Familiar shopping interfaces, more balanced reviews, one-stop shopping and comparison functionality are just a couple of reasons why some consumers prefer marketplace shopping over shopping on a brand's website. But marketplaces aren't only valuable for consumers; they are also valuable for merchants because they provide businesses with more visibility and therefore a better opportunity to sell products.
For example, selling products on Amazon.com can help a merchant reach millions of customers that flock to the leading ecommerce site every day. So stop wasting time, and start creating another revenue avenue by putting your products in the Amazon Marketplace.
Merchants who already have their own ecommerce stores can start selling products through Amazon by signing up for the professional solution for $39.99 per month. To get started, merchants must list products and set up their seller profiles.
First, merchants should prepare product information for the items that they wish to sell. Every product on Amazon has its own Product Detail Page, so in order to start selling, merchants should prepare product identification information, product attributes such as title and description, product images and search terms. Once this information is prepared, it can be entered into the Product Detail Page. If the item being sold already has a Product Detail Page, merchants need only type in the price, quantity and condition of the item in order to list it.
Merchants have four different options for listing their products:
Add a Product - This tool is inside of Seller Central and is the best option for merchants that are selling less than 50 products.
Listings Loader - A great option for merchants who are selling many products that are already in the Amazon catalog. The template is an Excel format and can be downloaded from Seller Central.
Inventory File - This template is also in Excel and can be downloaded from Seller Central. It is best for merchants who are selling multiple products that are not in the Amazon catalog.
Amazon Seller Desktop - An application that allows merchants to work offline to list products.
Before merchants can start selling, they must set up their accounts. This includes entering basic information such as a business name, contact information, shipping and payment information. Merchants can also add things like a logo, explain return policies and tell customers why they should purchase from them in the Seller Profile Page. This is the merchant's opportunity to create trust and persuade customers to purchase their products.
For merchants who are just starting out in the ecommerce world, Amazon also offers a complete ecommerce Webstore solution that allows them to set up customized websites to start selling online.
The Amazon Webstore provides merchants with template design tools, the option to create custom navigation and product categories, merchandising widgets for promoting products, the ability to monitor customer reviews, a shopping cart that can be branded to reflect your business, credit card processing, inventory management features and more.
Merchants can choose the Amazon Webstore solution that includes selling on Amazon, which is free for the first two years, with a $14.99 monthly rate after that. Additionally, the fee for selling on Amazon is $39.99 per month after the first three free months. This solution allows retailers to sell an unlimited number of products and use an unlimted amount of bandwidth and storage. It also includes Fullfillment by Amazon, which is a packing and shipping service.
There are many best practices for becoming a real player in the Amazon Marketplace community. Merchants should always remember the basics, such as checking orders daily, confirming shipping, keeping up with inventory (especially if you have multiple channels) and keeping pricing accurate.
However, there are also best practices for getting your products to the top of the marketplace search feeds over time, such as obtaining positive feedback from consumers, minimizing order cancellations, increasing inventory availability and maintaining competitive pricing.
Whether you are just starting out or you have been in the ecommerce game for a long time, becoming visible on Amazon - the largest ecommerce site on the Web - will provide merchants with the ability to reach more consumers and better improve their overall ecommerce business.