For anyone with an existing business or planning to start an eCommerce business, there’s one question you have to answer: Are you a brand that is interested in selling on Amazon?
The answer to this questions depends much more on you than it does on Amazon. If you’re not ready for Amazon, don’t go into Amazon. But Amazon can be a great platform to grow your brand and sales opportunities. So hypothetically, if your brand, your products, and your mission are a conducive vehicle for Amazon, then you might be ready to take the leap.
The problem that our brands tend to have, is that they don’t understand the complexities of Amazon. But at Trisbell, we do! Our bread and butter is Amazon Optimization. It's how we make our living. We are here to help you decide if you are ready for Amazon or not.
The secret to success on Amazon is knowledge. In this article, we will introduce the three steps to walk through to help you determine whether Amazon is the right strategy for you.
1. Does Amazon align with your brand’s mission?
You need to determine if Amazon is the vehicle that will drive long term success for your brand. Amazon is not a conducive vehicle for short term gains. Never sacrifice long term engagement for short term gain. If your brand aligns with long term growth goals, then go for it, otherwise don’t do it.
The short term strategy is top line growth. Do not go into Amazon from day one with the expectation of making money - it doesn’t work. You have to go into top line growth first and then you will reach some kind of profitability. Otherwise you won’t retain loyal customers, gain momentum or ever see profitability.
2. Who is your target audience?
Many of our clients feel they have to sell on Amazon because their competitors are on there. However, it is extremely important to ignore the peer pressure and think it over.
For example, if you sell $5,000 premium bikes, most people would like to go into the store, feel the bike, ride the bike and see what kind of warranties are offered. And Amazon may not be the best platform for customers to get all that content because of all the restrictions. In this case, that brand or product may not be ideal for Amazon. If your audience isn’t on Amazon, then don’t sell on Amazon. Also, if you sell a super inexpensive item, you may run a similar issue. You may be better off in liquidation store like Marshalls because on Amazon, you will struggle with profitability on products that are under $15.
More questions to consider: How are you selling on Amazon? Third party? First party? Consignment base? Ship the product yourself?
3. Determine your goals on Amazon
