Selling on Amazon can be very rewarding, being the number one online retailer worldwide given that 55% of people start their online shopping journeys on Amazon. However, this popularity comes at a cost. More than 70% of third party sellers are using FBA than the previous year hence competition is sure to be very stiff with so many sellers clamoring to make a buck. Furthermore, customers are much more discerning about what they want to buy online, so selling a large inventory on the Amazon marketplace isn’t as easy as it used to be. Fortunately, as with any retail channel, there’s a number of things you can do to increase the sale of your product on Amazon.
Gather positive reviews
Reviews are practically a currency in the online marketplace. Increasing the number of positive reviews is one of the best ways to increase your sales with 88% of consumers saying that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. Customers rarely buy anything online without proof of authenticity provided by a fellow consumer, the more the better.
When finding reviews, try to think beyond the obvious so get reviews with pictures of the product in use or even find video reviews for the best effect. However, most of the customers on Amazon fail to leave behind any feedback so consider using a tool like Feedback Five. It will help you increase the number of reviews as well as help you to do away with negative comments about your product. Such a program can go a long way in increasing your overall ranking in Amazon and increase your sales.
Offer discounts
Discounts are a great way to quickly increase your sales as well as create and maintain lasting relationships with your customers. Amazon is attractive because it’s cheaper than other marketplaces so make your products even more affordable to the consumers in order to boost your sales.
Never shy away from cutting into your profit margins a little by offering special discounts and coupon codes to increase your conversion rates. Calendar events and holidays are especially good times to offer discounts and increase your sales volume. When you’re starting your business, discounts offer a great way to put your product out there and build familiarity with potential customers. Just be sure to clearly disclose the time period of your promotional sales to your customers to avoid misunderstanding when the time limit of your discount expires.
Win the Buy Box
The Amazon ‘Buy Box’ is highly sought after by sellers on the site, and for good reason. A staggering 82% of Amazon’s sales are made through the buy box. With this in mind, competing for and winning the buy box is integral to being successful on Amazon. There are various criteria and variables required to win the buy box:
• Availability of stock
• Effective and consistent fulfilment
• Seller performance
• Affordable pricing
• Customer feedback
Repricing software such as RepricerExpress can come in handy to monitor your competitors’ prices around the clock and keep you competitive. You could also try your hand in creating a new product listing either by significantly modifying an existing product or even bundling similar products into one pack. A unique product will automatically win you a buy box since there’s no competition and you can easily sell them at a relatively high margin.
Improve customer lifetime value (LTV)
If your product shows good visibility on Amazon but customers aren’t buying your product more than once, then there’s a huge problem. You can’t realistically build a successful private label business on Amazon without having a loyal customer base making repeated purchases.
Find out why customers aren’t coming back and welcome any suggestions to improve your product. You could even run a poll among your customers to offer ideas and give incentives such as gift cards to encourage participation. If you accept a suggestion, give them credit and thank them. Be sure to use social media avidly and feature loyal fans in your content as a show of appreciation to make your customers feel valued. Don’t forget to improve your customer service and make buying your product as convenient as possible. Such actions will increase your customer base and even make them a marketing asset as they spread the word.
Advertise your product
When it comes to advertising, you’ve got to spend money to make money. You can use Amazon’s sponsored products service to gain an edge over your competitors for a small fee on a PPC (pay-per-click) basis. Using this service will allow your product to be displayed in the ‘recommended for you’ section of the page or as Ads on a search result. Given that Amazon carries out some research on the search history of consumers, you can be certain that your product advertisements will be shown to people with a high likelihood of buying your product. Don’t forget to use social media to also spread the word about your product. Facebook Ads or even shared content by your loyal customers can greatly help increase your sales.
Optimize your listings
Amazon is basically the world’s largest retail search engine so just think of it as a Google search. If you appear on the first page of products, then your product has a very high chance of being purchased. In fact, according to One Click Retail, only 30% of shoppers ever look past the first page. You should therefore focus on keyword optimization and other SEO techniques to help land your product in the first page of the search results or risk missing out on 70% of sales. Use tools such as Amazon Keyword Tool to help you find the most popular keywords that will help a customer instantly know what your product is and what it does.
Conclusion
Even as you strive to improve your sales remember to ensure your private label manufacturers is reliable. This will help you get rid of product quality issues as well as out of stock problems which can be very bad for business.
Author bio
Sarah Kaiser is a digital marketing manager at a French retailer’s sourcing division, which specializes in private labeling, Asian supplier audit and customized product sourcing. See how further your private label business can grow by having a free enquiry on their online catalog, godirek.com or follow @Godirek on twitter.
