It’s an all-too-common issue with brands that start having success on Amazon. Your product listings begin to gain some traction and your sales start to blossom. Then, as your products become more popular, growing pains set in.
Welcome to the big(ger) leagues.
These strategies will serve you well as you continue to grow and profit.
1. Know, Approve, & Monitor Your Sellers
As a product becomes more popular on Amazon, more 3rd party sellers want to jump on product listings, resulting in fierce competition for sales and price deflation. Ultimately, this leads to frustration for sellers across all channels, and brand owners are left dealing with the fall out. This is why it’s important to have an authorized reseller program that lays out what channels particular sellers can sell on and what the minimum advertised price (MAP) is that they can sell at. Unfortunately, many sellers agree not to violate your MAP policy when they apply for wholesaler status, but the temptation of following the crowd can later lead sellers to go back on their promise in order to keep up with the pack.
When approving sellers, consider using a process or contract that holds a bit of weight. If MAP is violated, the result might be that the seller’s wholesale status is suspended.
2. Optimize Listings for Better Rankings and Sales Conversions
Showing up in Amazon’s in-house search engine requires more than throwing in a few keywords here or there. Carefully researched keyphrases must be strategically placed in the title, key feature bullets, search terms field, and other places. By weaving these keywords into copy that is emotionally descriptive and answers the question “Why should I buy from you?”, the result is a well-orchestrated page that ranks high and converts shoppers into buyers.
But optimization goes beyond words. By including six or more high-quality images that immediately depict the features, benefits and lifestyle improvements your products offer, you can visually reassure shoppers that yours is the obvious choice.
However, none of the above will matter much if your product isn’t properly cataloged in the correct category and sub-category. If your ASIN is listed in a category that is not reflective of its best use, even with impressive images, keyword use, and copy, you might not achieve the rankings you desire.
3. Promote Your Products On and Off of Amazon
Amazon offers brands and sellers several ways to advertise their product listings. The first is Amazon Sponsored Product Ads, Amazon’s ad program that allows you to target shoppers through keywords and drive qualified traffic to your product listings.
Amazon Lightning Deals is another viable option which offers deeply discounted items for a short period of time (i.e., hours) - a great way to boost traffic and sales for a product.
Other Amazon promotions such as their Subscribe and Save program and coupons encourage customers to purchase your products- both initially and on an ongoing basis.
Outside of the Amazon platform, other strategies such as leveraging email lists to boost sales, implementing cost effective Facebook ads, and launching and boosting products via deal sites can also be effective.
4. Get Plenty of High Quality Positive Reviews
Customers have the ability to rate and review your products on Amazon, and this greatly impacts whether potential buyers will consider your product. A large number of high quality positive reviews will definitely boost sales. Every effort should be made to be responsive to your shoppers so that your rating hovers between 4 and 5 stars. A rating of 3.6 stars or below is considered sub-par and may harm your product rankings, sales, and your reputation. Be sure your sellers or you are proactively reaching out to customers to address any concerns they may have and to request quality reviews.
5. Ensure Your Inventory is Well Managed
Many new and intermediate sellers may not yet be aware of the consequences of running out of stock. However, if this happens, Amazon may suppress or penalize your listing which will result in a plunge in your rankings. Recovering from an out-of-stock situation is not always an easy task. It’s best to stay on top of inventory levels from the get go.
Quick and reliable shipping is also essential. These days, customers expect to receive the products they order online within 2-3 days, and they expect their orders to be trackable. This is probably the biggest reason Amazon’s Prime program has been such a hit. Customers receive their product orders within 1-2 days. Make sure that your sellers are shipping via Amazon’s FBA program or at a minimum, offering 2-3 day shipping.
Being successful and maintaining success on Amazon can present challenges, but you don’t have to fall into the frustration that can come from lack of proper planning and management. By following these fundamental strategies and learning how to properly implement them, you can feel confident that your brand will be set to thrive, not only on the Amazon marketplace, but with all of your other retail channels as well.
About Brand Brite
Brand Brite is a brand advisor, digital marketing agency, and e-retailer that specializes in working with motivated brands to minimize the frustrations and maximize the opportunities of the Amazon marketplace. For more information, please visit our website at www.gobrandbrite.com or contact us at partners@gobrandbrite.com.
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