It is no secret that one of the top online selling platforms in the world -if not the top- is Amazon. Americans, in particular, are greatly inclined to accomplish their online shopping on this site because it has everything from traditional merchandise to all sorts of digital products such as e-books, some of which they can actually download for absolutely free. Therefore, if you’re considering selling your wares online, Amazon is definitely THE most solid platform to consider.
Online selling offers several advantages. For one, overhead expenses are considerably lower, which means that you can either increase your margin or pass your savings on to your customers. The absence of a physical store can also work in your favor as you get to reach customers from faraway places at practically any hour or any day. Finally, there is a wide variety of tools that you can use to promote your products, some of which are free.
Of course, there are several hurdles you may have to face when you are just starting out with your online store. If you are short-staffed, you may have to bear the brunt of performing a large number of tasks, especially those associated with fulfilling orders. Furthermore, if your niche is fairly congested, you will find yourself competing with larger and more trusted players. And speaking of trust, it can be particularly challenging to make potential customers see your business as a legitimate enterprise.
The Fulfilled by Amazon Program seeks to answer these problems and more. Using a third-party store to sell your products is nothing new. In fact, a large number of online retailers have been using fulfillment companies to complete some aspects of the sales process — specifically, storage and shipping. Here are a few advantages of Fulfilled by Amazon Program or FBA.
You can expect increased sales simply from choosing this online shopping platform.
The majority of online shoppers head directly to Amazon to look for items they want or need; they don’t go to very specific online stores right away, unless they fail to find what they need here. On top of that, people enjoy the quick accessibility to various prices for the same products – this means you actually have the power to make your wares more price-competitive and attractive to buyers. An Amazon executive even shared that vendors report an average of 50 percent increase in sales upon joining the site.
The Fulfilled by Amazon Program seeks to eliminates any friction between your products and your customers. Using a third party store to sell your products is nothing new. In fact, a large number of online retailers have been using fulfillment companies to complete some aspects of the sales process — specifically, storage and shipping. Here are a few advantages of Fulfilled by Amazon Program or FBA.
You can get free marketing through Amazon
When they shop at Amazon, your customers get to leave their feedback, testimonials and ratings, and potential customers get to see those. The experience of others is always a strong motivating factor for people to purchase a product. In addition to that, the site has an automatic system of recommending your other products to customers based on the transactions of your loyal buyers.
Amazon actually offers sound tips for vendors
Along with that, buyers also get advice on how to ensure a safe transaction on the site every time. These only prove Amazon’s commitment to great customer service, which works to the great advantage of vendors and customers.
People enjoy the marketplace experience they get at Amazon
As mentioned earlier, the range of merchandise is incredibly vast – people can get everything from homemade products, to commercial ones, to rare collectibles, to free Kindle e-books. The one-stop set-up definitely works in drawing in more customers who generally enjoy the marketplace shopping experience – again, more customers for you.
Amazon has its own app
It’s responsive, meaning people can accomplish their shopping on their smartphones and other portable Web-connecting gadgets, and your products can be purchased much easier here, instead of in a typical online brand store.
Ok, so now your’re (almost) convince and seriously considering selling your products on Amazon.com. But wait, there’s more!
What makes FBA different?
The main advantage of FBA is that Amazon also doubles as an online selling platform for your products and has a vested interest in making sure that you make good sales.On top of that, items sold under this program qualify for Amazon’s shipping promotions such as Amazon Prime. Of course, it helps that Amazon is recognized as a reputable and reliable online marketplace.
You can access a new channel with a very large distribution network. In the U.S. alone, Amazon has over 95 million monthly unique visitors. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. With FBA, you can actually earn more as you need to match your competitors’ total price, which includes the shipping fee. This means that even if there are FBA fees, you can still get higher margins.
Furthermore, the program can help ease a substantial load off your shoulders. Amazon will fulfill customer orders even when you are on vacation. All you have to do is send the items you are selling over to the FBA assigned warehouses and Amazon will do the rest. If you need to change the prices of your items, you can do so online. You do not have to spend time packaging each order and waiting for the courier to arrive.
FBA can also help smaller online retailers scale their operations. Often, online stores are limited by time and space constraints. With FBA, these problems are solved, allowing you to scale your business and compete with more established players.
Our Team at MGR has ample experience setting up Amazon stores for some of our clients. Whether you just want to sell a single product or an entire product line, we have created flexible programs so you too can benefit from your own Amazon store without any delays.
If you have a product or products to sell and want to expand your customer base into Amazon’s nationwide reach, feel free to contact us and we will find and set up your Amazon store from start to finish so you can simply sit back, relax, and collect your revenue check each month.
Thank you for reading. Until next time, this is Manuel Gil del Real (MGR)
