Amazon is the most well-known e-commerce platform and the largest online store. The platform has around 1.9 million sellers from all over the world, and this number continues to grow. Amazon also has over 150 million subscribers to Amazon Prime, reflecting its vast number of loyal shoppers. In Canada, Amazon continues to be the go-to for online shoppers as seen in its net sales of over $7.1 billion in 2020.
This guide talks about how to become an Amazon seller. Follow these steps on how to become an Amazon seller – and in no time at all, you’ll be able to leverage this platform’s reach and credibility to take your business to the next level.
Though getting your business set up on Amazon may seem like a daunting task, this guide on how to sell on Amazon for beginners is broken down into the following helpful sections:
Let’s dive right in!
Selling on Amazon has plenty of benefits – but so does selling on your own site. By weighing the benefits of each, you’ll be able to determine what your business needs.
Depending on what your business needs, you may choose to sell on Amazon, on your website, or both. If the benefits of selling on Amazon appeal to you, let’s move on to the next step on how to become an Amazon seller.
A crucial step in starting your Amazon seller journey is getting a better understanding of the landscape – particularly, what type of Amazon seller you are or plan to be.
You could be one or another, depending on what your business’s needs are. Let’s explore the possibilities!
If you intend to be a direct-to-customer (or DTC) seller on Amazon, this means that you plan to sell products that are produced or manufactured by your business. This is the path that is usually taken by businesses that already have physical products or a plan to manufacture such products.
Many established brands on Amazon fall under this classification, especially for products like electronics, appliances, furniture, high-end clothing, and so on.
The main benefit of becoming a DTC seller is offering unique products. Therefore, it’s unlikely for customers to find other listings with the same product offered at a lower price. This occurrence is more likely to happen with private label brands and resellers. Another benefit of being a DTC seller is that you have full control over the quality of the products you sell.
A private label product sold by a private label brand is typically manufactured by a third party. However, the product itself is branded and sold under the private label brand’s name.
The main advantage of this setup is that merchants do not need to manufacture anything. However, private-label brands risk having other private label brands selling the same goods (albeit under a different name) – at a lower price. In such cases, customers will typically prefer the product sold for less.
Resellers on Amazon typically buy popular products in bulk and offer them with competitive pricing – but with a mark-up from the actual cost. If your business is a retailer, you’re likely to fall within this category. Becoming a reseller on Amazon generally means that you need to be an authorized reseller which requires brand approval.
Like private label products from private label brands, one of the risks here is being “out-priced” by another reseller or retailer.
Another key risk to note regarding this model is that bringing the prices too low can result in your listing being taken off Amazon. This happens if the price is below the price threshold of the product which is set by the brand’s owner via the Amazon Brand Registry.
After figuring out the specific type of Amazon seller you are or would be, the next fork in the road is deciding between FBA and FBM selling. Though there is an option to do both when setting up your Amazon account, it’s important to understand their differences.
In this scenario, you, the merchant, will create product listings on Amazon. After which, you will send the products in bulk to Amazon’s fulfillment centre. When a customer orders your product from Amazon, Amazon will pick, pack, and ship the product for you.
FBA is ideal for you if:
In this scenario, you, the merchant, will still create product listings on Amazon. However, you will be the one to handle the storage and shipment processes of your products once a customer orders them from Amazon.
FBM is ideal for you if:
Now that you know all about the fundamentals of selling on Amazon, let’s talk about how to sell on Amazon for beginners.
As of the writing of this article, Amazon offers two plans: one where the fee is per item sold and another wherein there is a monthly cost for unlimited selling. Choose the one that fits your business best. Learn all about Amazon’s selling plans here.
Now for the exciting part. It’s time to create your account. Be ready with the needed information before starting – such as the following:
After creating your account, you can now start creating your product listings from seller central. Remember to be as detailed as possible when creating these listings. You can also check out our article, Tips for Optimizing Your Amazon Listing, to increase the success rate of your product listings.
As a merchant, you can NOT drop off your goods directly at Amazon warehouses. For FBA selling, you’ll need to follow the steps for shipping products to Amazon’s fulfillment centres. Merchants can accomplish this using their carrier of choice. It is also important to note that products need to be labelled properly before bulk shipping them to Amazon.
One disadvantage that FBM sellers have is that they don’t have instant access to Prime customers the way that FBA sellers do. And if products do not bear the Prime badge, this can make a big difference to how the products are perceived.
However, FBM sellers can still enroll themselves under “Seller-Fulfilled Prime” and get the Prime badge for their products. As of the writing of this article, merchants need to email ca-sfp-performance@amazon.com to begin enrolling in SFP (Seller Fulfilled Prime) Canada. Check out this resource from Amazon Canada to see any updates on their instructions.
That wraps up our guide on how to sell on Amazon for beginners. If you liked this article, you might also like these resources:
After setting up your Amazon account and creating your product listings, it’s time to employ proven strategies to boost your sales and win more customers on Amazon. If you have any questions on how to become an Amazon seller and market your products effectively through Amazon Ads amazing, reach out to our team today!
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