Why Sell on Amazon?
When speaking of an online marketplace, everyone thinks Amazon – by far the largest online retailer in the world. Some statistics you need to know:
Amazon hosts 2.6 million third-party active merchants like yourself around the world. Amazon’s net sales for 2020 reached $386.06 billion, and its largest revenue segment was retail product sales with $197.4 billion global net sales. Third-party sellers generated around 50% of all sales on Amazon marketplaces.
But what’s the great appeal for listing items on Amazon? Considering that eBay functions purely as a marketplace– nothing more than a platform to make sales, do business. But, remember, Amazon originated as an online bookseller and has since expanded to sell gadgets, clothing, musical instruments, beauty products– almost anything under the sun. Because Amazon accepts third-party offers and your items are listed together with Amazon’s, and often amazon and your offers will be neck and neck in prices. And, of course, using its marketplace comes with a price. Amazon takes at least a 6% cut from every item you sold and up to 15% for mobile phones and musical instruments.
So why does everyone want to sell on Amazon?
Why do most people consider selling on Amazon vs. other e-commerce sites like eBay or Etsy? Here are the five reasons why you should consider selling on Amazon:
1. Shoppers flock to Amazon
Amazon sees over 2 billion visitors each month, which is a whopping 36% greater than eBay’s traffic. Not only that, on average online merchants report a 50% increase in sales after joining the Amazon Marketplace.
2. Shoppers trust Amazon
82% of online shoppers use Amazon to check before buying. 89% of buyers agree that they’re more likely to buy products from Amazon than other eCommerce sites based on the survey. So Amazon has built a strong customer relationship with their customers and gained their trust. Sellers can take advantage of Amazon’s reputation to easily bring shoppers without spending a lot of time and effort on developing customer relationships.
And just the leverage that Amazon grants to shoppers– to the extent that feedback and reviews can influence businesses. Don’t forget the A-to-z claims that shoppers can file against sellers for any irresolvable transactions. So sellers should follow Amazon’s lead in building trust with their audience by providing them the right content, encouraging reviews, and providing high-quality customer service, which will help customers trust your brand in the long run.
3. Amazon creates the best customer experience
Jeff Bezos said, “The most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.” How does Amazon pull this off? Amazon has made a name for delivering the smoothest shopping experience online. You can count on Amazon for superb customer service, fulfillment, and a wide product selection at the best prices. Amazon’s innovations, developments– all of them are intensely customer-centric. Amazon will see that it continues to uphold this kind of golden shopping experience. They hold down their end, but they are making sure that the third-party merchants do too.
This means that performance metrics, Featured Merchants status– Buy Boxes, even– are all set in place to promote businesses with excellent prices and seller practices. It makes sense that they would support and reward marketplace advantage to sellers whose practices are in line with their customer-centric culture.
4. Amazon Prime benefits sellers
Amazon Prime members’ loyalty is high. The Prime benefits and perks encourage them to repeatedly return to Amazon to ensure they got their money’s worth. This includes hassle-free purchases with one click, free two-day shipping on millions of items with Amazon prime, free access to Prime Video and Prime Music streaming services, Prime-exclusive deals and special prices, and discounts at Whole Foods. Prime members spend an average of $1,400 a year on Amazon while regular customers only spend $600. That means Prime members are prone to buy Prime-eligible products offered by FBA sellers like you.
5. From startup to scaleup, Amazon made it easy
You don’t need to build your own website to start your online business. You only need to bring your product to the market and list it on Amazon. Amazon can handle the rest for you, including website traffic, fulfillment if you use FBA, and even expand your business internationally by selling across multiple Amazon marketplaces. Amazon currently has 17 marketplaces worldwide.
Summary
You probably have seen many people sharing their success stories about selling on Amazon. It is true that many people make a full-time living selling on Amazon, but this is not a one-day task. If you’re starting from zero and you wish to achieve moderate success selling on Amazon by sourcing products from a manufacturer, it will take at least 2-3 months for the result to start showing. If you want to become one of the top sellers on Amazon, you should have the right mindset like them – build a sustainable and long-term business, not a short-term cash grab.
To become the next Amazon top seller is not a pipe dream as long as you take action with the tips provided by experts and use the right Amazon tools to automate your Amazon store. BQool gives you a set of powerful tools to successfully kickstart your Amazon business journey and support every aspect of your Amazon business!
This blog post was originally published by Cindy Chen in November 2013 and was updated by Christina Chen in May 2021 due to product updates or Amazon policy changes.
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