Many novice entrepreneurs do business in online sales using interfaces of popular online stores - such as, in particular, Amazon. What features does this portal provide users with? What can be effective sales strategies at Amazon?
General information about Amazon
The Amazon.com project is one of the world's largest online stores. It was founded by American entrepreneurs, but now the Amazon brand is known in many countries of the world. How much you can earn by selling goods using this platform is a question that is asked as experienced and novice entrepreneurs. It is definitely difficult to answer it, however, the platform in question has a number of undeniable advantages that allow you to make a successful business.
The main feature of the Amazon online store is that anyone who wishes can sell goods in it. The online interfaces of this portal are used as:
- a showcase, a platform for posting information about products, their classification into various categories;
- a tool for organizing communication between sellers and buyers;
- a tool for making settlements.
Thanks to this functionality, Internet users get the opportunity to earn online. They can both resell goods, and sell those that are made by themselves. The sellerās pricing policy on Amazon is also determined by him: you can ādumpā or, conversely, increase the price of goods in certain cases.
Thus, you can make money on sales at Amazon using a variety of strategies. In turn, the service itself earns on a small commission from transactions between sellers and buyers. In addition, many products are sold directly from Amazon as an independent part of trade relations.
In general, amazon.com sellers and buyers can enter into transactions from any state. But in some cases, Amazon rules impose restrictions on the circulation of certain categories of goods. Therefore, wondering if it is possible to make money on Amazon (user reviews of this portal presented on thematic resources can confirm this), you need to know in advance whether there are similar restrictions on those products that are planned to be implemented through the online platform in question.
Let us now examine how the functionality of the online store in question can be used to make money on sales.
Functional "Amazon": registration
First of all, a person who is thinking about how to make money on Amazon needs to register on the corresponding portal. To do this, go to the website of the online store, and then select the option Your Seller Account (let's agree that the original English version of the portal is used).
The next step is to refine the sellerās data. You must select the Start Selling option, then click on the Individual Sellers item (āseller as a private personā - again, we agree that we are talking about organizing sales by an individual). It can be noted that one of the advantages of individual trading on Amazon is the absence of many commissions from transactions, while legal entities in many cases are required to pay various fees to the system. Therefore, thinking over a strategy regarding how to make money on Amazon from scratch, it is useful to pay attention to the corresponding nuance of using the platform in question.
After the seller has chosen a suitable status of a participant in trade relations, he needs to enter basic information about himself, as well as indicate the data on the payment instruments that he intends to use (in particular, in order to return funds to customers in cases stipulated by the rules of the Internet store).
To complete the registration, the seller needs to receive an automatic call to his phone: enter his number, wait for the call and listen to the 4-digit code, which then needs to be specified in the appropriate site form. After registration is complete, you can start earning. Amazon offers quite convenient and functional interfaces for these purposes - we will consider the features of their use.
Functionality of Amazon: how to start selling products?
In order to start sales, you need to log in to a registered online store account. After - select the category that corresponds to the product that is supposed to be sold. For this purpose, you can use the search for relevant positions using keywords. If a person thinks about how to make money selling books on Amazon, then it makes sense to find a work on a specific topic on ISBN, unless, of course, a person is going to sell his own books, which, of course, can also be done using the interfaces of online store.
Once the optimal product position has been determined, you must click the Sell yours here button. Then you need to specify the main characteristics of the product, describe its condition, appearance. It is useful to reflect information about the availability of packaging, instructions, various accessories. Then you can set the price of the goods. It, as we noted above, a person determines independently.
It makes sense, of course, to focus on prices for similar commodity items. There are a large number of strategies regarding how to make money on Amazon by reducing the selling price of goods or, conversely, by literally overstating it. The choice of a specific approach depends on many factors: product category, market, distance between seller and buyer, product novelty, product demand in a particular market. After the seller has determined the optimal price, it is necessary to indicate in the appropriate form the number of goods sold.
The next most important point is the choice of the method of product delivery to certain regions. If a person is just starting a business at Amazon, then it makes sense for him to confine himself to the territory of his state, as well as to those nearby and, probably, using similar transport and logistics infrastructure. Having knowledge of how certain delivery channels of goods work, the seller will be able, first of all, to calculate the dynamics of sales. Knowing how soon this or that product will be delivered to the buyer, you can plan further sales.
A successful solution to the problem of āhow to make money on Amazon without investments for a novice entrepreneurā largely depends on his ability to plan sales. After the noted conditions of trade are determined by the seller, you can confirm the display of goods on a virtual storefront. The next task of the entrepreneur is to accept orders from customers and arrange delivery of goods. Consider how it can be solved.
Functional "Amazon": clearance of goods for the seller
In order to check whether there are orders for the goods exhibited, the seller must log in to his account, and then select the Manage Your Orders option ("Manage your own orders"). If orders are available, then you need to place the parcel. To do this, you must enter the Order Detail area, which specifies the shipping method. After that, you need to print a cover sheet containing information about the product, as well as about the buyer. It must be attached to the packaged product.
After that, you can send the goods in the manner specified in the order form - most often through the state postal service. Once the package has been sent, you need to confirm this in the sales control panel on Amazon (Confirm shipment option). After the shipment is confirmed, the seller can receive money in his account.
There are a number of nuances that characterize the management of a sellerās account in Amazon interfaces. From the point of view of solving the problem - how to make money on Amazon, they need to be taken into account.
Seller account management: nuances
The main options available to the seller in the interfaces of the store in question:
- display of goods put up for sale (Current Inventory);
- display of the list of orders (Orders);
- reflection of paid orders (Payments);
- personal data of the seller (Seller account).
If the user needs information about a specific order, you can find them by using a special search bar. If any of the goods is sold, then confirmation of this comes to the entrepreneurās e-mail. Using various seller account management modules, you can view user rating information. You can also read customer reviews.
How effective the Amazon business will be, how much you can earn a lot, largely depends on the relevant indicators. The higher the sellerās rating, the more positive reviews he has, the more dynamic the sale of the goods exhibited by him can be.
In the cases stipulated by the rules of the online store, as we noted above, the entrepreneur is obliged to return the funds to the client. For this purpose, a separate form of the interface is used - Issue a refund.
What else should you pay attention to the person who wonders - how to make money on Amazon? Reviews and expert opinions regarding the features of conducting sales on the corresponding portal are found on many thematic resources, and if you study them, you can determine the following list of recommendations regarding the use of the siteās capabilities:
- the seller should regularly check the e-mail in order to form the order as quickly as possible;
- when setting the characteristics of the goods, you should pay attention to even the most insignificant details - this will increase confidence on the part of buyers;
- it is necessary to pay sufficient attention to messages from customers on certain issues - this, again, contributes to the growth of trust, as well as the emergence of regular customers.
You should not initiate communication with the client through third-party tools: you need to use only the regular messengers of Amazon. These are the features of using the sellerās account of the online store in question. The procedure for using these interfaces is important, but no less significant aspect of solving the problem - how to make money on Amazon, will be the application of effective sales strategies.
Consider examples of those that are recommended by experts. Among the common approaches to ensuring dynamic sales at Amazon is the sale of well-known branded goods.
Effective trade methods: selling branded goods
Relevant product types include electronics, clothing, shoes, jewelry, and gift baskets. The most important advantage of this sales strategy is the ability to quickly identify the main price trends for certain types of goods. Knowing them, the seller will be able to determine the optimal price for his offers, suggest whether it is possible to earn (Amazon may not be the only resource on which the person will trade) on a specific variety of products in principle.
Selling branded products is a great way to generate user traffic on the sellerās account. Even if it is not possible to realize any of the target positions, buyers will nevertheless visit the entrepreneurās page and are likely to familiarize themselves with his other offers and contact him.
The second sales strategy is the sale of little-known products or those that are produced by the seller himself. In both cases, the seller himself takes on the role of the brand. If he sells little-known goods, then he can become a recognizable dealer. Under the second scheme, he will have the opportunity to control the sales strategy completely - both at the level of assortment formation and characteristics of the products being sold, and from the point of view of determining selling prices for goods based on their cost and market trends.
Effective Trading Methods: Promoting Your Own Brand
This trading strategy may be suitable for entrepreneurs who are thinking about how to make money on Amazon without investments, since purchases of little-known goods, unlike branded ones, may require less capital. If a person produces the goods himself, then the cost issues will be completely in his charge.
Within the framework of the sales strategy under consideration, it makes sense, along with the creation of an account on Amazon, also to develop a separate website on which similar information about the goods being sold will be disclosed. This resource should be optimized in terms of ensuring high positions in search engines on demand in the form of the name of the corresponding products. It is possible that the content of this site will be decisive in terms of the buyer's decision to purchase the product.
In order to make money at Amazon, you can use tools that complement those available to users of the interfaces of the online store in question. These are the nuances of applying common sales strategies. Note that they can be used by the seller at the same time and alternately - depending on what specific goods he sells, in which markets, and with what resources.
There are a number of expert recommendations that are useful to apply to any sales strategy. They can be quite effective in terms of solving the problem - how to make money on Amazon. Expert reviews regarding these recommendations may confirm their effectiveness.
What specific advice are we talking about? First of all, experts recommend paying attention to the quality of the content generated on the sellerās pages.
Amazon Sales Expert Advice: Content Generation
Although the web page interfaces on Amazon are standardized, the user can nevertheless configure a number of content visualization parameters.
So, it makes sense:
- use clear, high-resolution photographs of the goods sold on a white background;
- create the most informative headings for commodity items;
- form a detailed description of the goods, excluding, if possible, information that is not directly related to the product.
Content on the sellerās page can also be formed taking into account the use of various keywords. What they can be can be determined empirically by searching for similar products using a special line: identifying the most relevant results of the issuance, the words used in the relevant queries should be recorded - they will be key.
Expert Advice: Buyer Bonuses
Is it realistic to make money on Amazon, providing customers with various preferences that are not related to pricing? As many experts believe - quite. Relevant preferences may be:
- free or preferential delivery;
- facilitated return procedure - perhaps even on more liberal terms than by the rules prescribed in the default policy of an online store;
- Active customer feedback - even on the most minor issues.
All 3 options can stimulate sales growth.
Expert advice: expanding market presence
Is it realistic to make money on Amazon (reviews regarding this aspect may be ambiguous, but nevertheless it should be given attention), concentrating sales on one or a small number of markets?
As many experts believe, the dynamics of sales when promoting goods in a large number of markets is higher than if the seller operates within one or two. The main argument in support of this approach is that, through the development of new markets, demand increases due to additional purchasing activity of citizens with various preferences.
Actually, this nuance characterizes almost any business: the larger the market, the greater the amount of capital drawn on it.Thus, to promote the product in different countries, adapting the content on it to the preferences of consumers, the entrepreneur certainly needs to strive. But it also makes sense to pay attention to the peculiarities of demand for a particular product, to identify factors that can determine whether it is possible to make money (Amazon is a functional sales tool, but the user determines its effectiveness) on a particular product or group of goods sold, taking into account the characteristics one or another market.