Amazon has increasingly dominated the retail industry year after year since its start 20 years ago. A recent report estimated that 43% of all online sales are made on the site.1 However, the process for selling on site has left many businesses confused and frustrated.
We recently had the opportunity to catch up with former Amazon business leader and advisory board member for Asseenontv.pro Brad Moss, who shared some insights on how to navigate Amazon. Brad Moss knows Amazon well, having led and built several businesses inside Amazon. One of his more notable roles was as business lead of Amazon’s Seller Central Platform. Amazon Seller Central is Amazon’s third-party sales platform through which merchants can sell their products directly to the customer. There, he discovered that many people who worked for Amazon didn’t even truly understand how to navigate Amazon’s processes.
It became clear to him that there was a need for consulting businesses and he left to establish Product Labs. Product Labs assists companies with Amazon onboarding, marketing, inventory management, optimization and much more. Below, we discuss some valuable tips we learned along the way.
- Think Outside of Amazon
Look holistically at your brand outside of Amazon. All the “extra stuff” you do outside of your Amazon listing will support what you are doing inside Amazon. Consider your social media approach, digital advertising, and other marketing efforts used to drive traffic and sales.
- Don’t Try and “Beat” the Algorithm
The trick is not in beating the algorithm it’s about working with it. Looking at your conversion rate is good first step. Your ranking is all based on your sales numbers, with the exception of Amazon “preferred products.” Aside from that, the more sales, the higher rank you will achieve.
- Don’t Make Decisions Based on Hearsay.
When making a decision, he suggests basing it on numbers and analytics. We base decisions on long term business goals. People try to inject steroids into their business. They use little bursts or promotions. We know the metrics behind what we want to do.
- Take a Sophisticated Approach
Moss suggests knowing your brand and market well. Look up competitors and demand — if you know people want your product and there are only a few good listings similar to your product on the home page, then that signifies room for you.
- Amazon Gives No Special Preference to Advertisers on Amazon
In general, Amazon is run as a thousand different companies, with each department running autonomously. Advertising has its own Profit & Loss and isn’t necessarily in cahoots with other departments. Moss’s team as seen no evidence of special preference. So make your advertising decisions based on what’s best for your brand.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-accounts-for-43-of-us-online-retail-sales-2017-2