1. You need to understand the system.
Before starting as a seller, it’s worth taking the time to review the basics of selling things on Amazon. Even if you’re familiar with Amazon as a shopper, the way it works for sellers is quite different. The business model of Amazon is very specific and you cannot develop your business without understanding how it works. Many novice sellers find themselves too quickly facing failure for having burned the stages. It takes a lot of preparation and anticipation. You need to dedicate some time to understand the ecosystem, learn about the most valuable listing positions, how to get your product shipped out of Amazon’s warehouses, and some costly pitfalls to avoid..
Think also about the structure you want to start with, there are many services you can benefit from if you set up a professional profile.
2. You’ll have to put in the work.
Like any other business, starting a business on Amazon is something serious. Forget the talk about easy income and promises of overnight success! You will have to spend some time to do your homework, not only to understand the ecosystem as explained above, but also to do some analysis, study your competitors and find a product with high potential. The good news is that it can go quite fast, depending on the sector and the product chosen. In a few months, you will be able to be operational. Thank you, internet!
3. To make money, you need money.
You need a small capital. Before you start, plan some savings or a little investment, even if you want to start with a single product. You will need it to cover the basic fees: the subscription fees related to your seller account, the storage fees if you opt for Amazon FBA (fulfilled by Amazon), not to mention the administrative costs, the packaging, the shipping, etc.
Don’t worry; you can already start small on Amazon. Some sellers started their business with an investment between € 2,000 and 5,000. Of course, this will also depend on your business structure (in professional mode or private) and if you opt for private label, retail arbitrage, or wholesale.
4. You need a product with high potential.
You are not the only seller on amazon, the competition is tough. You must therefore opt for a product with high potential. Products with high potential are those for which there is high demand and few competitors. There are Amazon-specific analysis software that will help you find this high-potential product. But you can already do this analysis on the site of Amazon, as a visitor, you will quickly locate the products with high demand. To do this, go to Google and type “Amazon best sellers”, you will quickly have a ranking of products with high demand.
Then, thanks to one of these analysis tools, find the BSR (best seller ranking), which is the ranking of the best sellers by product. You can consider that sellers ranked between 1 and 5,000 are serious competitors and they sell like crazy!
5. No marketing, no sales
On Amazon, you only exist if your product is optimized for search. You are not alone, you are among hundreds of thousands of other sellers. Hence the importance of choosing a product differentiating and with little competition, as explained above (but this is the subject of a more specific topic). Think about it: 80% of Amazon sales happen on the first page of search results. Therefore, you will have to invest a minimum in pay per click (PPC) campaigns to be visible. This is not a reason to forget your other traffic drivers: your social networks are additional platforms where you can promote your products, or coupons you offer on Amazon.
6. You need a plan.
Like for any other business, the basics stay applicable. You need an action plan to determine your goals, the means you have and the risk you are willing to take. Many disappointed sellers are bitter when you ask them about Amazon, it is understandable, but when you ask them, they admit they have not been prepared or have learned on the go, learning from their mistakes. In conclusion: the potential of a platform like Amazon is huge! It’s very simple: there is no other ecommerce site with such a mass of potential buyers! In addition, Amazon can take charge of your storage, packing and shipping of your products, no worries for logistics! If you follow these few steps and follow the basic rules of business, you can generate additional income in a few months and gradually gain financial freedom.
Good luck!
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