How to Sell on Amazon – A Beginners’ Guide

Selling internationally through Amazon is what forward-thinking people and businesses in Asia have been doing for a long time. It’s a cheap and effective way of entering a foreign market and getting started might be easier than you think.

Who are Amazon?
Amazon is a global marketplace that boasts over 300 million active customers, in 189 countries. Selling everything from electronics and sporting goods, to clothing and beauty products, it’s the go-to for shoppers in many countries. The search term ‘Amazon’ receives between 80-120 million hits a month in the USA alone and it is estimated that over 50% of buyers in the US start their search on Amazon.

Which product categories work the best?
Amazon have over 30 categories listed on their marketplace. The great thing about this platform is that the sheer volume of active buyers means there is always demand for the right product. WorldFirst have seen trends of growth in recently include pet products, toddler clothing and jewellery.

How does fulfilment work?
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a warehousing and customer fulfillment option which makes running your business from the other side of the world easy. You send your stock to Amazon’s warehousing facilities and they take care of fulfilling orders on your behalf. Amazon Prime is a subscription service which offers same-day delivery and is a key part of many sellers’ strategy.

What are the costs associated with selling on Amazon?

• Monthly selling fee: US$39.99
• Referral fee: 8%-15% for most product categories
• Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) fee. This cost varies per item and can be calculated online

How do people find my product?
Once your stock is with FBA and your listings are ready to go, you’ll need to drive traffic to your page to make sales and obtain customer reviews. One of the best ways to promote your products is through Amazon Sponsor Products

Amazon Sponsored Products is a pay-per-click scheme that makes your product more visible in your category. The more orders and reviews you achieve, the higher you’ll rank in your category which should, in theory, mean less reliance on pay-per-click.

What are the steps to getting started on Amazon?
If you’re an existing business, or an individual thinking of selling through Amazon, the first step is to research the potential demand in that foreign market. A great place to start is browsing Amazon.com to get a feel for what’s doing well. Google key word search volumes.

Next, you’ll need to launch your Amazon listing:

1. Create an account
2. List your product
3. Promote your products
4. Customer fulfillment – FBA

Disclaimer:

These comments are the views and opinions of the author and should not be construed as advice. You should act using your own information and judgement.

Whilst information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed.

All opinions and estimates constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice.