency
  4. Brand Awareness

And yes, building a foundation takes time, not to mention experience and know-how, but a solid setup will support you in your advertising endeavors for the foreseeable future. Here’s how to build with intent:

Step 1: Campaign Quality

Campaign quality is often overlooked, especially when setting up campaigns. Many people begin with auto-target campaigns and stop there. Others fail to go beyond the basics of Sponsored Products Ads and they miss opportunities like Product Targeting. Still others, in seeking immediate results, run only one campaign (and cram everything into that) or they create too many campaigns to manage.

The best idea: start small with a plan to scale your campaigns. Don’t throw in every kitchen-sink possibility. Build campaigns in a clean, lean format so you can edit them methodically and optimize them in the future, making it easy to add keywords or move them from one group to another. Starting small and taking some time to see what works will prevent you from making costly mistakes later.

As for working clean, always strive for it. Why? Well, a few overstuffed campaigns can make handling PPC feel unmanageable. One client of ours comes to mind, a purveyor of tech accessories who was so overwhelmed by how much time it took to handle Amazon Advertising—coupled with the suboptimal results—that he had ceased advertising in order to tend to the other parts of his business. After time spent cleaning up the brand’s campaigns, the AMZ one step service team increased his ad revenue by 16 times. Even better, we drove his ACoS down to below 4%.

Step 2: Keyword Quality

Are keywords getting out of hand? If so, you’re wasting ad budget. https://waldofleamarket.com/ phentermine online utah The more keywords you have, the wider the net you’re casting. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Experiment with keywords, but don’t overload and just hope for impressions and clicks. Remember that it’s about quality keywords that convert.

We see many clients who come to us with thousands of keywords in one campaign. In addition to the campaign being unruly, those clients are wasting money, diluting and overcomplicating results, and they find it impossible to scale up as their Amazon presence expands.

Our recommendation: mine your data to find the best converting keywords, then trim, trim, trim! Eliminate keyword overlap and instead target strong keywords with high conversion rates. Quality over quantity always. You’ll see immediate results. Then you can reinvest that previously wasted ad spend in additional keywords that perform well or in new campaigns for hot products or anything else that opens more doors to profitability and growth.

Step 3: Budget Efficiency

Common mistake sellers make is monitoring keyword bids closely, but ignoring the daily budget. Doing so means missing the bigger picture. Budgets are essential to overall results. By focusing on individual bids rather than daily budget, sellers and brands are likely to miss out on advertising throughout the day, and they tend to spend too much on campaigns that are not performing. Be detail oriented, but don’t get lost in the details. Use Ad Scheduling in AMZ one spy to make sure that you’re running ads only when it’s profitable lest you run out of budget early in the day.

Even though Amazon encourages you to raise your budget any time you reach a max, it’s because that benefits them. Raising a budget isn’t always the right answer. We only recommend that you raise the budget for something that has been providing results and leading to sales. Don’t throw more good money at bad keywords and expect better results. Find out why you’re maxing out and drop the losers and stretch the winners.

Step 4: Brand Awareness

Finally, don’t focus solely on your products and miss out on positioning and selling your brand more comprehensively. If you are eligible for Amazon Brand Registry, register! This not only helps to protect your brand against counterfeiters and hijackers, but it also gets you on the path to access a whole set of powerful advertising tools only available through Amazon’s Brand Registry. These include:

Just by using Sponsored Brand Ads (formerly Headline Search Ads), we’ve dramatically increased traffic for our clients’ brands. They sell more products, often pick up add-on sales from their catalog, and strengthen their brands overall.

Effective brand awareness requires strategic category keyword targeting and going beyond branded terms. One client, in particular, wanted to grow his brand’s base. By expanding beyond branded terms into general category terms, Seller Labs Managed Services built more recognition in the market to drive ad results. That client’s ad revenue climbed by 180% as a result of broadening the brand reach and tapping into the larger category.

Final Word: Build Smart, Build Strong, Don’t Go It Alone

The four cornerstones discussed are the building blocks of advertising success. Upon these, a brand can build tremendous profitability and recognition. But it’s almost impossible to be the architect, constructor, and custodian of that structure when one is busily focused on other areas of one’s business. To get the best results, you need full-time attention paid to advertising as well as expert management of ad strategy.

New Amazon Brand Analytics Features

Amazon’s Brand Analytics Now Offers a Power Trio 

It’s only been a couple of months, but Amazon Brand Analytics is already being expanded to include two new features.

For those enrolled in the Brand Registry program, you’ll likely already be familiar with Brand Analytics. It’s a free analytics report located within Seller Central and has been set up to provide brand owners with helpful data they can use to be more competitive. It provides a feature, Amazon Search Tools, which gives sellers a list of the top one million searched keywords across Amazon as a whole. The list also provides the top three clicked ASINs for each of those keywords.

That feature is now being joined by two brand-new ones, Item Comparison and Demographics, each of which gives sellers some wildly insightful data on the market and potential customers that we wouldn’t have expected Amazon to share. All of this can serve as a foundation for boosting sales and rank, and potentially help you grow your audience outside of Amazon as well. Let’s examine how you can take advantage of what each new feature has to offer.

Note: If you’re part of Brand Registry but don’t have a Brand Analytics account, you can create a ticket with Seller Support requesting access. Anecdotally, this has worked for a few sellers but may not work for all.

Item Comparison: Get to Know Your Top Five Competitors

Success doesn’t occur in a vacuum. Knowing how well your products are performing hinges on understanding the market you’re competing in.

What Item Comparison Provides

The Item Comparison feature shows your product along with the top five products that consumers also viewed during the same session. The feature also provides, as Amazon describes, the “percentage of times this product was viewed by the customers who viewed your product within the same day.” If it’s 50%, that means half of the time throughout the day, consumers checked out both your product and a competitor’s.

By scrolling horizontally through the list, you can see which ASINs are getting the most attention and even compare title keywords.

How to Benefit from Item Comparison

The feature provides sellers with a helpful advantage for product-targeting ad campaigns. It offers exact data on which products consumers are considering for purchase in your market, so you’ll know where your sponsored ads should appear. Placing sponsored ads on those product pages should increase your visibility, and if you have a better offer, you have a great pathway toward boosting sales.

The list of top five ASINs may include products that might not be obvious competitors, allowing you to expand the scope of products to target. With a greater number of products to consider targeting, you have a greater chance to get your ads in front of more consumers, increasing your chances at driving conversions.

By comparing your product with others, you can also get an indication of your overall performance. If it’s clear that you’ve been left in the dust by competitors, you can revisit your price, product photos, or descriptions.

Keep in mind that if your product has variations, such as items in different colors or sizes, you’ll likely see these variations appear as compared products in the Item Comparison list. This will allow you to see your most popular products and how they’re faring against the competition.

Demographics: Get to Know Your Consumers

Knowing your audience is a crucial task for any business, and it’s a never-ending process. Amazon is known for not providing audience data to its sellers, forcing brands to use tactics outside of Amazon to gather information on their customers. That’s changing now with this unprecedented Demographics tool within Brand Analytics.

What Demographics Provides

The Demographics feature provides the following data on your customers:

  • Sales per age group: You have a breakdown of six different age groups (shown below), ranging from 18-24 up to 65+, along with their sales totals.
  • Sales per household income: The stats here start with <$50,000 and end with those who make over $250,000.
  • Education: The categories here cover people at all stages of education, from “Less than High School” to those with Master’s degrees.
  • Gender: Do men and women equally buy your products or does one gender dominate? The graphs and tables will give you an answer.
  • Marital status: The age, income, and education data will hint at your consumers’ marital status, but this section provides percentages of how many of your customers are married or single.

How to Benefit from Demographics

With the above characteristics, you can assemble a portrait of who your customers are and understand what stage of life they’re in.

Although the demographics data may not be directly actionable, there are two useful applications. The first falls to new product development. When building out additional products for your brand, you now have a much better idea of who is purchasing current products and, likely, who will be purchasing future products.

The second application is advertising outside of Amazon. Running Facebook ads based on better insights into your target demographic can help you run more efficient and effective campaigns with a more targeted audience. YouTube and Instagram also provide advertising options to consider, or you could go the search-engine-based route, such as using Google AdWords. By combining this feature’s data with a creative approach, you have the opportunity to increase your product’s visibility.

Note: The Demographics feature isn’t an exact science. It includes an Information Not Included category, for any instances in which it can’t provide a complete range of data. comprar modafinil online argentina https://www.melbourneosteopathycentre.com.au/ provigil rx online As an example, it might convey that 33% of your customers are married, 15% are single, and then the other 52% will fall into that Information Not Included category.

Brand Analytics: Building Your Data Foundation

For third-party sellers who are a part of the Brand Registry program, Brand Analytics can be a valuable data resource. In conjunction with Amazon Search Terms, Item Comparison and Demographics give businesses a massive foundation that they can then build on.

With this power trio of features available, one can’t help but ask, how do I make all this useful? Navigating the Amazon marketplace is a challenge and in the months to come Amazon may be rolling out even more Brand Analytics features aimed at giving brands the opportunities to gather more data.

The challenge is being able to extract insights from this data and craft an actionable plan. The team at AMZ one step specializes in creating effective data-driven strategies and to deliver results that increase ranking and conversions. Our suite of software tools can help you determine the markets where you can compete and earn long-term profits, not short-term gains. Whether it’s PPC management, listing optimization, or keyword-focused product launches, our team will partner with you to achieve (and possibly exceed) your business goals.

 

Basics – Before You Start Selling on Amazon

Before setting up your own Amazon store, it’s worth taking the time to review the basics of selling things on Amazon. Even if you’re familiar with Amazon as a shopper, the way it works for sellers is quite different. Take a quick peek behind the curtain and learn about the most valuable listing positions on Amazon, how to get your product shipped out of Amazon’s warehouses, and some costly pitfalls to avoid.

1. What is the Buy Box, and how does Amazon decide who gets it?

When browsing on Amazon, customers will navigate to a product’s main page and click on the “offers” links below the product description (as indicated by the red circle on the screenshot below) to see a list of available sellers.

vblog_Amaon1

However, Amazon also gives merchants the ability to compete for the coveted “Buy Box” – the CTA button in that familiar shade of yellow.  $56 billion of Amazon’s and$64 billion in sales are made via the Buy Box – that’s 90% of total sales volume, so it’s imperative for any aspiring Amazon merchant to understand what the buy box is and how it works.

vblog_Amaon_2

This is the Buy Box, which drives 90% of sales.

The Buy Box is the box on a product detail page where customers can begin the purchasing process by adding items to their shopping carts. Rather than reviewing a list of available merchants, the Buy Box allows customers to quickly purchase a product from the Featured Seller – the business Amazon has chosen to receive the bulk of sales.

Because a key feature of the Amazon platform is that multiple sellers can offer the same product, becoming the featured seller who wins the Buy Box is very difficult. In fact, it’s pretty unrealistic to think that your site is ever going to get ranked high enough to become the featured seller. (Don’t worry – there are plenty of other ways for small businesses to make money on Amazon even if you can’t get a Buy Box. Just keep reading this article!)

In order to be eligible for the buy box, you must meet the following four criteria:

  • Make sure you have a Professional Seller Account.
    Only Professional Plan sellers are eligible for the Buy Box, so if you want to make money you’ve got to spend money – in this case, about $40 a month. Click here for more information about Amazon’s selling plans and prices.
  • Know the difference between the Buy Box and the Buy Used Box.

There are separate Buy Boxes for new and used products. Used products are not eligible to be featured in the Buy Box, and new products are not eligible to be featured in the Buy Used Box.

Amazon Buy Used Box Screenshot

The Buy Box vs. the Used Buy Box.

If you’re selling used products on Amazon, make sure to factor the Buy Used Box into your strategy. The overall sales volume of the Buy Used Box doesn’t match that of the Buy Box, but lower competition can make it much easier for small merchants to obtain valuable product positioning.

  • Make sure your item is in stock.
    If your item is out of stock, you will immediately lose your Buy Box spot to another seller who DOES have that item in stock. If you ever get a Buy Box spot, make sure to ensure that you’ve always got an adequate supply. While you can get your Buy Box spot back after you’ve restocked your inventory, it’s never 100% certain. Plus, the loss of sales due to the loss of a Buy Box is punishment enough, so make sure supply meets demand!
  • Check your Buy Box eligibility within your Amazon Seller Central account.
    Even if you’ve met all of the requirements above, you still must be an Amazon merchant with at least 2 to 6 months of sales history as well as a high level of sales performance. (Sorry – we did warn you that the Buy Box is hard to get!)

Your eligibility information is shown in your Amazon Seller Central account. To view it, follow these steps:

  • Within Amazon Celler Central, click the Inventory tab and navigate to Manage Inventory
  • Look for a field labelled “Buy Box Eligible” within the Column Display section
  • Select “Show When Available” from the drop-down menu to sort products by which are Buy Box eligible. If you see a “Yes” within the Buy Box Eligible field for a product, you are eligible to win the Buy Box for that product.

2. How does Amazon determine the order of the Merchant Offers List?

Even if you never win the Boy Box listing, you can still make money selling on Amazon by selling through the Merchant Offers List. Many of the things that Amazon values fall in line with e-commerce best practices, so it’s in your best interest to be doing these things anyway.

A number of factors affect where a merchant appears in the Offers List, including:

  • Competitive pricing. This includes not only the product cost but shipping costs as well. Many shoppers expect to see low prices while browsing Amazon, so be prepared to price competitively to beat the competition.
  • Competing offers. Generally, the more sellers there are, the harder it is to climb to the top. Finding products with fewer competing merchants can make it easier to get your product featured in competitive spots – maybe even the Buy Box. Being the first to pick up on trends can mean that you find popular products before they’re popular, and set up history as a high-performing seller before the market is oversaturated with competitors.
  • How much history the merchant has on Amazon as a seller. Merchants who have long, positive selling histories with Amazon have better chances of obtaining one of the top spots. Making sure that you address negative reviews and other customer service issues quickly and effectively are critical to ensuring that you maintain a positive sales history – too many unhappy customers and you’ll be exiled to the bottom of the merchant list.
  • How many Seller reviews the merchant has on Amazon. Selling on Amazon is all about the reviews. Reviews have a huge impact on driving sales, and can really end up making or breaking your business. Focus on encouraging buyers to leave reviews for your products, and make sure to address negative reviews quickly and effectively.

As a general rule of thumb, the most effective solution is to ensure that any transactions you receive through Amazon run as smoothly as possible. That means delivering your product in a timely manner and communicating with your customers along the way. However, if you’re looking to break into the market a little quicker, here are two shortcuts that can help:

  • Start by selling a low-competition item to boost your seller ranking. This will increase the probability that the offer will show higher for more competitive products. When selling low-competition items, look for products that have few reviews and focus on becoming the seller with the most positive reviews for that product. Building up the total number of reviews on your Amazon Seller account will increase your legitimacy as a seller, and will help you break into higher-competition niches.
  • Try offering a very competitive price on a popular product. This draws in bargain shoppers and can increase your seller ranking. You can check out Amazon’s “Most Wished For” list to see the most popular items by industry if you need some inspiration.

3. What is Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)?

Fulfilment by Amazon is a program where you send your merchandise to one of the many Amazon fulfilment centres to be stocked; then customers buy products from you, and Amazon ships them. This sort of arrangement allows you to focus on other aspects of running your business while Amazon handles many facets of shipping and customer service.

Other benefits include extending the reach of your products to Amazon Prime members and gaining an extra push towards winning the Buy Box, even if your products have a bit of a higher price. With Volusion, merchants have the ability to set up different shipping options including drop-shipping, which allows flexibility to try using FBA. You can learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon.

4. What types of merchants tend to benefit the most from selling products on Amazon?

Three kinds of merchants tend to perform particularly well on Amazon:

  • Merchants selling unique-to-them products. Companies who produce their own products, such as a company that designs its jewellery. Since their products are unique, they face less competition from other merchants selling identical items and have more flexibility over their prices.
  • Merchants who sell hobby or niche products. Amazon generally won’t start fulfilling or carrying hobby or niche products, so there’s less of a risk you’d have to compete with Amazon itself.
  • Merchants selling refurbished or used products. Amazon has a huge market for these products, as they attract shoppers whose main concern is price and don’t mind waiting on shipping. It is worth noting, however, that used products cannot win the regular Buy Box spot – only the Used Buy Box, which drives fewer sales.

That said, the benefit of owning your store’s URL and fully branded website cannot be overstated; this gives an extra level of credibility and authority, and visitors are more likely to remember you versus someone else. Many merchants who achieve popularity on Amazon still find it essential to have control over their own e-commerce website and branding. This allows them to achieve a fully independent store presence and market to large audiences outside of Amazon through other marketing channels.

5. Why should I associate one of my products with an Amazon product that’s already listed?

Products are only allowed to be listed once in the Amazon catalogue, so creating a second product detail page for an existing product will result in your listing being removed. By matching your product to the product detail page that already exists, your offer has a chance to be seen.

6. Why can’t I use certain shipping methods at first?

Amazon doesn’t allow new merchants to offer certain shipping methods right off the bat, such as two-day shipping. These shipping methods have to be earned by establishing a history of reliable shipping at the slower shipping speeds. Offering your products through FBA is a way to bypass this, as FBA products are automatically eligible for Prime Free Two-Day Shipping.

7. Why aren’t I being compensated correctly for shipping?

Amazon determines how much they think it should cost to ship a product based on the merchant’s origin, the customer’s address and the given weight of the product. However, oftentimes the amount of money that Amazon reimburses merchants for shipping won’t match the actual shipping cost. Making sure that your item weight and dimensions are listed correctly will help make these shipping estimates as accurate as possible. However, it may still be necessary to factor this into your pricing decisions – sometimes, you’ll need to increase the price of a product to offset Amazon’s too-low pricing estimates. If you’re having problems making a profit after shipping costs, you’re probably pricing too cheaply.

8. How can I increase the number of reviews on my Seller account?

When selling on Amazon, reviews should be one of your biggest priorities. Shoppers look at both the quality and quantity of reviews, so it’s important to encourage buyers to leave a good review for your product (just don’t get too pushy!) Please note that merchants are forbidden from soliciting or paying for Seller Account reviews. Any sellers who engage in these practices risk having their accounts suspended. Your best bet is to give customers a great shopping experience (including aspects like product price, clear and informative customer communication and shipping reliability) so they want to vouch for you on their own.

9. Are there any policies I should look over before I start selling on Amazon?

Here are some policies you may want to review before selling on Amazon:

Before you start selling on Amazon, the best advice we have is to know your business and know what you’re getting into. A new Amazon integration means a lot of new opportunities. By doing your homework and focusing on your business’ needs, you’ll be taking your online success to the next level in no time. If you’re interested in checking out what we can offer with Amazon integration,  start your free 30 days trial today!

12 Tips for Product Hunting in 2021

These days, every e-commerce business is looking for its very own Mona Lisa of products, but it is tough to find the perfect product. 

Everyone out there wants something unique and life-changing; however, there are already 500+ million options out there. It takes some serious research skills and patience for these hidden “golden eggs” among millions of other products, which will eventually lead your business towards success.

Product hunting is by far the most crucial stage, and if you don’t spend considerable time here, you WILL fail! There are 2 kinds of sellers: those who make decisions based on their narrow observations and those who follow strict criteria. What do WE propose? This blog will negate both. No tool can give you an exact result or a formula to predict the success of a product. It has to be a mixture of data analysis, observations, and experiences that hatches the golden egg of success.

Read More:- How to Hire the Best Amazon Product Photographer 

 

Amazon Product Photography Services

Product & Product Strategy

Every product is special and has its market destiny. Just like the uniqueness of each product,  the ‘go-to-market strategy for each will also be unique. However, any product can succeed if the right approach is adopted.

New vs Experienced Sellers

New sellers are either too frisky or are too risk-averse whenever they are required to take a progressive decision. Based on your circumstances, a balance is required on the sea-saw of risk. However, we are jotting down some pointers for you that will act as a guiding path, just to keep you on the safe side. This guide is for those who are either starting or have started but are struggling at the moment. Some are either thinking to quit altogether or want to restart selling in a different manner.

However, we are jotting down some pointers for you that will act as a guiding path just to keep you on the safe side. This guide is for those who are either starting or have started but are struggling at the moment. Some are either thinking of quitting altogether or want to restart selling in a different manner.

Some experienced sellers usually search for a product with exact precision and treat every decision mathematically after using market intelligence tools which is not a correct approach. You need data analysis in your right hand, unbiased judgment on the left, and then join your hands together to make the best decision.

Read More:- The Last Guide To Amazon Product Photography You Will Ever Need!

Let’s get started.

1. High Demand & Low Competition

You must find a product that has a high or even medium demand. What does that mean? Demand will determine how much time your product will take to sell off once it is up for sale on your Amazon storefront.

Consider demand as the flow of a river and that every product niche has a distinctive flow. You would want to enjoy a canoe ride where the pace of the water is extraordinary, enough to take you to your destination quickly without toppling you over on the way.

We will also be looking at our competition and the number of competitors in total to analyze if this will be the right market for us to dive into. The number of competitors can reasonably be compared with the river’s depth. The more the competitors, the more the depth of the river and the more chances for your product to drown. So your product would have to swim more in order to come to the surface level for visibility.

AMZ One Step Tip. So ideally speaking, you would want to hunt for a product with a high sales velocity by default and fewer sellers for you to shine among easily. Whatever product you finalize, you will have to develop a corresponding strategy to bring it up to the 1st page. I have been on Valium since 2011 after the sudden passing of my husband http://medicalspecialistsoffairfield.com/valium/

Now let’s address the elephant in the room. How do we ascertain the demand ‘exactly’? The plain and simple answer is ‘we cannot’. We can only provide an estimate and predict sensibly using different tools and get a feel on the level of demand from multiple channels.

The most famous tool recommended by all gurus is Jungle Scout (JS) Chrome Extension. For those who are going to use it for the first time or are in their initial stages, JS Extension provides row-wise data for Amazon sellers along with an opportunity score.

Usually, beginners are recommended to start with products having Opportunity Scores 6, 7, 8, 9 as they represent products in high or medium demand with medium or low competition. You will also have to analyze the total revenue, price, reviews, sales per day, etc. (we will cover these later in the blog).

Egrow is another emerging tool in the market that delivers the same results as Jungle Scout does but with a different interface.

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2. Keyword Search Volume

This should stand second on your checklist regarding its importance and relevance. You should always treat keyword search volume exactly the same way a Sales & Marketing Professional looks at footfall in a mall or a marketplace. The more the people enter the mall or are searching for the keyword (broad or specific), the more likely the product will sell and thus, be judged as high in demand.

Several tools are out there that share different data types while showing keywords. We always recommend our readers use ‘authentic’ tools and advise them to investigate how different tools acquire their data. What do we mean by ‘authentic’?

In a layman’s language, you should work with a tool that is accurate, doesn’t make unnecessarily complicated projections, or exaggerate results. You can go through our detailed blog on this topic by clicking here.

Our team of professionals and satisfied clients use AMZ Wordspy, a premium tool that will help you throughout your Amazon journey, i.e., Product Hunting, Backend Keywords, PPC Campaigns & Bidding, Product Title, Product Features, etc. It has a 30-day free trial, does not have any hidden charges, and can be used for the USA, UK, Canada & Indian markets. It looks like this:

3. Seasonality

The product that we select should not be a hot selling item for just one season or is in demand once a year. The product demand trend can easily be checked using Google Trends by punching in the product keywords. Products with low seasonality will be unpredictable with their sales and will only deliver for a specific duration. So, it’s a no-go area for the new sellers, especially because it will only be a battleground for factories or whole sellers in these categories.

Read More:- DIY Guide to Amazon Product Photography: 7 Need-to-Know Tips

4. Monitoring the Consistency of Product Behavior

Demand, Keyword Search, Seasonality, checking their results once it is like taking a snapshot of the situation for that particular moment. You need to keep in mind that whatever results you get are for that specific time only. Was just prescribed phentermine 37.5 mg on 5/25. I was nervous about side effects (jitteriness specifically) so the first three days I took half pills http://medicalspecialistsoffairfield.com/phentermine/

So you need to set a specific time, spanning from weeks to a month or maybe more than that based on the product, just for monitoring the product behavior and see whether it is behaving consistently over some time. Using Keepa will also be helpful here to see the age of your competitors and the selling price patterns over time. Its results look like this:

5. Product Title

When using Jungle Scout or AMZ Wordspy, you should not make a mistake by using the product title, but you should use the main keywords while analyzing the product being investigated. It’s a common rookie mistake to get excited with JS Opportunity Scores or AMZ Wordspy ratings by using incorrect terms.

6. Healthy Margins

This is quite often a pitfall for newbies. They get excited looking at product results erroneously and finalizing a product declaring it a hot seller. They fail to consider the fact that how much will they be able to source the product for and how much are they going to sell it for. You are putting so much time, effort, and money not to earn cents but dollars and lots of them.

The products on Amazon are priced low and high, with the majority being somewhere in between. In 2022,  the products sold on this platform fall into two price ranges: more than half (52%) fall in the range of $11 to $25 or greater, while a good 32% have a selling price of over $25 USD!

To check margins and have a reasonable idea, you can check the FBA calculator by clicking here. You can also check our blog on Sourcing Platforms Other than Alibaba to make well-informed sourcing decisions and reduce purchase costs.

Read More:- Amazon Product Photography Tips To Adopt In 2022

7. Average Revenue & Average Monthly Unit Sales

As per experienced sellers, the average revenue for the targeted product niche should be more than $5,000. To make a profit, you should aim for an average margin between 10-30%. This indicates the sales volume, the total market in terms of $ the product is currently operating within.

The bigger the cake, the bigger a slice that can be cut and the bigger the bite you can take. Similarly, another indication of the sales volume is the number of units. If 300 units of the product are sold, there might be enough room for a new entrant to squeeze into.

8. Reviews

Reviews constitute social proof, the more, the merrier. So why is the number of reviews critical after all? First of all, everyone knows that Amazon has laid a strict hand on reviews lately and that raising reviews is one ‘helluva’ of a job itself. So unless you are glued up to a product and have ample time & money on you, you should avoid products with reviews in the bracket of 500 – 5,000.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes; there is some sense of security and safety when you see several reviews. ‘That figure of 2,500 reviews has gotta mean something, I mean, there might be some paid/fake reviews, but they can’t be that many, can they?’ These are some questions that usually cross your mind.

AMZ One Step Tip. Experienced sellers usually profess about a formula that the product that you finalize should have 3 sellers in the top 10 should be below 50 in reviews and that if the top 3 players have more than 1,000 reviews, it will be a tough market. You should anticipate a significant amount of time/money to be spent. So for that reason, it is a no-go area for new sellers.

9. Small & Light Weight

Our advice is to choose a product of less than 1 pound weight and does not have extraordinary dimensions. Why do we suggest this? Sellers are extremely sensitive about their expenses, at least initially, and they usually get frustrated about surprise costs that just uselessly pop up now and then.

Heavy and large-sized products will increase the transportation cost, which is computed based on volume, i.e., from supplier to Amazon warehouse to the final customer. There will also be an increased cost for Amazon to keep your product in its warehouse. Their calculation is mostly based on the dimensions, so we advise you to check your product size and weight as you will eventually have to increase the product cost to be charged to the final consumer.

10. Seller’s Rank

Although no one except Amazon truly knows exactly how the seller’s rank is calculated but based on experience, we can define it as a number that denotes the popularity of a product advertisement listing within its category. Highest the BSR of the product, higher the sales volume (not talking about the competition).

Some examples of categories with advised BSR ranges are below:

Home & Kitchen

Primary product BSR range 100 – 20,000

Competing product BSR range 250 – 20,000

Home Improvement Tools

Primary product BSR range 100 – 7,500

Competing product BSR range 250 – 80,000

Industrial

Primary product BSR range 100 – 2,500

Competing product BSR range 200 – 3,000

Health & Personal Care

Primary product BSR range 800 – 7,000

11. Margin for Improvement

You need to go through the comments of new and established brands within your product category to see any suggestions from customers or any improvement points they want the brand to improve upon. Innovate the product, add value in the marketplace, and provide a solution to the customers.

12. Stay Away Features

12.1. Reviews >1,000

As elaborated earlier, we need to stay away from products with more than 1,000 reviews. You should either be mentally ready to face the music develop strong patience levels along with a long-term strategy.

12.2. Amazon, Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM), Brands

You might have noticed AMZ or FBM written on JS Extension results. Ideally speaking, consider their absence from a product category as a blessing. Still, if they are present and you really feel optimistic about the product, then they should not be in a dominating position within the niche.

12.3. Fragile, Glass, Ceramics Products

The product leaves the warehouse, reaches the Amazon fulfillment center then is later dispatched to the final customer, most likely, you won’t be present at or during any of the product commute. Therefore, products that tend to break during transit should be avoided as they are like a time bomb for you.

You can easily earn a negative review without any ill intentions on your part. However, if you are really passionate about the product, then take extra precautionary measures to ensure the product’s safety at all costs.

12.4. Products with Multi Parts, Chess, Letter Board

For instance, if there is complexity in the assembly of parts of the product, then there is an inherent chance for things to mess up, e.g., missing pieces, pieces not joining up correctly, etc. This can leave an unhappy customer, which will ultimately make you unhappy.

12.5. Gated Items

Some categories require prior approval from Amazon, like Health & Beauty Products & Grocery items. Beginners should begin with unrestricted categories, commonly known as ungated ones, to avoid unwanted speed breakers.

12.6. Electronics & Battery Items

We advise you to stay away from electronics and battery-operated items, especially in the beginning. Since you have an acute margin for acceptable error allowed by Amazon, you do not want a teeny tiny transistor ruining your Amazon selling experience.

We need to leave the electronics category to the factory or wholesale suppliers that will remain unaffected. They are working on humongous volumes, and returns won’t inflict much harm to them. You need to submit a complete list of battery-related information and Safety Data Sheets if you want to sell battery items on Amazon.

12.7. Patents & Legal Issues

Search on the internet or higher a specialist’s services to dig up any legal limitations that you might have to face unknowingly after your product has reached the warehouse.

 

Conclusion:

As you can see, there are several factors to consider when choosing a product to sell on Amazon. By understanding the data surrounding these products and using it as your guide, you’re in a much better position to make informed decisions about what will be successful for your business. If you need help implementing any of these principles or want access to more detailed data and analysis, our team at AMZ One Step is here to help. We offer a wide range of digital marketing services to take your business to the next level. Contact us today to learn more!