Business 101: The complete guide to selling on Amazon

If you think that Google is the very first place consumers reach out to do research for their online shopping sessions, then you might want to have a second thought. According to the poll conducted by NPR/Martist (2021), Amazon is actually the first touchpoint for online shoppers.

of 1,057 U.S. adults conducted in 2021?

These impressive numbers prove that Amazon has become the most prevailing shopping hub in today’s virtual shopping world.? on Amazon 44% of online consumers search for Amazon first

So, if you already have an eCommerce business or intend to open one, Amazon is the best platform to maximize your reach and especially, your revenue (just c. To help you leverage your shop on Amazon, we’ve created this ultimate guide to help you with listing products, setting shopping options, marketing products, managing reviews and analyzing your business’s performance. Let’s get started!

1. Know which products are households’ favorites and whether they need approval to sell on Amazon

For your information, there are 20 product categories open to all sellers, meaning you do not need approval from Amazon. Nevertheless, there are 15 product categories that DO require approval from Amazon. So if you want to sell products under these categories, you need to apply for a Professional Selling subscription.

The reason Amazon limits the number of sellers in these categories is because of product quality. But if you believe that your offerings have competitive advantages and meet quality standards, please request approval from Amazon by filling out their Application.

Below are the lists of product categories that DON’T and DO need approval from Amazon:

Source: Zonguru

2. Choose a selling plan that fits your business model

Currently, Amazon offers 2 selling plan: Individual Plan and Professional Plan

• If you choose the Individual Plan, you’ll be charged $0,99 for every item sold plus referral and closing fees. This plan is optimal for sellers who sell less than 40 items per month
• If you choose the Professional Plan, you’ll be charged $39.99 plus referral and closing fees, Amazon does not limit the? numbers of products sold per month. This plan is optimal for sellers who sell more than 40 items per month.

3. Register for a seller account and start selling your products

Visit Amazon Seller Central and click the button “Sign Up” to activate a seller account for your store. After filling in all information and account is created, it is time for you to list products on Amazon:

• If you chose the Individual Plan, you can only add 1 product to the Marketplace catalog at a time.
• If you chose the Professional Plan, you can add a bunch of products to the catalog at a time

Important notes for beginners:

• If the products you’re selling are already listed on Amazon, all you have to do is tell them the amount of product you plan to sell, the condition of your product, and its shipping options.
• If the products you are selling are not yet listed on Amazon, the process is a little more complicated. You have to inform Amazon what each of your product’s universal product code (UPC) and stock keeping unit (SKU) is. Then, listing each product’s features on Amazon, such as its title, description, and price.

FYI: UPC is standardized for business use and is affixed to a product wherever it is sold. In contrast, a SKU is a number assigned to a product by the company for stock-keeping purposes and internal operations.

→ Since a SKU is unique to the company, the same product would have different SKUs if sold by different companies, but they would have the same UPC. For instance, every box of a certain brand will have the same UPC at every store they’re sold at.

4. Choose and diversify your shipping options

To stay competitive on the platform and convince your potential customers to choose you, you must know which shipping options customers want. Remember that 80% of those are influenced by the lowest shipping prices, and 72% are looking for the fastest option.

Here’re some shipping options that US customers favor. Let’s have a look:

Amazon Prime:

Number of paying Amazon Prime members worldwide as of 1st quarter 2021

?What’s the deal with Amazon Prime?

• Dominance: 58% of all US consumers are Amazon Prime members.
• Frequency: 20% of Amazon Prime members shop on Amazon a few times a week.
• Motivation: 67% of people say they signed up to Amazon Prime to get access to Amazon’s affordable, free, same-day, one-day, and two-day shipping options.
• Spend: 67% of Amazon Prime members would spend more than $100 on a product, compared to only 41% of non-Prime members.

Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)

When you choose FBA, you are reaping the benefits of Amazon’s expertise and infrastructure. After sending your inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment center, Amazon will receive orders and pick, pack, and ship them to customers on your behalf. You can request the use of shrinkwrap, poly wrap, bubble wrap, or special labels, to fit your packaging needs, and Amazon’s customer service center will handle returns.

Fulfillment By Merchant (FBM)

Fulfilling your own orders can mean doing it yourself, or using a third party logistics (3PL) supplier

For elite sellers: Seller-Fulfilled Prime (SFP)

With Seller-Fulfilled Prime, you can deliver directly from your own warehouse to Amazon Prime customers.

To qualify for this program, there is a trial period which you must complete which is comprehensive. Amazon needs to trust that sellers will meet their strict standards.

Outsourcing fulfillment to a third-party logistics provider

If you do not want to use FBA, you can find other third parties offering fulfillment services for eCommerce businesses.

5. How to marketing for your business

After finishing all the registration steps, it’s time to sell on Amazon and start making money. But there are 9.7 million businesses selling on Amazon right now, and many of which are selling the same product categories. So the question is: Have you thought of any marketing strategies to stay in competition??

To attract customers visiting your site, make sure your product listings have clear and concise titles, benefits-rich descriptions, and lively pictures. What’s more, consider running sponsored ads to boost your products’ visibility on the platform. These ads are pay per click (you pay a fee each time a user clicks on your ads) and will be placed alongside people’s search results. Besides, you can use Amazon’s ad marketing tool, which leverages their search algorithm to suggest a list of potentially lucrative keywords that you can promote your products.

Once a customer buys your products, they will deposit a payment into your bank accounts and notify you when they pay you.

6. Manage reviews

Amazon is considered as one of the most trustworthy businesses on the planet for a reason. They take customer feedback very seriously to provide a sustainable shopping platform where consumers get products the same as what they have seen in the pictures and description that you uploaded.

Therefore, good reviews are a key determinant for consumers to make their buying decision. Based on a five-star scale, feedback on Amazon indicates how reliable you are when it comes to packaging, shipping, responsiveness and professionalism. The worst thing is that you can be suspended or banned from selling on Amazon? if your feedback rating slips below certain performance targets.

As reviews cannot be controlled, the only thing you should do is try to sell quality products that are worth the value of money customers pay for. Amazon encourages you to send a follow up email to customers after they order one of their products and ask for product reviews. However, there are some Sellers breaking Amazon’s rule and trying to incentivize consumers to write positive reviews, leading to a ban since 2016.

Amazon has announced that their mission is to become the most customer-centric company on Earth. Respect the rules and play fair, you will win the game!

7. Monitor and analyze your performance

You’ll have access to a sales dashboard from your Amazon Seller Central account, which displays a snapshot of your orders for the day, quantity of units sold, the amount of sales you’ve generated for the day, and other metrics.

You can also access business reports that display metrics like sales by item, sales and orders by month, page views, brand performance, inventory in stock, and more.

Besides, a “Compare Sales” graph allows you to compare any day’s sales to each other, which helps you discover seasonal trends and make adjustments accordingly.

Finally, you’ll have access to a sales reporting tool that can pull any of your account’s metrics to produce a graphical representation of your sales data. This’ll help you truly grasp how your business is performing.

8. How do I get paid from Amazon?

Amazon Marketplace payments are automatically tracked and paid out every two weeks to the bank account you initially set up. Each sale in the 2-week pay period gets added to the payment balance, minus any associated fees that go to Amazon, such as commissions. The reason Amazon holds on to these payments, usually for at least a week after each product is sold, is in case of any charges for returns that may occur.?

For international sellers, to receive payment from Amazon, you’ll need to set up a receiving account or a US checking account. However, If you are a seller from a country outside those that Amazon can pay with local currency, you will be paying the bank that receives your funds every time you withdraw money.

If you use those funds to make global purchases, such as a bank transfer to pay an overseas supplier, even more fees will occur. Choosing different payment methods, such as an international credit card may not be the best option either, as exchange rate fees and interest rates are often quite high. Then of course there are the taxes and regulations that apply in the countries where you operate.

Hmm, sounds like a lot of fees already! And those fees are extremely vulnerable to SMEs who just started their career on Amazon (I’m telling you). So what if there is a Payment service provider who can take care of all of this for you?

“USING LIANLIAN TO RECEIVE PAYOUTS FROM AMAZON”

LianLian is a cross-border ewallet, which is integrated into mainstream eCommerce channels and digital businesses around the globe. In this today’s ever-evolving digital era, we empower eCommerce businesses to grow without borders.?

By doing so, we simplify the complexity of operating in other countries, giving merchants and sellers the freedom to do business anywhere - seamlessly. So when sellers need to receive international payouts, get financing, solve shipping logistics, manage foreign exchange, or pay tax obligations abroad, or need any help beyond financial services, we help them.

SET UP YOUR LIANLIAN ACCOUNT TODAY

To start receiving payments from Amazon, please create a LianLian account here. Here how to add your LianLian account to Amazon:

1. Choose Settings > Account Info.
2. Click Add in the Deposit Method section.
3. Select your home country.
4. Click Register for LianLian to apply for a LianLian account.

For further support, please visit supporting channels of LianLian Vietnam:

Website:https://www.lianlianglobal.com.vn/

Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/lianlianvietnam

Telegram: https://t.me/mmothinhvuong