Six Strategies That Can Help Sellers Win on Amazon

In the last two decades, we have seen Amazon evolve from a seller of goods to become a conglomerate active in other areas like digital media, devices and logistics. The retail giant from Seattle, was founded in 1994, and has continued to redefine itself and now holds the title of the world's largest internet retailer.
​
Moreover, online brands that wish to stay relevant must succeed on Amazon. A variety of digital commerce executives offered strategies for doing so at an Amazon and Me workshop at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. Below are six key insights for winning on Amazon:

In the last two decades, we have seen Amazon evolve from a seller of goods to become a conglomerate active in other areas like digital media, devices and logistics. The retail giant from Seattle, was founded in 1994, and has continued to redefine itself and now holds the title of the world's largest internet retailer.
Moreover, online brands that wish to stay relevant must succeed on Amazon. A variety of digital commerce executives offered strategies for doing so at an Amazon and Me workshop at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. Below are six key insights for winning on Amazon:

1. GETTING STARTED
First, prioritize your goals. As a seller, you must understand your expectations, when thinking about profit margins, sales, and brand exposure. Working directly with Amazon provides opportunities to control product detail listing and drive traffic.

2. SECOND IS AS GOOD AS LASTS
There is a well known joke in the Amazon community that the best place to hide a dead body is on the second page of Amazon since the majority buyers do not click past the first page. Brands must format the description, product details and images to maximize search relevance. Understanding the importance of keywords and sponsored products can help get your product to the first page.  

3. PRIME IS A MUST
In the USA, Amazon has more than 80 million Prime members. Prime members are an important subset for Amazon as those customers spend twice as much as non-members.  Fulfillment by Amazon will get you the Amazon Prime distinction. This will increase your visibility given that many consumers may shop for Prime-eligible items exclusively, which increases seller volume.  

4. OUTSOURCE THE HEAVY LIFTING
We cannot stress the benefits of Fulfillment by Amazon more.  This enables you as the business owner to shift the heavy lifting to Amazon by leveraging Amazon’s reputation, lowering shipping costs and utilizing their warehouses and fulfillment centers.  For example, Schuylkill Valley Sports, a sporting goods store based in PA, started testing FBA in 2013 as it grew its e-commerce business and started to run out of resources and space in its warehouse.  The retailer saw its sales increase by over 80% each of the last three years.

5. MARKETING
Amazon offers its sellers a number of platforms to market their goods such as AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry, Amazon Business and Amazon Prime Now. As a seller, you need to learn which platform is ideal for you.

6. AMAZON IS DIFFERENT
To stay on top of your game on Amazon, you need to stay relevant in the eyes of customers. Which is easier said than done, so you might have to reshape how you conduct your business from time to time. Amazon is about retail reinventions.  As such, when working with Amazon it’s important to keep in mind that it is a fast-paced retailer so the rules for how to win are ever-evolving.