5 Reasons to consider selling your products on Amazon with Vicki Weinberg

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Welcome to the, Bring Your Product Ideas To Life podcast, practical advice, and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products. Here's your host Vicki Weinberg. Hi, happy January. This is actually the first podcast episode I'm recording in 2022. This might actually be the first time I've actually said 2022 out loud. So very exciting. Um, so you might be selling your products on your own website or perhaps you're still in the process of creating your product. Um, if you are selling, you might be selling as I say on your website, you might be selling your product on Etsy or eBay or another marketplace. And wherever you're selling, I hope you're doing really well. And if you're not yet selling your products, of course, um, I wish that for you too. So today I wanted to talk to you about five reasons that it might be worth considering selling your products on Amazon. They ship Reason number one is lots of people shop there already. In fact, some people only seem to shop on Amazon. Um, people trust Amazon enough to hand over their card details. Even stored their card details on there. I mean, I know that I have, because it makes it really quick and really easy to buy something. It's literally like one button and you've made that order. Um, very few of us want to put our details into a random website. Um, I don't know if ever you've had this experience where you've seen something on a website you want to buy, maybe it's come up, via an ad, or maybe you found it on Google. You've never heard of this website before. You're not entirely sure if it's secure. Yeah. You know, raise your hands. I've been not, I know, I can't see you, but raise your hand. If in that situation you've ever gone to Amazon and search for that exact same product to see if you can get it there because Amazon feels secure and you know, you can trust it. Also, another advantage is most products will be delivered the next day or possibly even sooner. If you're a prime customer, I know that for some products you can sometimes get same day delivery, which is a massive bonus. Um, I am a huge, huge fan of buying from small businesses. I have to say, however, I can't tell you. And I'm probably being quite embarrassed to tell you how many times I bought something on Amazon, just because I've either left it too late, or I've realized I need something urgently. And I just know I can get it sooner, For a customer this obviously offers a huge benefit coming back to my example earlier of seeing something on a website and then going to Amazon to see if you can get it there. Not only might you feel more secure about handing over your card details on Amazon, or as I say, they're possibly already in there, you might also be able to get the product quicker on by ordering on Amazon, rather than ordering on that third party website. If the seller is offering Amazon prime. And that leads me on nicely to reason number two, which is FBA and Amazon Prime. So FBA stands for Filled By Amazon. And this means that you, as a seller would send some of your stock into an Amazon warehouse and Amazon would dispatch it to customers for you when they make an order. Um, and there's lots of reasons. I think this is good. So first bit, firstly being Amazon com most likely pack and dispatch orders faster than you can. And that's even if you want to, um, we've all heardsome quite dubious things about Amazon warehouses and the conditions there and how people are working. Um, but that's, you know, that's probably a different issue, but I guess my main point here is that if you use FBA, depending on the level of orders you get, of course, Amazon can possibly get those orders out to customers faster than you can. And it may even be slightly cheaper, perhaps not. That's something sort of to look into when you, um, deciding whether to set this up. And the other thing to think about is that returns are usually pretty easy for the customer as well. There's absolutely no quibbling. If they want to send something back, I don't think I've ever attempted to return something on Amazon. Um, and have it not approved. Um, Amazon usually make it really easy for you by sending you a code or a label and, you know, returns often free, not always but often. Um, and these are all really attractive things for the customer. Um, on a recent podcast episode, which I'm going to link to in the show notes, I spoke to Cara Sayer from SnoozeShade and Cara spoke a lot about making the buying experience really easy for the customer. Yeah, I couldn't agree with this more. I mean, yes, it will cost you as a seller to use Amazon FBA. I think that it might be worth it, if it helps customers have a good buying experience with you, um, albeit via Amazon, so if it makes them feel more secure paying from you, if they can get your product faster, if returns easier, um, these are all really good reasons that someone might choose to buy from you on Amazon, as opposed to on your main website. Um, my top tip here is if, if you do decide to consider Amazon FBA, because as I mentioned, that is there are costs involved. Um, it's not always cheap. And of course this varies depending on your product and how big it is and how much you're selling it for and all kinds of things. Um, so my top tip is to offer both Amazon FBA and FBM, which is Fulfilled By Merchant if you can. Um, and there's a few reasons for this one is that if you sell out of your FBA stock, so that's the stock in the Amazon warehouse. You have a backup, if you make your own shipping price on Amazon free. So it's comparable. So, you know you set up on Amazon twice. So once with Amazon fulfilling it once with you fulfilling it, you have the exact same price you set your own delivery as free. It means that if customers don't have Amazon Prime, they still have, they still have an option with free shipping to buy that product from you. They're not going to get put off because I believe customers who don't have prime. Sometimes the shipping prices can be quite high. And as I say also means that if. The FBA stock runs out and it's taken a long time to get replenished, which can happen. Particularly at busy times of year, Amazon warehouses get really busy. It can take sometimes weeks. You won't believe it, but it really can take weeks sometimes to actually open your boxes, get things on the shelf, ready to pay. Hopefully you're not missing out on sales because if someone wants your product, they can still order it. They can still get it with a free delivery all be it, it might take slightly longer depending on how you dispatch. Um, but they can still buy it. And hopefully you'll still get that sale. And my final top tip when we're talking Amazon FBA is to only send in small quantities. I know people who have sent in 500 units of something, and if they don't sell as quickly as you'd like, they're just sitting there and you're paying to have them there. This is probably a whole other topic, but my best advice is if you can avoid sending in loads of stocks, Amazon, then do I say if you can avoid it because I know that's not always possible. Um, we don't all have access to somewhere where we can store stock, but if there's any way around it where it's putting it in the garbage, a spare bedroom, um, shed anything at all to avoid sending in lots and lots of boxes that might potentially sit there for a while and cost you money. I think that's a really good idea. So let's move on to reason number three, and this is not quite the same as trying to get people over to your website because they've already customers there. Let me try and explain this in a better way. So if peop, if your product is what someone's looking for, I believe it can be a bit easier to convert on Amazon than it can be on Google, for example, as they're actually there to shop. So when people are on Google looking for things they might be looking to shop, but they also might be looking for information. Um, you don't really know what their intent is, but when people are searching actually on Amazon, generally, they're looking to buy something. I mean,yes there is some SEO involved in listing your products on Amazon, just like there is on Google, but once people are on Amazon, there are strategies and tools you can use to help get that traffic to your listing. So, what I mean by this is that if you have a really good, where well researched listing, that contains sort of the key things that people are searching for when they're looking for your product much as you would, if you were listing on your own site and you were using Google and you're using your own SEO. It's like having yet, is it sometimes the things people type into Amazon and what they type into Google are slightly different. Um, I have other episodes that talk about this going into some more detail. If you have, if you have a really good product listing. So it's, it's well researched. It's written really well. you've got great images you're off to a really good start. I would then also recommend paying for Amazon sponsored products ads for the first month or two, because that really helps you to get things going to start, build up sales, start, build up reviews. You don't have to spend a lot of money, but it is worth doing something to get that initial traffic. Um, I've spoken about this in lots of podcast episodes before, so I'm not going to go into detail now, but yeah. When you do list your products on Amazon, I feel like I can't say this enough, you can't put the listing up there. However well researched is how many, many keywords you have. However, pretty your pictures are, is just, you can't expect it to necessarily sell without doing some things to drive a bit of traffic. Um, and these are the top things I would recommend you doing. I do actually have a free guide, which talks all about the things you can do to get off to a fantastic start on Amazon. And I will link to that in the show notes, as I say, it's completely free. I've got, I think it's something like 37 things that you can try to get your listing set up really well, and to get those initial sales. So again, I will link to that in the show notes. So the fourth reason, to sell your products on Amazon this year is that you have the opportunity to sell globally because there are marketplaces all over the world. Um, in fact, there are 18 Amazon marketplaces, which gives so many opportunities for expansion. If that's your end goal, um, I do suggest starting off selling either in your own country or at the very least in just one marketplace because the logistics are often simpler. It means you can try things out you can. Maybe set up a listing and you might want to tweak it. You can basically make sure that you're listing is as good as it can be. That it's converting. Well, you can build up some reviews and then when things are up and running, you can then look at expanding into other marketplaces. This is, this is something that's fairly simple to do. I guess the harder thing, especially now is the logistics around that. But the, as I say, the potential is there. You don't have to just selling in your own country. If you've got a product that you feel would sell really well in a different marketplace, then you can do that. You can manage that from all within the one account. And I just think that's a really nice option to have. It's a really good way of being able to reach other customers who may never find your website. You know, if you're a UK based company, let's say, um, someone in Australia might never come across your website and buy your products, especially as the shipping fee might be super high, but let's imagine you've got your product in stock, in a warehouse in Australia and the customer can buy from you. Then I think you've got a much better chance of making that sale. And the final reason, reason number five is. It's hard. So not everyone tries and not everyone succeeds. And that might sound like a, such a weird thing for me to say on that, but it is true. There are so many people selling lots of products that would be brilliant on Amazon that they could potentially sell really, really well. But those products never make it there because it's hard and it's scary and it's complicated. And all of these things well no. Um, I suppose all of those things are true to an extent. I guess one is quite scary, especially if it's something you're not familiar with because the interface for selling on Amazon and buying on Amazon is really different. And it's not always easy. However, once you get the hang of it, it's like anything, um, is actually not so complicated. Um, and also there's plenty of help and support and advice out there to get you started. If that's what you're looking to do. Um, I know that some sellers choose to get onto Amazon via a distributor, but then the sort of a potential issue there is you might lose a bit of control in the process. So I think that's, if you're able to getting your product listed on Amazon yourself. It's definitely the way to go. And when I say yourself, as I say, you don't have to do this yourself. Um, there are plenty of people that can help you. I can obviously help you. Um, and if there's something you want to discuss, do let me know. I would love to help you get your products onto Amazon, um, little caveats that, which I'll talk about at the end, which is that first of all, before I help anyone get their product on Amazon, I do also do like to check the Amazon would be a good marketplace. For all the reasons I mentioned above is something you don't want to invest in, unless you're pretty sure that you're going to see a return. And I should also be honest and say that there are definitely some downsides to selling on Amazon too. Um, I have a few episodes that talk about that, that I'll link to in the show notes. Um, just, you know, for the interests of balance, because I can't pretend that it's perfect because it's, it's not, you probably have been talk about that, but I do think that the good reasons outweigh the reasons not. So the reasons to sell on Amazon outweigh the reasons not to in many cases for many products. And while I do hear. A lot of sellers having issues on Amazon every single day, there is a solution to 99% of the problems, even if it takes a while for you to get there, you probably have heard me say before that Amazon seller support, isn't the greatest. I have a whole episode on navigating this, which are also linked to in the show notes, because you might find that useful. But my perspective on this is all has always been, everything is doable. It can be challenging, but I do believe that it's worth it. And let me run through again, my five reasons that I think it might be worth you considering this year say reason. Number one is there are lots of customers on they've already possibly with their credit cards and address details already saved in there. So it makes it super easy for them to buy. Second reason is FBA and Amazon prime, meaning that you can make a really pleasant buying experience for a customer that you may or may not be able to replicate elsewhere. Reason three is it's easier than on Google, in my opinion, for your product to be found and most importantly purchased because customers on Amazon, all they're looking to buy something Reason number four is that you have the opportunity to sell globally. I don't want to say to do this easily because it's not easy and it's not necessarily straightforward. Um, but I would argue that it's possibly easier to. Globally using a platform like Amazon, then it may be to do it in another way. And the fifth reason, which is possibly the one you might think it's the strangest. But I promise it makes sense is that it's hard to not everyone tries. And the benefit for you is that if you have a great product and you are the person who gets that product onto Amazon ahead of all your competitors, Might be selling products similar to yours. Um, you're the first one to try. Um, or you're the first ones, give it a really good go. Um, then you have, uh, you have a lot more opportunity than those that come after you because a lot of, a lot of Amazon is about competition and generally those who are there longer, they've built up sales, they built up reviews, you know, they're, they're, they're a little bit ahead of those that come after them. And I can talk about that from both sides as well. Cause I've also been the person sort of trying to catch up listing products where there's already been a bit of competition and it's a lot harder. So if you're prepared to go in there, do it really commit to doing it really well and be among the first to get in, um, for products like yours and I think that you've got a really good chance. Um, the caveat I mentioned earlier that I want to speak about here briefly is that Amazon isn't right for every product. So I'm not saying that if you're listening to this episode and you're selling products, or you're thinking about selling a product soon, you should definitely get onto Amazon. That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying that it's something for you to consider. Um, but there were a few reasons that Amazon isn't right. Um, either because it's just not the right marketplace. So handmade products, for example, tend not to do as well on Amazon, as they do on Etsy, or it might be the competition for product like yours is really, really high. And you need to spend a lot of money on advertising to even get started, which may not prove profitable, at least in the short term and if you need help working this out. So if you've listened to this episode and you're thinking, oh, maybe my product should be on Amazon, but I'm not sure. Or, you know, you're even considering it. And you want to think it through a little bit. Um, I actually offer a strategy session where I firmly research your products, I research the competition and the potential on Amazon, and I produce a detailed report that I then talk you through during a zoom call that we have together. So I talk about what's involved in setting up and launching your product on Amazon, including the time you need to launch how much it might potentially cost you on all the steps involved and I also give you my honest opinion about whether you should be selling your products on Amazon. Not only that you also get a bespoke market research report, including competitor analysis. You can see exactly how well your competitors are doing on Amazon at the moment I give you the Amazon sellers checklist, which sets out all the steps you need to get your product launched on Amazon and the Amazon launch guide that I mentioned earlier, which will help you get off to a great start. If you're interested, you can book this in via a link in the show notes, or you can go to Vicki weinberg.com for more details, or as always, you can contact me vicki@vickiweinberg.com. If you have any questions. So I hope this has given you something to think about as always. I love to hear from you. If you have any questions or comments on this episode, please do let me know. I do plan to record a few more of these solo episodes this year. Um, because I love talking to you. And, um, while I, I absolutely love having guests and it's one of my favorite things on this podcast is when I get to interview someone and hear about their story, but I also do like to talk to you directly and I also have feedback that you also want to hear from me, which is lovely. Thank you. So I will aim to do a few more of these episodes this year. And if there were any topics you particularly want me to cover, of course, um, just let me know, email again, vicki@vickiweinberg.com You can find me on Instagram. You can find me on Facebook, please do come and join my free Facebook community. Um, and that is it for this week. Have a lovely week. I'll be back for another episode. And until then take care. Thank you so much for listening all the way to the end of this episode. If you enjoyed it, please do leave me a review that really helps other people to find this podcast. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any future episodes and do tell your friends about it too. If you think that they also might enjoy it, you can find me@vickiweinberg.com. There you'll find links to all of my social channels. You'll find lots more information. All of the past podcasts, episodes and lots of free resources too. So again, that's Vicki weinberg.com. Take care, have a good week and see you next time.