How to Dropship on Amazon in 2023

If you’re looking to start a successful eCommerce business in 2023, then you’ll want to consider learning how to dropship on Amazon.

Drop shipping can be a very lucrative business model, and with low start-up costs and very few overheads, you can see why entrepreneurs are seeing big returns for small input.

In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about how to dropship on Amazon, including what drop shipping is, how it works, and how you can scale your business to great heights by leveraging the right tools.

What Is Amazon Dropshipping?

Drop shipping is a business model where you don’t have to keep any inventory. You simply act as the middleman between your customers and the supplier who stocks the product.

Whenever you receive an order from a customer, you place the same order with your supplier, and they will ship it directly to your customer.

Here Is How To Dropship On Amazon:

  1. You (the entrepreneur) source a product to sell
  2. You then find a supplier for the product
  3. You list the product on Amazon
  4. The Amazon customer purchases your product on Amazon
  5. You then purchase from the supplier and get them to send it directly to the customer’s address.

It’s all about positioning yourself as the middle person so you’ll never have to invest in large quantities of stock, pay storage fees, or ship container loads of inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers.

The Different Types Of Dropshipping:

When it comes to dropshipping on Amazon, there are a few different types you’ll need to be aware of:

Private label Amazon dropshipping – this is when you source a product from a supplier (usually in China), then customize and brand it with your own logo. You can then list the product on Amazon as your own branded product.

Retail arbitrage Amazon dropshipping – this is where you source products from retail stores, then list them at a markup on Amazon. When an order comes in, you purchase the product from the store and have it shipped directly to your customer.

Wholesale Amazon dropshipping – this involves finding wholesalers who offer large discounts on products. You’ll then list them on Amazon and take orders from customers. When you get an order, you purchase the product from the wholesaler in bulk and they ship directly to your customer.

Print-on-demand Amazon dropshipping – print-on-demand services allow you to list your own designs or artwork on products such as t-shirts, mugs, or phone cases. You don’t need to buy any inventory upfront and only pay for the product when an order comes in.

Is Amazon DropShipping Profitable?

Yes, Amazon drop shipping is still a viable business model that can generate significant profits.

The great thing about dropshipping on Amazon is that there are no upfront costs and the overhead expenses are minimal: all you need to get started is to source a product and list it on the platform.

How Does Amazon Dropshipping Compare To Other Amazon Business Models?

Dropshipping on Amazon is just one of many different ways to start an online store. Each model has its own advantages and disadvantages.

For example, with dropshipping, you have low start-up costs as you don’t need to purchase any inventory upfront. However, the margins are usually small and it can be hard to scale a business quickly due to the limited selection of products available.

Other popular ways to sell products on Amazon are Amazon FBA Private Label, Wholesale, Online Arbitrage, Bookselling, and Handmade.

What Are The Pros and Cons Of Amazon Dropshipping?

The pros of Amazon dropshipping include:

  • Low start-up costs – you don’t need to purchase any inventory upfront, making it a great choice for entrepreneurs who are just getting started.
  • You can offer a wide selection of products – you can source products from anywhere in the world, giving you access to a much wider selection than you’d be able to find in a physical store.
  • No need for storage space – since you don’t need to buy any inventory upfront, you don’t have to worry about finding a place to store it.

The cons of Amazon dropshipping include:

  • Lower profit margins – since you’re not buying the product in bulk, you’ll have to charge a higher price to make a profit, which can make it difficult to compete with other sellers.
  • Risk of counterfeit products – since you’re sourcing from third-party suppliers, there is a risk that some of the products could be counterfeit or low quality.

How Much Does Dropshipping On Amazon Cost?

The cost to dropship on Amazon will vary depending on your product and supplier, but generally, you can expect to pay for the following:

  • Shipping costs – if you’re using a third-party supplier, you’ll need to pay for the cost of shipping the product to your customer.
  • Amazon fees – Amazon will take up to 15% of every sale as their fee.
  • Advertising costs – if you want to get more sales on Amazon, you’ll need to invest in advertising campaigns such as Amazon PPC or sponsored products.
  • Platform fees – depending on which platform you’re using to manage your drop shipping business, there may be an additional fee associated with it.

Unlike private label and wholesaling, a dropshipping business doesn’t require you to invest in or hold any inventory of your own.

Instead, when the consumer pays for their purchase from your store, use a portion of the proceeds to buy that product from a supplier and have them send it directly to the buyer.

This drastically reduces your start-up costs and overheads, making Amazon Dropshipping one of the most cost-effective ways to get started selling products online.

Here is a list of things that you should invest in to run your eCommerce store efficiently:

  • Amazon professional seller account – $39.99 per month
  • Product samples from your chosen supplier
  • Amazon Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising
  • Viral Launch for product discovery, optimizing listings, finding the best-converting keywords, and PPC management

Typically, the average dropshipping profit margins are between 10-30%, depending on the product.

Which, for a relatively passive income is very good!

How To Dropship On Amazon

Now that you know a little more about the business model, he is the steps you need to take to learn how to dropship on Amazon.

Step 1 – Set Up An Amazon Seller Central Account

There are two options when it comes to selling on Amazon – you can use the individual seller Amazon account or the professional seller Amazon account.

Each has its own advantages, but the professional plan is best if you want to dropship products on Amazon as it will allow you access to their full PPC tools, run promotions, and create bulk listings easier.

The professional seller account has a capped fee of $39.99 regardless of how many products you sell, whereas the individual seller account charges a $.0.99 fee per unit.

Step 2 – Finding Products To Sell

This step is the most vital part of starting your online store, and it’s crucial you get it right.

Viral-Launch has made it much easier to find high-demand, low-competition products to start selling by leveraging the Product Discovery tool.

If you’re unsure how to get the most out of this tool, there are two tutorial videos on the Product Discovery tool page, showing you how to get the most of out it.

But in order to find the high-demand, low-competition products, I would recommend starting your product search off with the following criteria in the KEYWORD tab:

  • Price range between $40-$100
  • Minimum monthly sales of 500>
  • At least 300 reviews

To avoid any complications with restricted products or products with any other limitations that could slow your growth, I would recommend sticking to the 5 main categories that sell very:

  • Baby
  • Sports & Outdoors
  • Home & Kitchen
  • Pets
  • Garden & Outdoor

Once you enter these details into the Product Discovery tool, you will be given a list of potential product ideas, with a star rating Idea Score, along with the product’s average revenue and sales velocity.

The top product idea that came up from my very basic search was products for running.

I would then click the button below the product keyword and head to the Viral-Launch Market Intelligence page:

Viral-Launch Market Intelligence provides me with a deep analysis of all the product ideas within the Running keyword and gives them a more detailed idea score star rating:

These tools will give you a huge advantage in finding the best products to start your Amazon dropshipping business.

Step 3 – Finding Products To Sell On Your Amazon Store

Once you have a list of viable product ideas, you then need to focus on finding a supplier.

The first place to start would be AliExpress, as they offer a wide range of products and have thousands of suppliers all around the world.

When looking for new suppliers, you should focus on finding those that can create custom branding for your product packaging and labels. This way, you will be able to make your brand stand out from the competition.

Once you have narrowed down your list of suppliers, you should make sure to ask them for samples. This way, you can assess the quality of their products before committing to a large order.

Also, make sure to read the reviews and check out the ratings of any supplier you are considering working with – this will give you an insight into the quality of their products and customer service.

Step 4 – Create Your Listings On Amazon

Once you have chosen your supplier, it’s time to create your product listings in Amazon Seller Central, or you can also build your listing in the Listing Builder tool.

You will need to gather the following information for each listing:

  • A product title,
  • Images,
  • Bullet points,
  • Descriptions,
  • Pricing

Product Title

The key factors that Amazon considers when ranking products are the keywords in the product title, sales velocity, and the number of positive reviews.

So the best place to start would be finding the best keywords for your product title, and the rest of your listing.

The Viral Launch Keyword Research tool will help you find the most powerful keywords for both your Product Title and Product Description.

The product title should be structured in a way that the strongest keyword for your product, is at the very start of your title.

Product Images

The product photos on your listing are a great way to increase sales by showing customers the main features of your product.

The images should be 1000×1000 pixels and you should use all photo slots on your listing.

If you’re unable to take great photos yourself, you can always ask your supplier to provide you with high-resolution photos of your product.

Product Bullet Points

The product bullet points are the second most important part of the text on your Amazon product listing, after your product title, so they should be keyword rich.

Product bullet points are the best opportunity to tell your customers how purchasing your product will benefit them and solve their problems.

Product Description

The product description should summarize all the features and benefits of your product that you mentioned in the bullet points section, as well as any important information about how to use it. You can create amazing product descriptions using online AI Tools.

Pricing

Finally, you need to set a price for your product that will be competitive enough to generate sales without leaving too much margin on the table.

The Viral Launch Pricing tool will help you find the right price for your products by analyzing your competition and calculating the optimal price point.

Tips For Success In Your Amazon Dropshipping Business

Running a successful dropshipping business on Amazon can be a daunting task, so here are some tips to make sure you get the ball rolling.

1. Promote Your Listings

Running PPC Amazon ads will massively boost your exposure to your product listing, will increase your organic ranking for your chosen keywords, and will drastically increase your sales.

2. Set Up Your Storefront Properly

Make sure to create an attractive storefront with all of your product listings and images in place. This will give customers the chance to shop with ease, and it will also make a great first impression.

3. Utilize Social Media & Advertising

Social media is a great way to get the word out about your business and attract new customers.

You can post about sales, discounts, promotions, and other news related to your business on social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

You can also create ads on different platforms to promote your products and direct customers to your store. And more over, you can find your competitor ads & can create your ads better than them.

4. Monitor Your Products & Pricing

Make sure you keep an eye on competitor prices and adjust yours accordingly if needed – this will help you stay competitive and maximize profit margins for each product.

5. Offer Excellent Customer Service

Providing excellent customer service is an essential part of running a successful dropshipping business on Amazon.

Make sure you provide prompt and courteous responses to customer inquiries, as well as handle any product returns or refunds in a timely manner.

Round Up Of How To Dropship On Amazon

Hopefully, this post provides you with a clearer view of how to dropship on Amazon.

Dropshipping on Amazon is a great way to start an online business and make money without having to manage inventory or handle shipping.

The key to success in dropshipping on Amazon lies in:

  • Sourcing the right products
  • Finding great suppliers
  • Optimizing your product listing,
  • Use the right keywords for your title and description,
  • Creating attractive product images and bullet points,
  • Setting a competitive price,
  • and providing excellent customer service.

By following these tips, you can increase your chances of success in selling products on Amazon as a dropshipper.

How To Dropship On Amazon FAQs

Who handles processing customer returns with Amazon Dropshipping?

The return policy is the same for anything you sell on Amazon.

Although, unlike the FBA business model – You as the seller will be responsible for the returns, not Amazon. The returns will need to be sent back to your location.

What are the upfront investments required?

Dropshipping on Amazon is a very low barrier to entry with regard to start-up costs. You would need to invest in:

– Amazon professional account – $39.99 per month
– Product samples from your chosen supplier
– Amazon Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising
– Viral Launch for product discovery, optimizing listings, finding the best-converting keywords, and PPC management

Do I need an LLC to start Amazon dropshipping?

No you don’t have to start an LLC to drop ship on Amazon, although it will be a good idea to set one up as your own eCommerce store grows in revenue.

Will the supplier send products in branded packaging?

Sending your products with branded packaging is something that I would highly recommend asking your supplier to work with you on.

I would also advise working with your supplier to create packing slips and inserts into your packaging with information on other products and offers.

Something that Amazon prohibits, is the dropshipping model of online arbitrage where you purchase products individually from other online retailers like Walmart and sell them on Amazon and the product arrives to the customer in Walmart packaging.

Do I need a professional amazon seller account?

It’s not essential to have a professional seller account, but you will experience far fewer limitations when you invest in a professional seller amazon account.

Selling Medical Supplies on Amazon

If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s how very precious and fragile good health really is. And what that means is that consumers of every age, ethnicity, gender, and social status are looking for new, better, and more affordable ways to cultivate long-lasting wellness. That also means that there has perhaps been no better time than now for clinics, healthcare facilities, and purveyors of medical products and services to consider selling medical supplies on amazon.

However, marketing your facility or your products on Amazon is likely going to require a markedly different approach to promotions than your business is used to. This article examines strategies medical practices and suppliers can use to achieve success selling medical supplies on amazon.

Making Money Selling on Amazon

It doesn’t seem to matter anymore what your industry is — if you’re not selling on Amazon, you’re missing out. In fact, reports show that 89% of Amazon sellers are profitable, and that 37% saw profits increase throughout 2022.

As more of the population become comfortable operating online, many of our needs previously defined by brick-and-mortar or in-person experiences are being revolutionized. Telehealth, for example, is facilitating long-distance connections between doctors and patients across the globe. In the same way, medical service and product providers are seeing success using the Amazon marketplace as well.

restricted categories on amazon: Getting the Appropriate Permissions

Amazon is, literally, the largest marketplace in human history. It enables sellers of every stripe to reach a truly global customer base. 

Perhaps not surprisingly, though, access to medical products and service providers has traditionally been quite limited and subject to extensive federal and international regulation. That does not mean, however, that medical product providers and practices cannot avail themselves of Amazon’s tremendous market reach.

What it does mean, though, is that if you want to market your medical practice or product on Amazon Stores, you’re probably going to need to jump through some hoops. For instance, if your product or service is regulated by the FDA, as many health-related ones are, then you’re going to fall into a restricted category

That will require you to meet certain conditions before you’re permitted to market your business, product, clinic, or service on Amazon. In most cases, this will require you to receive FDA approval, adhere to FDA standards, and comply with certain labeling requirements as defined by Amazon.

Using Data-driven Marketing

Once you have received the appropriate permissions and met the relevant requirements for marketing on Amazon, you can turn your attention to defining a platform that works. If you are a local medical practice or a smaller-scale manufacturer of medical products and devices, you aren’t likely to have much experience in marketing to a global audience.

The prospect may, indeed, be daunting, but don’t despair. Marketers today have more and better tools than ever before for understanding and reaching their target audience. The key to reaching your ideal client on Amazon is data. 

Data-driven marketing enables you to understand who your target client is, what they want, what they need, and what they require. But these aren’t the only insights to be gleaned through data. Data can also help you define patterns of behavior in your target audience, including identifying the types of online content that pique their interest and generate the most clicks. 

Once you’ve defined what kind of content your target audience is looking for regarding medical services, devices, and products, you can craft your Amazon marketing materials accordingly.  

Marketing Your Practice Through Online Relationship Building

One of the most important things to bear in mind when you’re learning to leverage the power of Amazon to market your medical practice is that your goal is not to advertise. Your goal is to build relationships. 

Marketing your medical practice, product, or service is, fundamentally, about starting an ongoing conversation with your target customer base. The Amazon Store is only one prong of a larger strategy in which you cultivate an engaging and engaged online presence in order to connect with your target audience. 

Thus, linking your Amazon Store with your business’s website is an ideal way to take your business relationships from merely transactional to truly transformational. You might use blogs, discussion forums, and even online events to help your target clients learn about your practice, your company, and the products and services you provide.

In the process, you will be building a sense of community in your client base. The more audience members connect with you and with one another, the better able you will be to identify and respond to their evolving health needs.

The connected Amazon Store, then, is the domain where you endeavor to meet those needs. Your Amazon Store becomes the locale where you are able to respond to the conversation you are having with your clients through your product and service innovations featured there.

Selling Medical Supplies on Amazon: The Takeaway

The provision of medical products and services is truly a labor of love and, now more than ever, medical practices and health product companies can serve a global market. Unleashing the tremendous power of Amazon Stores is an ideal way to access this international customer base. However, doing so effectively requires strategy, calling on stakeholders to improve their marketing strategy for a new, more diverse, and far larger target audience. This requires marketers to ensure they have the appropriate permissions and adhere to relevant guidelines for marketing on Amazon. 

This also requires marketers to tap into the tremendous power of data to define the target audience, understand their behavior, and align their marketing strategy accordingly. Finally, improving marketing through Amazon Stores means integrating Amazon into a more comprehensive and compelling digital strategy. Cultivating a robust digital presence enables medical practices and product purveyors to engage in an ongoing conversation with the target audience, building client relationships that can last a lifetime.

Viral Launch’s accurate data coupled with our powerful tools, provides Amazon sellers with everything they need to succeed. Create an effective marketing strategy, boost visibility, and see sales skyrocket with Viral Launch. Sign up today and get your first 14 days free!

Amazon Analytics: Which Metrics Amazon Sellers Should Pay Attention To

According to one McKinsey study, data-driven brands can outperform competitors by up to 20%. While the study was done on public companies, the same concepts still apply to Amazon sellers in terms of important Amazon Analytics. 

Using Amazon analytics is a key unlock to ensuring your business performs and grows as much as possible. But with the influx of information available, it can be challenging to focus on the metrics that truly matter. 

In this guide to Amazon analytics, we’ll go through the details of the most critical insights for your business:

  1. Conversion Rate
  2. Click-through Rate
  3. Retention Rate (Repeat Sales)
  4. Market Basket Analysis
  5. Search Queries
  6. Average Prices

What is Amazon Analytics?

Before we dive deeper into specific metrics, let’s do a quick overview of Amazon Analytics, what these metrics are, and who has access to them. 

Amazon Analytics is available for sellers in the Amazon Brand Registry and not for third-party sellers—so the reports aren’t accessible to just anybody. If you aren’t part of the registry yet, know that it can take some time for you to get registered, but you will gain access to the following benefits (among others):

You can use Amazon Seller Data analytics to improve business performance by using customer and product-related data to enhance your strategies. It will allow you to position your products better and add an edge to your store compared to generic sellers who might not have the information you gain from Amazon Analytics. 

Conversion Rate

Let’s say, for example, that you’re an Amazon seller, and one of your most popular products typically gets 1000 views per day and about 50 or 60 sales in the same time frame. This puts your conversion rate at around 5-6%, which actually isn’t that bad!

Conversion rate is essentially your percentage of conversion or how many converts you have compared to your number of visitors. This metric is arguably one of the most important because it tells you how well you’re actually selling your products beyond exposure alone. 

A good conversion rate is vital because you need viewers to actually buy your products in order for you to make a profit. Moreover, the benefits of a good conversion rate have plenty of downstream impacts on your business because you are likely to get the following:

  • More exposure
  • More reviews
  • More repeat customers

Note, however, that conversion rate isn’t everything. You could have insanely high conversion rates yet still fail your bottom line because you were not able to manage your expenses versus your sales. 

The key here is balance. 

Make sure you already have a sustainable model first where you can successfully source and sell on a profit. If you keep your expenses too high, then you’d also have to increase your sales to match in order to break even—good conversion rate or otherwise. 

And if your conversion rate is less than desirable, it’s time to assess and ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Are you selling an inferior product?
  2. Are you reaching the wrong target market?
  3. Are the reviews deterring potential customers from making a purchase?
  4. Are you not providing sufficient product information?
  5. Are you often not in stock?

The goal of these questions is to assess where you’re going wrong. Because at the point of viewing, the issue is no longer exposure—the customer is already seeing your product. The problem now becomes solely about how you sell and, potentially, the quality of your work. 

Getting to the root of the issue is essential if you want to grow and progress your business. Without diagnosing the reasons for your low conversion, you’ll be stuck repeating the same patterns over and over, which is the last thing you want as a business. 

Click-Through Rate (CTR)

Your click-through rate is the number of clicks versus the number of impressions. This number indicates how many people actually click on your campaigns—ideally, around 2-3% of impressions. 

This Amazon metric is another vital piece of the puzzle because it allows you to assess the efficacy of your campaigns. You will probably benefit most from this when used alongside A/B testing. For example:

  • Millennials vs. Gen Z as a target market
  • Advertising in California vs. Florida
  • A funny catchphrase vs. a more serious heading
  • A video vs. a GIF

When you compare two differently produced ads to one another, it will be easier to determine which methods will earn you a higher CTR. 

But remember, with A/B testing, you need to be careful not to change, ideally, more than one thing at once. If you release wildly different ads, the sources of the disparity in CTRs may become imperceptible. 

Retention Rate (Repeat Customers)

With Amazon Analytics tools, you will also be able to assess how many of your customers eventually go on to become repeat customers. 

While it might not seem that relevant initially, your retention rate lends helpful information as to what makes your brand stick. It could boil down to any of the following:

  • Good quality
  • Reasonable price
  • Accommodating customer service
  • Excellent product-market fit
  • Brand authenticity

Paying attention to your retention rate is crucial because you’ll easily be able to address any issues that come up when your retention rate drops. Did you recently change suppliers? Have you let customer service slip a little bit? Has your product not been reaching the right market? 

The questions are endless—and the answers are incredibly valuable. 

Nevertheless, there is still no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to your retention rate. And the data might not come as fast as you need to be a dynamic and responsive seller. 

For example, a seller specializing in consumer goods may have a much higher short-term retention rate than sellers who sell gadgets simply because of how different sales typically look in these different segments. If you’re selling cheaper, high-volume items like snacks, you’re more likely to have a higher retention rate. 

Search Query Dashboard

Courtesy of Ecomcrew.com

The search query dashboard is a relatively new Brand Analytics feature that lets you take an in-depth look at your query numbers. 

In this dashboard, you gain access to a lot of valuable data, such as:

  • Search Volume
  • Rank
  • Conversions
  • Clicks
  • Impressions
  • Cart Adds
  • Total Searches

All in the context of search queries. And with this new information, sellers can now see compiled data on paid and organic search data for each search term—allowing for better, more improved marketing strategies. 

This all boils down to where your customers hear about your products—ads or organic traffic. When you can pinpoint where your customers are coming from, then you will be able to tailor your marketing strategies to serve specific areas better. 

For instance, if most of your customers come from ads, it might benefit you more to improve your SEO strategies rather than increase ad spending. 

Information from the dashboard can also help spot trends early and identify sales opportunities within a given time frame. Because the dashboard shows which search queries are ranking, it will be easier to assess the audience’s needs. 

Market Basket Analysis

Courtesy of Analyticsvidhya.com

Your market basket analysis is one of the most exciting things to gain from Amazon product analytics. 

The market basket is the term used to refer to a set or bundle of products that are often bought together at the same time, such as:

  1. Toothbrush and toothpaste
  2. Coffee beans and syrups
  3. Metal straws and insulated cups

And the list goes on. The bundle could even be comprised of products that do not conventionally go together, which is why market basket analysis is so valuable. 

If your customers are purchasing unexpected products together, you never would have been able to predict that—missing out on the potential sales made from selling in bundles. 

In other words, a market basket analysis allows you to understand your customers needs better. Why are they buying this product and that product together? What needs do these products fill?

The answers to those questions may be inferred from the results of your market basket analysis. 

And although at first, it may seem like the benefits stop at creating bundles of products, this simply isn’t the case. As a seller and business owner, you will benefit immensely from understanding your customer, which you can do by analyzing their needs. 

Average Selling Price and Average Order Value

With Amazon Analytics, you can also determine your Average Selling Price (ASP) and Average Order Value (AOV). While different, these two are helpful metrics to boost your bottom line. 

Let’s start with your Average Selling Price. Your ASP is the average amount you make per item that you sell. Keep in mind that average data can be significantly skewed by outliers, so if you have 20 items below $20 but have one thing at $500, know that that will substantially impact your ASP. 

Your ASP is a valuable piece of information because it tells you how many times people need to purchase from your store for you to reach a sales threshold. A higher ASP might benefit your business because then fewer people would have to buy your product for you to turn a profit. 

Nevertheless, a higher ASP may not always be a good thing, especially if you’re dealing in an industry with low-priced goods. 

Similarly, your Average Order Value is the average amount each buyer spends per order. This is a pretty similar metric to ASP, only that you’re using the number of buyers as opposed to products as your baseline. 

Using ASP and AOV, you can better determine how many products you need to sell and how many buyers you need to convert to achieve your goals. These numbers are most useful for financial analysis like:

  • Break-even analysis
  • Gross Profit
  • Gross Margin
  • Target Revenue
  • Budgeting

As an Amazon Seller, it can be easy to get caught up in marketing data, but using information from Analytics to assist your financial process is equally important. With the correct data, you can successfully create projections and support the long-term goals of your business. 

Why Should You Pay Attention To These Metrics?

At the end of the day, not all data points are made equal. Some pieces of information are more valuable than others, especially considering the context of your industry and the types of products you sell. 

For example, retention rate might be more useful in the short-term for a seller of fast-moving goods while less critical (but not entirely irrelevant) for a seller of appliances. 

Regardless, all those metrics mentioned above are vital to the success of your Amazon store because they focus on the most important thing: data. 

If there’s one thing you’re sure about when running a business, it’s that the data will not lie to you. It doesn’t matter how much or how little effort went into a marketing campaign. If the customers don’t like it, the data will show the truth. 

Numbers like your retention rate and CTR are good points of analysis for your business because they allow you to view your brand factually. As an owner, you may experience plenty of bias concerning your products, and data is a fantastic way to bypass this scenario. 

Tips for Analyzing Amazon Analytics

Numbers, even valuable ones, are just a bunch of gibberish if you don’t know what they mean. And the same is true for Amazon product analytics. 

Here, the true value lies in storytelling: how well can you capture the customer’s desires behind just a handful of numbers? How do you know what happened behind the scenes when all you have for proof are these random digits? 

Understandably, knowing the story behind your data is challenging; at the very least—here’s how you can make it easier. 

A/B Testing

We mentioned this in passing earlier, but A/B testing is key if you want to obtain valuable data. If you don’t A/B test where applicable, you’ll be stuck guessing what factors impact your insights. 

A/B testing is a pretty simple concept. You test drive two or more variations of the same campaign in an effort to ascertain which one of them is the best. Reviewing results after testing the variations will allow you to uncover the information you would have otherwise not gotten without testing variations. 

Metrics are Interconnected

Most of the metrics we mentioned above are connected to each other in some way. Analyzing each metric in the context of another metric provides a clearer picture of what’s happening with your Amazon products. 

For instance, let’s say that you, an Amazon seller, are worried about your decreasing average sales price and increasing AOV after a major shop revamp where you added more low-value items. If you are going to look at your ASP alone, alarm bells will probably start ringing in your head. And if you’re looking at AOV alone, you’d probably be relieved. 

But when you look at both of them together and assess the facts of the situation, it’s pretty clear what happened. You added more low-cost items to your portfolio, which decreased your ASP but increased your AOV because customers were more likely to buy low-cost items even though their total would increase. 

Pay Attention to Time

Time is an invaluable factor in the success of your analysis because not all periods are the same. There might be times during the year when your shop naturally has more sales (e.g., holidays), while you may not have as many at other times. 

If you consider time in your assessments, you are more likely to catch variations due to seasonality and the cyclic nature of product interest. 

Plus, you’ll then be able to tell which periods are better to run campaigns in and which months of the year you need the most stock. 

Conclusion: Amazon Analytics

Amazon now provides sellers with so much information through Amazon Analytics, and capitalizing on the most important ones can do plenty of good for your business. 

While maneuvering the many different metrics may be initially challenging, it gets easier with practice and constant technique readjustment. 

For even more Amazon data and seller solutions, Viral Launch is here! The Viral Launch software suite for Amazon sellers offers insights into product ideas, keywords, competitors, and even Amazon PPC automation. Soar past your competition with accurate, real-time and historical data. 

Choosing Between the Amazon Professional Seller vs. Individual Seller Plans

Once you’ve decided to start selling on Amazon, you’ll quickly be met with your second decision: Which Amazon Seller plan should you choose: Professional or Individual?

Amazon’s created these seller plans to target two general types of Amazon sellers, with fees and perks designed to support your business efficiently. Each plan has unique features and costs, and it is essential to consider your current and projected sales volume and budget when deciding.

Below, we’ll compare the two available seller plans to help you examine the Amazon Professional seller vs Individual seller plans to determine which makes the most sense for you and your Amazon business.

Individual Seller

The Individual seller plan requires a $0.99 fee every time you sell an item. In contrast to the Professional plan, the Individual seller plan can be considered an option for casual or low-volume sellers.

This plan makes more sense for sellers still deciding on a product or selling less than 40 units per month. Because of the per-item fees, the Individual plan presents a more cost-efficient option for low-volume sellers. The Individual seller plan also makes more sense for anyone testing the waters on Amazon with just a few products. If you’re still searching for a product or not ready to open up for business, choosing this option can help reduce costs as you build your business.

This plan does not provide access to inventory tools, so anyone with a more extensive product catalog or volume of products would be better served on the Professional plan. It’s also worth mentioning that Individual sellers can upgrade to Professional at any time, making it an excellent placeholder account until you’re ready to level up to Professional.

Professional Seller

The Professional seller plan requires a flat $39.99 monthly payment, no matter how many items you sell within the month. In addition to the $39.99 monthly payment, Amazon collects a seller fee (a percentage of the total transaction that varies by product category) on each of your sales.

Additionally, sellers on the Professional plan gain access to Amazon benefits such as Brand Registry, which protects your business from fraud and abuse while allowing additional perks on your listing.

In short, the Professional plan makes more sense for sellers looking to create a brand on Amazon. On top of capping your monthly payment, the Professional program offers access to the Amazon Advertising platform, qualification for top placement on product detail pages, promotions including free shipping, and much more.

If you have a business type or goal in mind, you probably know which plan is best suited for your business after checking the above breakdown. Still, there are a few more specific questions you’ll want to answer for your business before signing up.

How many items do you plan on selling right away?

If you plan on selling 40 or more items a month, the answer is simple: get the Professional plan.

It doesn’t take a math wizard to know the $39.99 plan is more cost-effective than the $0.99/item plan. If you’re hoping to sell 40 or more items monthly, save yourself some money and earn access to additional perks with the Professional plan.

Selling FBA? Get a feel for expected sales volume by examining the competition with Market Intelligence.

Do you need access to restricted categories?

Amazon sellers are free to sell in most product categories, but a select few require a Professional plan to unlock access. Any sellers on the Individual plan will not have access to the following categories:

  • Automotive Parts & Accessories
  • Business to Business (B2B) products
  • Collectibles Coins
  • Fashion Jewelry
  • Fine Jewelry
  • Fine Art
  • Grocery, Food & Gourmet
  • Industrial & Scientific
  • Professional Services
  • Sports Collectibles
  • Video, DVD, & Blu-ray
  • Watches

While Amazon undoubtedly takes product authenticity seriously, these categories require an extra level of authentication and performance checks that only exist within the Professional plan to be sold on the marketplace.

Do you need the Buy Box to meet your sales goals?

Anyone selling on Amazon needs the Professional plan to qualify for the Buy Box.

What’s the Buy Box? The Buy Box is the CTA (Call to Action) that leads Amazon shoppers to purchase the product on the product listing. It’s found on a product page and contains the price, shipping information, seller, and an “add to cart” button, like below.

The Buy Box “owner” earns a sale through the Add to Cart click through on a product.

If you don’t own the Buy Box, customers must find your specific product offering in the “Other Sellers on Amazon” option below the standard Add to Cart button.

Not owning the Buy Box puts you at a disadvantage with lower visibility and increased competition.

Reports suggest over 80% of Amazon purchases are made through the Buy Box, so it’s a non-negotiable, must-have perk for anyone hoping to scale a business on Amazon.

Most Amazon sellers looking to create a sizable income through Amazon will need to own the Buy Box to achieve their goals, so the Professional seller plan would be the easy choice.

Are you going to channel your inner marketing wiz and advertise on Amazon?

Once an elective skill for Amazon sellers, Amazon Advertising has become a significant part of selling on the platform in recent years. Advertising should be on the radar of anyone looking to stake their claim on Amazon.

Currently, the Amazon Advertising console is only available for sellers on the Professional plan.

In the competition for visibility, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising can be a boon for your business with short and long-term benefits. If advertising on Amazon sounds like a tool that could improve the health of your Amazon business, the Professional plan is likely for you.

Do these additional features add value for you?

While the benefits listed above may provide a clear answer for which plan makes the most sense for you, they’re just a few of the perks of the more advanced plan.

In addition to a set pricing plan, access to advertising and the Buy Box, and an expanded range of categories for your business, Professional sellers gain access to an abundance of tools that can play a role in your business’s success.

A comprehensive side-by-side comparison of the Amazon Professional seller vs Individual seller plan.

Inventory management tools, additional shipping options, access to sales promotions and opportunities for enhanced visibility add even more value to the Professional plan.

Conclusion: Amazon Professional Seller vs Individual

The choice of which selling plan to choose hinges on you envision your Amazon experience.

If you’re trying to unload a few items and make some money, the Individual plan perfectly fits those needs. With more than 150 million Prime members shopping on Amazon, there’s nowhere to find a greater audience to sell these items.

However, if you intend to create a significant income and build a business, the Professional plan is a no-brainer. For any high-volume business, the flat monthly fee will pay for itself. Factor in the extensive benefits and tools at your disposal with the Professional plan, and the choice becomes evident for any business owner.

Have you decided on your plan, and are you ready to take the next step with your online business?

Find the product to anchor your Amazon business with Viral Launch’s Product Research tools. With advanced software to uncover winning product ideas and untapped markets, it’s never been easier to find the right product to launch your online business.

Amazon Sellers – How to Protect Against Cyber Attacks

As the digital landscape continues to offer exciting and enriching opportunities for entrepreneurs, the risks involved grow as well. This begs the question: How to Protect Against Cyber Attacks? Choosing to expand your eCommerce business through Amazon empowers you to engage more meaningfully with a global marketplace. Not to mention that in a tough economic climate for small businesses, capturing a wider range of consumers can help to push your company toward success.

Nevertheless, this isn’t to say expanding with Amazon eCommerce is always smooth sailing. One of the most common hurdles you’ll find is the prevalence of cybercrime. Even a single serious breach of security could cause devastating financial and reputational damage to your business. Not only could this disrupt your expansion, but it can leave your company unable to recover entirely.

While you can’t eliminate risk entirely, you can put your company in a better position to minimize your exposure. So, let’s look at how to protect against cyber attacks while still expanding your Amazon eCommerce business.

How to Protect Against Cyber Attacks

Recognize the Risks

One of the most important steps in protecting against cyber attacks occurs before you implement your expansion protocols. Your company can’t just set a blanket set of basic cybersecurity tools in place. Each business has its unique set of risks. It’s important for you to perform thorough risk assessments at the beginning of and throughout your growth to identify and prepare for them.

The risks to information technology (IT) security for small businesses are varied and growing. Some of the most prevalent cybercrime methods include the use of malware, phishing, account takeovers, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Gaining an understanding of how these attacks are performed can empower you to better identify which are likely to be problematic for your eCommerce business moving forward.

You should then take both a short- and long-term approach to your risk assessments. Consider what cybercrime you’re vulnerable to both now and as you start to bring on new tools, staff, and processes in the future. It can be wise to gain insights from cybersecurity professionals with a background in eCommerce here. They should also know the ins and outs of Amazon’s platform. They’ll be able to implement effective ongoing assessment methods specifically matched to your business model. Indeed, it’s worth considering either a full-time expert or an occasional consultant to be among your first resource investments.

Adopt Targeted Tools

When you first start a small eCommerce business selling on Amazon, you may find that generalized security tools are sufficient. However, as you start to develop further, these tend to be less suitable. The bigger you get, the more sensitive and valuable data you’ll handle. You’re also likely to become a more attractive focus for a range of cyber criminals. As such, it’s important to adopt specialist protective tools that target particular issues.

This may include artificial intelligence (AI) driven threat management software. This automatically scans your business’ systems for signs of any suspicious behavior or potential breaches. It could involve adopting virtual private networks (VPNs) for staff to maintain security when operating in public places. As your staff numbers grow — particularly if you’re using remote operations — identity management software can be appropriate for keeping multiple accounts secure and visible.

Nevertheless, it’s also worth considering that not all targeted tools are pieces of software or hardware. In some cases, having access to knowledge is a powerful resource. As your small business grows, it can be vital to identify threat intelligence tools that can keep you up-to-date on security issues your company needs to look out for. This is vital given that many businesses are unable to withstand even a single attack. Open-source intelligence-sharing platforms tend to be free to utilize and are regularly updated by both security experts and other businesses.

Market Mindfully

Any successful eCommerce growth is dependent on effective digital marketing techniques. Your business faces a significant amount of competition in a truly global commercial space. This means that you have to understand how to use digital marketing tools like Google Analytics and responsive HTML emails to capture your demographic’s attention. Not to mention that gaining skills in web design and graphic design can give you better control over asserting your brand voice in the market.

In many ways, this represents a key benefit to moving to and growing your business on Amazon. You have opportunities to take advantage of some of the most accessible and impactful marketing tools around. With some knowledge and consistent effort, you can develop successful campaigns.

However, despite the prospect of enhanced engagement, it’s vital to understand how digital marketing can represent a cybersecurity risk. Some of your online materials — particularly websites and applications — may offer gateways to your networks when insufficiently secured. Indeed, popular online content you make may become a target for DDoS attacks or hackers seeking to piggyback on your web pages to infect consumers with malware.

It is, therefore, vital that you approach your digital marketing strategies mindfully. Consider the potential cybersecurity risks during the planning of every campaign. Build protective measures into the design of your materials, such as posting content only on Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) pages. This both helps to keep your company secure and boosts confidence among consumers.

Strengthen Your Workforce

When you’re expanding your Amazon eCommerce business, this usually means you’ll need to invest in more staff. This is a valuable opportunity not just to gain the technical skills of professionals but to work with diverse contributors to your success. The choices you make here can lead to a range of unique perspectives and talents that may result in innovation.

That said, adding staff can also widen the scope of cybersecurity risks. One recent study found that 88% of data breaches are caused by human error. As such, the behavior and security knowledge of your growing workforce has an impact on your company’s vulnerability. It’s vital to make certain that your staff has the skills to prevent potential breaches.

At the most basic level, this means you need to provide solid security training to all staff members. This should include helping them understand different types of cyber attacks and how to recognize them. Some of the focus should also be on communicating how their behavior is a key influencer of risks. Pass on cybersecurity best practices and provide clear protocols for data handling. Training should be reiterated and updated at least annually.

Maintain Encryption Protocols

A key part of growth as an Amazon seller tends to include investing in new equipment and software. Usually, this is geared toward making certain you can maintain efficient operations as your prospects expand. You might implement project management software to ensure effective collaborations between remote staff. Increasingly, eCommerce businesses that choose Amazon merchant-fulfillment are also investing in devices in the internet of things (IoT) to streamline warehousing processes.

That said, introducing this new equipment can also provide additional gateways to those who seek to breach your business. A key part of the solution here is to make certain you maintain stringent encryption protocols on new and existing tools. This is not necessarily difficult to do. Many devices come with built-in encryption tools, but these need to be manually activated. A mistake too many companies make — particularly with items in the IoT — is as simple as neglecting to switch these on.

On devices that don’t have built-in encryption capability, it’s worth investing in reliable encryption software. Nevertheless, it’s important to remember that encryption tools are often only as strong as the passwords you utilize with them. It may seem basic, but be sure to change from the default passwords your device is loaded with. Utilize a complex password that you’re not utilizing on any other accounts. Change this regularly, too. Wherever possible, utilize multi-factor authentication on these devices and indeed any other password processes you use.

Conclusion

How to protect against cyber attacks?

Implementing cybersecurity protections can help to ensure your Amazon eCommerce expansion continues on solid footing. Commit to regularly assessing specific risks to your operations and utilizing tools most suited to your needs. Build security protocols into your marketing materials and ensure your growing workforce is well-educated on best practices. Alongside strong encryption methods, these steps can help reduce vulnerabilities and influence your trajectory toward success.

How To Create An Amazon Seller Account: Step-by-Step Guide

Join the thousands of online entrepreneurs and learn how to create an Amazon Seller Account in a few quick and easy steps!

Are you looking to take the next step toward realizing your entrepreneurial dreams by starting an Amazon business? Don’t know where to start? (Here’s a hint: the Amazon Seller Central login page!) Before you start your Amazon empire, you’ll need to create your Amazon Seller Central account.

With e-commerce thriving, Amazon’s status as the dominant e-commerce platform, and their seller-friendly logistics offering, Amazon is prime (no pun intended) online real estate for entrepreneurially-minded individuals like yourself. On Amazon, the sky is the limit for starting a booming online business, and a great place to begin or expand your business.

To get started, visit the Seller Central Amazon login and sign-up page. Then, select the Learn More option near the top-right of the page to create your Amazon Seller Central account. You can either sign in using your Amazon customer login, or create a new login entirely.

Choose your selling plan

Before providing any of your information, you’ll want to do a little homework and decide which of Amazon’s selling plans makes the most sense. For the most part, the Professional plan fits the need of serious Amazon sellers, but it all depends on your goals, resources, and where you are in your selling journey.

Individual

The Individual seller plan requires a $0.99 fee every time you sell an item.

This plan makes more sense for sellers still deciding on a product or totaling less than 40 units per month. Because of the per-item fees, the Individual plan presents a more cost-efficient option for anyone selling 40 or more items monthly. If you’re still searching for a product or not ready to open up for business, this plan saves you a few bucks while ramping up your store.

The Individual seller plan also makes more sense for anyone testing the waters on Amazon with just a few products. This plan does not provide access to inventory tools, so anyone with a more extensive product catalog or volume of products would be better served on the Professional plan.

You can upgrade to a Professional account at any time once you’ve decided on a product or plan on increasing your sales.

Professional

The Professional seller plan requires a flat $39.99 monthly payment, no matter how many items you sell within the month. In addition to the $39.99 monthly payment, Amazon collects a seller fee (a percentage of the total transaction that varies by product category) on each of your sales.

Additionally, sellers on the Professional plan gain access to Amazon benefits such as Brand Registry, which protects your business from fraud and abuse while allowing additional perks on your listing.

In short, the Professional plan makes more sense for sellers looking to create a brand on Amazon. On top of capping your monthly payment, the Professional plan offers access to the Amazon Advertising platform, qualification for top placement on product detail pages, promotions including free shipping and much, much more.

Both the Professional and Individual seller plans provide an opportunity to add new products to the Amazon catalog and to grow your business with the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service.

What You Need

The signup process is quick and easy, but you’ll need a few items to be approved when signing up. First, create your Seller Central Amazon login and begin the signup process.

In addition to the list of items required to provide below, you’ll need to be a resident of these approved countries to be eligible for seller registration without further information.

  • Business email address or an existing Amazon customer account
  • Internationally chargeable credit card
  • Government ID (for verification purposes to protect sellers and customers)
  • Tax information
  • A cell phone and phone number
  • Bank account information for where Amazon can send your proceeds from sales

This information is requested in a five-part signup process in which Amazon takes Business Information, Seller Information, Billing Information, Store Information, and Verification.

While providing personal information online can be nerve-wracking, it’s vital that Amazon be able to authenticate your existence and business for safe and smooth transactions between buyers and sellers.

Business Information

First, you’ll need to provide basic information about your business.

If you haven’t registered your business with your state or federal government, you’ll need to before completing this step. You can register your business and receive a company registration number, or Employer Identification Number within 24 business hours if you’re a United States seller registering with the IRS.

Amazon will send a one-time PIN to a personal phone number for verification before moving on to providing your seller information.

Seller Information

Next, you’ll be asked to provide information regarding a point of contact for your business. In addition to the basics of name, location and verification, the form will ask to confirm if the contact is a beneficial owner or legal representative of the business.

Unsure about these legal terms? No worries. Amazon provides FAQs about the process on each page to guide you through common roadblocks.

Amazon’s on-page FAQs help make these somewhat complicated terms easy to understand.

Billing Information

While making money is on the horizon, you must invest in your selected seller plan first! As with any online purchase, Amazon will need your card number, card expiration date, cardholder name, and billing address before finalizing the purchase. Your information may already be on file if you used the same Seller Central Amazon login as your Amazon customer account.

Store

You’re this close to wrapping up seller registration! Before the final verification, Amazon asks you to include your store name and answer a couple quick questions.

The store name doesn’t have to be your actual store name and can be a placeholder if you’re undecided on a store name. You can update this field later, but if you have your store name ready, you might as well make it official.

Lastly, Amazon will ask if you have Universal Product Codes (UPCs) for all your products and if you’re the manufacturer, brand owner, agent, or representative for any of the products you will make available on the platform.

The Final Verification

You’re just a few clicks away. All that’s left is to verify that you’re a human to Amazon’s standards. You’ll need to upload a document with your name, date of birth, country of birth, and citizenship. At least two sources of verification, such as a driver’s license, passport, or a recent bank account statement are needed to submit your seller registration.

Upload clear, high-quality images of your documents, and be sure your typed information matches to avoid roadblocks that can pop up during the online verification process. If you upload a recent bank account statement, remember Amazon is a global business and larger, more recognized bank accounts are likely to pass verification without issue than smaller local banks.

Conclusion

Once all this information has been submitted in the signup process, you should hear back soon once they’ve verified the information provided. You may be asked to meet with an Amazon Associate to verify your submission if additional verification is necessary.

After all this, you should be set up with your Amazon Seller Central account. Congratulations! You’re ready to move on to the next stage of creating your online business.

If, for any reason, you encounter any errors or issues during your account setup, reach out to Amazon Seller Central support to check the status of any issues standing in the way of taking the next steps in starting your Amazon business. Feel free to sign in using the Seller Central Amazon login and explore all you can do in Seller Central.

What’s next? Check out how How To Start Selling on Amazon: A Step-by-Step Guide below to move on to the next juncture of launching your online business.

How to Sell Amazon Wholesale in 2023

There are plenty of ways to make money on Amazon, with opportunities for nearly every budget, time commitment, and expertise level. One of the most popular ways of making money on Amazon’s platform is selling wholesale.

According to a recent report, more than a quarter of current Amazon merchants are wholesalers, making it the second-most popular selling model behind only private label selling.

Why do so many choose wholesale as their choice? And how can you get started with your own wholesale Amazon business? Let’s dig in!

What exactly is Amazon Wholesale?

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Oberlo defines wholesaling as when a business may buy goods in large quantities directly from manufacturers, warehouse them, and resell them.

Wholesalers act as a middleman between manufacturers and sellers, with a prime opportunity to profit by buying in bulk at a discounted price and selling at a higher price individually.

Also known as reselling, wholesaling is a tried-and-true business model utilized by some of the largest companies in the world. Walmart, Target, and many more buy products from manufacturers in bulk at a discounted price to sell at an elevated price to the end consumer.

Amazon Wholesale vs. Private Label Selling

Private label selling, the most popular Amazon-selling method, involves working with a manufacturer to produce items and add your brand name and logo to the products. Many private label sellers use Alibaba.com to connect with manufacturers, get samples, purchase inventory, and more. An example of a private label business would be creating a company logo and having the manufacturer add the logo to an existing product to sell to customers under the company name.

Brand Creation

One of the main challenges for new Amazon brands is sticking out from the crowd. In a crowded Amazon market, owning a brand that customers recognize and trust can be a powerful selling proposition. Brand creation on Amazon can be a time-consuming and costly endeavor, and even doing so doesn’t guarantee success.

For newer brands, the unfamiliarity with a brand and lack of trust may be a reason for customers to choose another name that rings familiar to them, even if you’re offering a more attractive price or product.

Wholesaling circumvents this step, as they sell an already established brand name. Once your shop has been created with an appealing brand offering, you’ve essentially checked off the brand creation step and avoided the costs and risks of creating your own brand.

Additionally, wholesalers do not need to concern themselves with design or many of the start-up marketing costs that private sellers must make a priority. Depending on the strength of the brand and product, long-term marketing costs may be reduced for wholesalers as customers search for a specific item from a particular brand.

Consider the power of a customer shopping for Apple Airpods vs. Bluetooth wireless earbuds. Even if a generic private label seller goes all-out on PPC spending and marketing materials, a customer searching specifically for the brand name likely has more power without spending a dime on PPC.

Independence

While wholesaling skips the brand creation step, there’s a give-and-take. By nature, wholesaling requires a high dependence on the brand owners. If a partnership with a brand you do business with deteriorates or if they change their strategy, you can encounter significant issues.

As mentioned earlier, there’s also an expectation that you positively present their brand. While wholesalers are in charge of creating copy, product photography, and inventory management, there’s more supervision with an offering for wholesalers.

Conversely, private-label sellers are afforded more freedom with their offerings and presentation without anyone looking over their shoulders.

Scalability

Regarding opportunities to scale, private-label sellers can utilize their independence by offering cross-channel offerings, product extensions, and complete creative control over new product offerings.

For wholesalers, the opportunity to scale still exists, but again is limited to what already-established brands are making. The way to scale while wholesaling is simple — find more wholesale suppliers. This isn’t too difficult with the number of wholesale suppliers, but you’re a bit more limited than a private-label seller.

Start-up costs

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Generally speaking, it takes more capital at the beginning to become an Amazon wholesaler. Since you’re buying a name-brand product and a bulk quantity, your first order as a wholesaler is likely to be much more pricey than that of a private-label seller.

However, private-label sellers often have to pay more down the road with increased marketing costs for visibility, such as PPC. Keep this in mind when calculating your potential costs, and carefully consider this when deciding which selling method to pursue.

How can you find a product to sell through Amazon wholesale?

Start your product research with a tool like Viral Launch’s Product Discovery or Market Intelligence. If you choose Viral Launch’s comprehensive software, be sure to download the Market Intelligence Chrome extension, available at no additional cost. The Chrome extension helps you peruse Amazon search results pages to find data about the products displayed.

Product Discovery and Market Intelligence help you find and validate wholesale items to sell. When searching for Amazon wholesale products, these tools can streamline your experience by providing crucial data points to help you decide whether they’re a winner.

Ideally, you’ll want to find a product with customer demand but with as little competition as possible. You can infer demand by looking at the search volume data showcased within Product Discovery and Market Intelligence or Keyword Research. Since customers on Amazon search with the intent to buy, we can use this search data as a critical indicator for the number of customers looking to purchase a product.

Of course, you’ll need to crunch the numbers on what it would take to see a return on your investment. While every situation differs, price, monthly sales, and unit margin are metrics every seller should keep an eye on while searching for a product. Also, product seasonality and competition in the market are crucial and require additional research that can be done within Market Intelligence.

You decided on your product! Now what?

After you’ve found your product, you’ll need to find a quality supplier. Fortunately, several resources are available to help wholesalers find products that will elevate their entrepreneurial careers!

SaleHoo, Worldwide Brands, and Wholesale Central represent just a few platforms created to connect those buying wholesale with suppliers globally, with thousands of products across each brand.

Remember that more prominent brands will want their products displayed professionally and effectively. While these brands are happy to work with those who will move the brand forward, protecting that brand comes first. Because of this, please remember to keep it professional when discussing possible opportunities and consider what you can do for the brand, not just what they can do for you. While it’s easy to think selfishly, long-lasting wholesale relationships are symbiotic in nature, and taking the extra step to make sure both sides are happy can make a tremendous difference in the long run.

What else do I need to know once I get started?

Before your first order, you’ll need to apply for a wholesale license, also known as a business license. While not mandatory across the board, many brands will require a business license for wholesaling opportunities, making setting up your shop on Amazon a much smoother process. To be sure, check the wholesale license requirements in your country or state.

You’ll also need to create a business account to begin selling on Amazon. This step only takes a few minutes once you know your plan.

Most Amazon sellers use Amazon’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service. This service allows businesses to outsource order fulfillment to Amazon and take many time-consuming elements of owning a business off of a seller’s plate. With this option, Amazon stores, picks, packs, ships and delivers the products to customers while also taking care of customer service and returns.

A key way to maximize your sales would be to optimize your product detail page. You can do this by optimizing your copy for search and having compelling product photography shot by a professional.

Get started with Amazon Wholesale today!

Unsure of where to start? You’re not alone! Whether you choose private label selling, Amazon FBA wholesale, or one of the many other ways to make money on Amazon, starting something new with massive potential can be daunting.

That’s why we’ve created our free How To Sell on Amazon course today to have a step-by-step guide to learning the basics of Amazon from sellers who made the leap from employee to entrepreneur.

With experienced Amazon experts helping you every step of the way, our course curriculum takes you through each step of starting an Amazon business with tips and pointers so you can avoid common roadblocks on the way to successfully launching your Amazon wholesale or private label business.

Self-Employed Jobs: How to Be Your Own Boss in 2023

New year, new you? If you’re pursuing this ideal in terms of you’re career, take a look at these self-employed jobs.

While the saying’s become a meme, the arrival of a new year marks an excellent opportunity to take action on ways to improve yourself and achieve goals.

Since New Year’s resolutions are often made to solve problems, it would be no surprise if many make their resolution related to business. Over the past few years, volatility across a myriad of financial markets has created a chaotic situation where timing, vulnerability, and pure luck have significantly impacted the current and future outlook for millions around the globe.

The continual blows to global markets – the impact of COVID-19, inflation and rising interest rates, and energy vulnerability – have shifted the way we think about our decisions, especially regarding finances.

For this reason, many seek financial independence to end the stress and anxiety of economic vulnerability and start paving a greater path for themselves. Although everyone has individualized goals and purpose, the allure of being your own boss in 2023 is crystal clear for everyone.

No matter your motivation, there are plenty of ways to take control of your professional and economic situation. Below, we’ve highlighted a few popular self-employed jobs that allow you the opportunity to be your own boss in 2023.

Create an Amazon business

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Chances are you’ve bought an item off Amazon before, but did you ever think about how it got on Amazon in the first place? Whether a name-brand item like an Apple Watch or Nintendo Switch or a generic product such as a phone charger or heated blanket, it’s on Amazon because someone took a business to Amazon or started their own online business.

And many don’t know just how easy starting your own Amazon business can be with the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. Amazon uses its world-class logistics platform for FBA, making it as easy as ever to create and manage your online business. In this program, Amazon handles the logistics of your online business (storage, picking, shipping, delivery, etc.) in exchange for a fee, much of which is reliant on the success of your business.

To learn more about how to sell on Amazon, check out our step-by-step guide about how to sell on Amazon.

Find a product to sell, a supplier to make and ship it, and optimize your listing, advertising and overall offering to the best of your abilities to become one of the many who have made their entrepreneurial dreams come true thanks to Amazon and hard work.

Sign up today for our FREE How To Sell On Amazon course for beginners to start your new career on the right foot.

There are quite a few ways to make money on Amazon, so you can go all-in on Amazon or find your own Amazon FBA side hustle.

Freelance writing and editing

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Do you have a way with words and find writing a strength? Turn your skills or passion for writing into a business with one of the most popular self-employed jobs from home (or the coffee shop), freelance writing and editing.

You can find hundreds of potential opportunities to bring home the dough by creating a profile on freelancing networks such as Fiverr and Upwork, which connects freelancers to businesses or people with projects.

With opportunities ranging from translations, articles and blog posts to proofreading and editing, it’s never been easier to flex your writing skills and expand your portfolio while bringing home some extra cash. Whether you aim to be a jack-of-all-trades or master a niche, there are plenty of self-employed jobs in the writing and editing world.

In addition to creating compelling written content, you’ll want to make sure your professionalism, communication, and ability to nail your deadlines are on-point to ensure happy customers so you can garner positive reviews to keep the projects coming.

Drive for a ride-sharing company

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While it may blur the line of what constitutes being your own boss, driving for a ride-sharing app like Uber or Lyft is technically and legally considered self-employment. After all, these drivers are listed as independent contractors who get to set their own hours, create their work environment (within their vehicle, of course), and provide a direct service for a large market.

Similar to how Fiverr or Upwork connect clients with potential servicers, driving with Uber or Lyft connects drivers with passengers. This option can significantly appeal to those looking to make quick money without the dedication of long, set hours. While it lacks the more typical “sky is the limit” reward of entrepreneurship, this method certainly does have its perks.

At its core, anyone with a car that meets the minimum age requirement with at least one year of driving experience who can clear a background check can get started. At the very least, this self-employed job’s a great way to make a quick buck without a significant time commitment.

If this doesn’t scratch your entrepreneurial itch, it may be an effective method to bankroll your next money-making opportunity!

Create your own clothing shop

Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

Whether you have the fashion design skills to make your own gear or an uncanny understanding of the trends, creating a clothing shop could be your calling.

For those with design skills, an abundance of online marketplaces exist to turn your ideas into a profitable business. From cutting-edge fashion designs to mastering a skill in clothing, such as tie-dying or bleaching, to creating graphics for a niche market, making your own clothing business can be quite profitable.

In addition to the money, creating something tangible and potentially seeing it out in the world can be an extremely rewarding feeling.

If you have more of a passion for fashion and are savvy about the markets, but perhaps lack the design skills, thrifting and reselling could be a hit for you. Setting up a resale shop on websites like Etsy and Shopify, or local marketplaces such as the Facebook Marketplace makes it convenient-as-can-be to make the most of your thrifting skills.

In the thrifting world, one man’s trash can truly be one man’s treasure.

If you’re a sneakerhead with an eye for which kicks go for the most, you can spot market inefficiencies by being a regular at thrift spots such as Goodwill and Plato’s Closet. Follow the trends and tastemakers to stay up-to-date on what’s hot and not and scout out your local and online stores for used gear, and you might be surprised at how well it can pay.

Either way, running your own clothing shop provides an excellent opportunity. It ranks as one of the most coveted self-employed jobs from home, especially as more online marketplaces continue to increase accessibility.

Selling Handmade Items

Yet another way you can craft an opportunity to be your own boss is by creating and selling handmade items. From carving wood to sculpting to knitting to creating unique pieces of art, this self-employed job lets you turn a hobby into cold hard cash.

Photo by Natallia Rak on Pexels.com

On top of being an incredibly cool and useful skill, the intrinsic reward of visualizing and creating a good that people want never gets old. If you possess the materials needed for your items, selling made-by-hand goods can be one of many self-employed jobs from home that allow you to add to your bank account without leaving the house.

Amazon Handmade and Etsy shops have become increasingly popular in recent years, as people search for decorative art and handcrafted items in place of mass-produced goods from Walmart, Target, and other popular retailers. Whether your artisan skills are already top-notch or you are considering a new skill, being a quality craftsperson comes in handy for anyone who wants to be their own boss.

Conclusion: Self-Employed Jobs

Of course, the options above are just a few ideas for how to work for yourself. If you possess a very particular set of skills that can create value, there’s a way to capitalize on it. At the end of the day, it’s all about finding the method of money-making right for you.

When weighing out the optimal self-employed job for you, be sure to consider the time and money you’re willing to put into your operation. Also, think about your personal risk tolerance to ensure you can move forward in confidence with your chosen direction.

Like many New Year’s resolutions, the challenge isn’t starting, but sticking with it. Once you weigh the best self-employed job for you and your available resources, it’s easy to stick with it and create something long-lasting for yourself.

Congratulations on making it to the new year and we wish you the best of luck as you sift through self-employed jobs on your pursuit of financial freedom!

Accessibility in Digital Marketing: Amazon Advertising

Accessibility is an integral part of a fair and just society; this does not exclude the online experience. Accessibility in digital marketing is frequently overlooked.

Without accessible goods and services, millions of people will be cut off from the products they need. In the US alone, 61 million Americans live with a disability that impacts their shopping and buying experience. 

You can incorporate accessibility in digital marketing by accounting for the diverse needs of all users and consumers. This will improve your reach, strengthen your brand image, and ensure that all users can buy from your eCommerce site.

Common Mistakes

Offering accessibility in digital marketing isn’t just the right thing to do — it can save you from expensive litigation fees, too. Even major brands like Netflix and Nike have been sued for failing to provide an accessible web presence. As a growing brand, the last thing you need is legal battles and fines. 

When developing your Amazon advertising, try to avoid common accessibility mistakes like: 

  • Missing alt-text on images;
  • Using non-descriptive text for links;
  • Embedding non-accessible documents;
  • Using a low color contrast.

Avoiding these mistakes will ensure that most users can use your web content. However, you may still need to complete an accessibility audit with a licensed web developer to ensure that your content meets today’s standards. 

Accessible Listing

As an Amazon seller, the listing is the most important piece of the marketing puzzle. Your Amazon listing has to double as a point of sale and a marketing opportunity. As such, you must ensure that your listing is fully accessible to all users. 

Fortunately, Amazon itself is an accessible website. This means that you don’t have to worry about the code behind your listing or headline advertisement and can focus on the visual and written elements of your Amazon listing. 

Ensure that you provide multiple images of your product so that visually impaired users have the best chance of seeing your offering. Fill out the keywords field, as this will be used as your alt-text for your product. While alt-text doesn’t need to be grammatically correct, it should make sense for users who are using screen readers. 

Use a color-blind simulator to ensure that color-blind users can see your products. Keep your descriptions short and ensure that any anchor text you use is descriptive of the link’s destination. 

You should also account for neurodiverse users who will come across your Amazon listing. Neurodiversity is an umbrella term that “covers multiple diagnoses” like autism spectrum disorder, dyslexia, and ADD/ADHD. You can help neurodiverse users interact with your Amazon listing by avoiding unnecessarily explosive language and metaphors and using better organization. 

If you’re looking to increase traffic and convert more visitors into customers, we can help. Our listing optimization software tools will compile a comprehensive list of keywords for your product and title, helping you to reach new audiences and drive more traffic to your product listings. Assuring you’re able to produce high-quality, vivid product descriptions that highlight specific product information not located elsewhere on the listing – helping potential customers find and buy your products faster.

Social Media

Social media is an invaluable tool for Amazon eCommerce sites. A successful social media strategy can improve your reach and drive traffic toward your Amazon listing. However, you need to ensure that your social media posts are fully accessible before you begin your next campaign. 

Start by choosing the right social channel for your business. Choosing the right platform will simplify your approach and make it easier to craft effective, accessible marketing. If you’re new to social media, consider creating a business page on Facebook and working with an influencer on Instagram or TikTok. These platforms will help build your brand awareness and gather vital customer reviews. 

Make your Facebook page accessible by following social media accessibility guidelines. Caption all of your video content before you post it, and give context for animated GIFS. This will ensure that visually impaired users can understand and interact with your content. If you use emojis on Facebook, be aware of how screen readers will present the emoji to users. 

Work with your chosen influencer to create accessible branded posts on Instagram or TikTok. Encourage them to capitalize each new word in their hashtags, as this will improve the screen reader’s effectiveness. A short description of the content can also help users understand the context of the post. 

Websites and WCAG

If you host a website in addition to your Amazon listing, you need to meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards. WCAG 2.0 is designed to help all users navigate web-based content with ease and independence. WCAG has four major indicators for accessibility: 

  • Perceivable: can users tell that your content exists? Is your content perceivable to folks who are color blind, deaf, visually impaired, etc? 
  • Operable: can users navigate your content? Is your website keyboard accessible? Do users have enough time to navigate the site before they are timed out? 
  • Understandable: do you use unusual words or explosive language? Will all users be able to understand the abbreviations you use? 
  • Robust: will your content be accessible in five years? Is it compatible with new models of screen readers? 

Meeting these WCAG 2.0 standards ensures that your website is authentically accessible. This will drive more traffic toward your Amazon listing and will improve your digital brand presence. 

Conclusion

Accessibility in digital marketing, specifically in Amazon ads, is an important part of your Amazon advertising strategy. Start by reviewing WCAG 2.0 guidelines and work with influencers who already understand how to create branded, accessible content on social media. You can also rewrite your alt-text and double-check your anchor text to ensure that your marketing is understandable and operable for all users. 

If you’re still having trouble boosting traffic to your Amazon listings, you can also compare it to your competitors with the Viral Launch Google Chrome extension. You can also analyze which keywords you’re striving to rank for, and other Google trends.

Conquer Keywords on Amazon: Viral Launch’s Keyword Manager

Optimizing your product listing for keywords on Amazon can quickly skyrocket sales and unlock your product’s full potential.

There are plenty of ways to make money on Amazon, but for those who choose the FBA route, optimizing your listing for keywords on Amazon is a must regarding maximizing your opportunities for sales success.

Whether through organic search or the advertising route, understanding your product’s popular (and less popular) keywords is essential to reach customers searching for your product.

That’s why we created Keyword Manager, our comprehensive keyword tool that helps you stay on top of your keywords in every single way.

Quite simply, Keyword Manager is your go-to tool for all things keyword related. With stakes higher now than ever, it’s crucial to ensure your keywords are on-point during the hectic holiday season.

All you need to do to get started is sign up for a plan that includes Keyword Manager and grant MWS and Seller Central authorization, and let Keyword Manager go to work with creating your personalized, all-in-one keyword dashboard.

What exactly does Keyword Manager do?

Keyword Manager includes nearly all the keyword data you could ask for, personalized for you.

Keyword Manager delivers an encyclopedic list of keywords for your product, along with various metrics to help you understand, track and strategize your keywords like never before, all in one easy-to-view spot.

Consider it a digital checklist for all your keyword needs no matter where you’re at in your Amazon selling journey.

Making sure your listing’s copy includes all of your product’s essential keywords, checking for indexation, finding organic and sponsored rank positioning, displaying badges such as Amazon’s Choice and presenting the search volume for these keywords are just a few of the handy things Keyword Manager does automatically for each and every one of your products listed on Amazon.

How does Keyword Manager identify your most valuable keywords on Amazon?

That would be our revolutionary ARCS™ algorithm!

ARCS™ (ASIN Relevance and Conformity Semantics) programmatically determines the most relevant and important keywords for products on Amazon. Think of it like a reverse ASIN search on steroids.

The data science team at Viral Launch cooked up ARCS™ to evaluate up to 10,000 keywords and 500,000 products to determine the critical keywords for a given product.

This process plays an instrumental role in finding and sorting the keywords you should be most interested in regarding your product’s performance. Of course, you can also manually add any keywords in Keyword Manager to ensure every last one of the keywords you care about is displayed.

What are the Keyword Manager Dashboard Metrics?

Priority Score

Priority Score is a rating from 0-1000 that indicates a keyword’s importance based on search volume analysis. This score is based on our proprietary algorithms and is a good indicator for which words are most important to get into your listing. Of course, you want your highly-relevant, high-search-volume words in your listing.

Relevancy Score

Relevancy Score is a scale between 0-1000 that rates how relevant each keyword is to your seed keyword. To determine relevance, Keyword Research runs a massive Reverse Market Lookup. This is similar to a Reverse ASIN Lookup, but bigger and better.

Volume Estimate

The Volume Estimate metric showcases how often customers search for a given phrase on Amazon. Our search volume estimate numbers arrive via our Keyword Research tool and utilize a proprietary formula to determine search estimates over the past 30 days. When you click on the number, you’ll find historical search volume estimates, which come in handy regarding seasonality.

CPC Bid

A suggested keyword’s bid cost for Amazon’s Sponsored Ads, based on our tracking and recommended best practices.

Opportunity Score

Opportunity Score is a rating from 0 to 1000 that measures a keyword’s potential to rank based on a market analysis of each keyword’s top-selling products. A low score means most competitors are using the term in their listing and thus low opportunity. But a high opportunity score means that the top 10 listings don’t include the term (or some variation of that term) in their listing. Adding high-opportunity keywords to your listing is a quick and easy way to pick up some easy rankings with solid volume.

Used in Listing

It’s as simple as it sounds! Is this keyword in your listing? Our Listing Builder tool lets you cross off keywords as they’re added to your listing’s copy, but this aspect of Keyword Manager works for already-written listings to ensure your listing is fully optimized for search.

Indexed?

Contrary to popular belief, utilizing a keyword phrase in your listing doesn’t guarantee that it will index for the keyword in question. While it’s most likely you will index for those keywords, there are exceptions. This column helps prevent blind spots for keywords in your listing that you’re not indexing for, allowing you to move keywords into higher-priority places to achieve indexation and become eligible to rank.

Organic Rank

Where is your product ranking for this particular keyword? You can sort this column by your highest-ranking keywords to get a feel for where your products are the most visible without advertising. Also, an arrow pointing up or down may accompany the number in this column if applicable, indicating whether you’re trending upwards or downwards lately. You can click into this number to see your ranking over time as well for a longer view into your trajectory.

Sponsored Rank

Running PPC ads? This column shows where your product is being displayed on search pages, so you can see how much bang you’re getting for your buck and easily see how positioning impacts sales.

Never miss a beat when tracking keywords

During the busiest sales days of the year, Keyword Manager’s keyword-tracking capabilities should be your best friend.

Of course, tracking keywords all year round should be on all Amazon sellers’ radar, but the holidays and signature sales events raise the stakes substantially. Tracking keywords allows you to monitor your performance and manage your visibility virtually in real-time. By doing this, you can quickly limit the amount of ground lost when you drop in rank and optimize your offering while ascending.

It’s as easy as 1-2-3 to start tracking keywords in Keyword Manager. Simply tick the box next to Rank Change Notifications for the desired keyword and customize your notifications in the following pop-up. Boom!

If you’re not constantly checking your inbox, you can always customize your email app settings to ensure you receive Viral Launch emails as push notifications to ensure you’re primed to act on these changes as quickly as you’d like to.

Since visibility is king on Amazon, this element is a no-brainer to stay on top of your game all year round, but especially during the busiest times of the year when things can change rapidly and have resounding repercussions.

Wrapping it up

Regarding tracking keywords on Amazon, nobody does it better than Viral Launch’s Keyword Manager. Within the software suite, you can easily discover new insights, track performance, and take swift action to supercharge your Amazon business for peak performance.

During this holiday season and beyond, beef up your keyword game with the all-encompassing Keyword Manager to always be on top of your game. Once you’ve added your product to Keyword Manager, it’s like adding a high-powered, mastery-level assistant to your team with handy tips for improving your business.

Get started today and make the most out of this holiday season and ride into 2023 on a wave of sales!

Get started for FREE with the entire Viral Launch software suite today!

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