Amazon is proven to be the most trusted online marketplace. It is vast with over 30 million active customer accounts, thousands of items sold every day, and numerous sellers launching their businesses. Amazon is such a great place to put up and sell your products.
But do you have a dilemma on how to start selling online? Are you new to online business transactions? No worries! Amazon is seller-friendly and one can easily learn its process. Here are the six steps on how to start selling on Amazon.
Step 1: Set up your Amazon Seller Account
To start your selling journey, you must first create a seller account. Proceed to the Amazon sign-up page and there, you need to click on “start selling.” Upon making your account, you must accurately fulfill the following information:
- Name
- Business location and entity
- Address
- Billing information
- Proof of identity
After filling in that information, you need to choose from the two Amazon subscription plans available. One plan is the individual selling plan which costs only $0.99 per item sold and the other is the professional selling plan which has a flat rate of $39.99 per month. You must choose the plan that is the most suitable for your business. Other fees also need to be paid depending on the added services acquired by the seller.
Step 2: Pick your Products
Identify the product that you think is best and you can provide for your target customers. Your success depends on your product. As a seller, you must ensure the quality and availability of the item. They need to be in demand in the niche that you choose and have a good profit margin.
If you still have no idea what to sell yet, you can check the best-selling items on Amazon. Or you can do a little research, survey, or ask questions to other sellers so that you will have an idea. But remember, pick a product that best suits you and your niche.
Step 3: Do Market Research
Doing research is a vital factor in measuring the success of your business. The research doesn’t evolve only about your products. It is essential to also track the condition of your competitors and the ever-changing demands of your customers. Market research and analysis provide you with a grasp of what is happening in the market and what your business has been doing. Based on the result and analysis, you can improve your business plans furthermore.
You can watch or read the news daily to get recent updates about e-commerce. Make it a habit to always check what is the most popular product purchased on Amazon. Most importantly, always get customer feedback – you must know their insights and suggestions that may be of great help in upgrading your business.
Always be on-trend. You must keep up with what’s in demand whether they are about giving promos, being on sale, offering product bundles, providing other better offers so that the customers will be influenced to buy your product and not purchase to a different store. It is also a must to always check what your competitors do.
Step 4: Start Creating your Amazon Listings
To effectively sell on Amazon, you need to create your product listings as best as you can. If this sounds new to you, you can easily check and look for other sellers on Amazon who are selling the same items like you to get ideas and inspiration from them. You can match the existing listings for the same products but just make sure to create your unique branding to make you stand out from the rest of the sellers.
For each of the products that you sell, you need to provide them with ID numbers which are called Global Trade Item Number. Also, optimize your product title and craft the best product description that you can write with the right keywords on it. The use of best-quality images is also essential for your listing. Provide your original images or pictures that are high quality and large enough to zoom in or out, avoid using photos that are only grabbed online.
Step 5: Choose your Shipping Plan
Your shipping plan depends on your Amazon FBA subscription. Subscribing to the Amazon FBA service lets you save time and other resources. Amazon will do it all for you – from warehouse storage, packing, picking, delivery, and many more. This is a convenient method especially if the seller is not full-time on his or her business or just doesn’t want the hassle. You just need to pay the necessary fee to subscribe to this service.
You can also choose to be hands-on in your business and fulfill the orders yourself. If you decide to do this, you will handle the inventory, the warehouse management, the packing, and the shipping. On the other hand, this is quite time and energy-consuming for the seller.
Choose the best shipping plan based on your preference, capability, and needs.
Step 6: Get Great Customer Reviews
Most of the time, the customers buy from those stores with great reviews about their product. Online reviews can be quantified as the buyer’s trust rating about you and your product. You need to get numerous reviews to build your credibility and reputation on Amazon.
Many customers check the product reviews and rely on them. Thus, if you do not have many reviews, you can’t attract possible buyers. Instead, they will purchase the product to other stores with a higher volume of reviews.
You can gain relevant product reviews by making sure that the quality of your product is exemplary. You can also do some product giveaways to receive reviews.
What’s next?
Now that you know what to do to start selling on Amazon, we think it is about time that you do it. At Proventus, we can help you grow your business on Amazon. Contact us today to learn more about our Amazon services.