Once you're all set up to sell on Amazon, the next step is actually deciding what to sell. There are several things to consider: The cost of the products: The best advice I was given when I started selling on Amazon was to pick a product that you can sell for cheap. This was perfect for us because it is relevant in our category, and even more importantly, we could stock up on a good amount of inventory without a huge financial investment. A product with a lower rank should take a shorter amount of time to sell, while a product with a higher rank will likely not sell as well or as fast. If you have no idea where to start in your product search, or want to get a benchmark of what a great sales rank looks like in your category, check the list of Amazon Best Sellers within your product category. For us, in the beauty category, if you are a legitimate, authorized seller like we are, the brands set the prices for all of the products. So, we need to be very careful when deciding to list a product on Amazon because if there are other (unauthorized) sellers listing the products for lower than its SRP then we won't be able to make any sales on that particular product. When I say "get feedback," I don't mean get reviews for the product you're selling, I mean get feedback for your actual Amazon store. Having feedback from our past customers makes potential new customers trust that we're legit. We had flyers made up that we include with all of our packages that does just that and this not only increases brand awareness, but also reminds customers how important that feedback is for businesses like us.
Amazon ships an average of 1.6 million packages per day. Yes, per day. According to CNBC, about 55 percent of people start their online shopping searches on Amazon. This means that if you have something to sell and you’re selling online, if you don’t have a presence on Amazon, you are missing out on over half of your potential market.
One of my favorite quotes is, The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is today. If you’re in ecommerce and the thought of selling on Amazon has never crossed your mind, well, you’re behind the eight ball. The good news, however, is that it’s never too late to get started. Today, I’m going to tell you how to get started and get your first 100 sales on this retail monster.
Get set up on Seller Central.
In order to start selling on Amazon, you need to create an Amazon Sellers account. Amazon goes through this step by step on its website.
There are over 20 categories open to all Amazon sellers, and then 10 or more that are only open to Professional Sellers. In order to list products in these particular categories, you will need special approval from Amazon, and in many cases, this approval is not easy to get. My family started a dermatologist-backed skin care and beauty website, DermWarehouse, and we sell in the “Beauty” category on Amazon, which is one of the most difficult to get this approval for. It took us eight months to get through all of Amazon’s “gates.” That’s a story for another day, (or you can hear more about it on my podcast about selling on Amazon) but the point is to be prepared for this process to take some time and effort. Trust me though when I say that it will be worth it in the end.
Find a product that’s going to sell.
Once you’re all set up to sell on Amazon, the next step is actually deciding what to sell. If you have your own brand, you will need to go through the brand registry process, and that’s another topic in and of itself. If you are reselling other brands’ products, however, you need to decide which of these products to list on your Amazon store. This is a big decision, as you’ll need to invest in purchasing inventory beforehand. There are several things to consider:
The cost of the products: The best advice I was given when I started selling on Amazon was to pick a product that you can sell for cheap. We were trying to break into the beauty category and as soon as I heard “sell something for cheap,” I immediately thought of my baseball card collection. My business partner (and sister), however, came up with the idea of selling lip balm. This was perfect for us because it is relevant in our category, and even more importantly, we could stock up on a good amount of inventory without a huge financial investment. My sister and I have consulted with many brands that have sold millions of dollars per year on Amazon, so we knew this strategy has worked.
Amazon sales rank: Every product sold on Amazon has a sales rank, which…
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