Grow Your Amazon eCommerce Business Internationally: Guest Post by WorldFirst

Savvy Amazon sellers have been taking advantage of Amazon’s global marketplaces for years. With marketplaces in 11 regions, and customers in over 180 countries, Amazon makes it easy to get in front of fresh markets and new consumers. Retail, as we know it, is rapidly developing as consumers purchase more products online rather than in-store. eMarket shows that Amazon is responsible for 44 cents of every ecommerce dollar spent, up from 38 cents in 2016. With this increased growth, more sellers are expanding beyond borders to find less saturated markets and take advantage of exchange rates. The opportunity to sell globally? Massive.

International Selling

We are now seeing more private label brands and resellers become global market leaders. Brands like Anker manage their own eCommerce storefronts and are relatively unknown in the brick and mortar space. But, by optimizing their listings and expanding their brand across multiple channels, they’ve become a titan on global marketplaces. On Amazon, the UK/EU are collectively the same size as the Amazon.com market. In China, it’s projected that more than a quarter of the population will be shopping for foreign products on eCommerce platforms. For those of you counting at home, that’s roughly 455 million potential customers.

That said, opening your business to new markets means learning how to navigate cross border payments, transactions, and how to bring your international sales home effectively. Not to mention you will have to pay VAT, the equivalent of sales tax in the UK / EU, to the international governments in which you’re selling.  It goes without saying, you need an effective strategy in place to manage all of your different currencies, tax payments, and supplier payments to protect your margin selling globally.

Money Forward Contracts

So what do you do? Setting up in-country bank accounts requires an entity in that country, and the process to set it up can be lengthy and costly. Not to mention, the currency exchange rates that you’re getting may still not be competitive. While most marketplaces have a currency solution, you have zero control over when they move your funds and no transparency to the trade rate of their funds. You need a solution that both allows you control over your foreign exchange, and protection against potential volatility in the rates.

Take Brexit, for example. We saw the rates move 10% in a matter of hours, and those using a marketplace solution were at the mercy of the markets. Those who were working with a solution like WorldFirst were able to work with their relationship managers to protect themselves against market movement by booking forward contracts or setting rate alerts. This helped them move their funds back home at a rate they budgeted for. By giving our customers the ability to control their money, we were able to provide peace of mind and the ability to protect their rates.

Amazon International Money Transfers

As global eCommerce becomes more accessible to sellers, it’s becoming easier to make cross border distribution a reality for your business. The only consistency in the currency market is that it fluctuates. While you may never be able to predict which way the market is going to move, World First can help you protect your margins and grow your business globally. We have had sellers experience their business grow between 5-10% in the first year of expanding internationally, and then reinvest the profits in your business to promote continued growth in the international space.

World First USA Inc. can help you pay suppliers, vendors, and taxes overseas.  We can set you up with local receiving accounts in the countries where you’re selling, allowing you to collect funds in the local currency and take control of when your funds are transferred.  The marketplace transfers your earnings to your in-country account and you can transfer your funds back home. We’d love to help you take hold of the global markets. Register here to get started.

Amazon EBC & A+ Content Visible on Mobile

Amazon Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) and A+ Pages are now visible on main product pages on Amazon mobile and the Amazon mobile app for many products.

During the 2016 holiday season, Amazon reported that more than 72 percent of Amazon customers worldwide shopped using a mobile device. Now that Enhanced Brand Content and A+ Pages are available for many products for this massive load of sellers, EBC and A+ may prove to be a key ingredient to increasing conversions.

EBC and A+ on Amazon Mobile

Enhanced Brand Content includes enhanced images and text placements on a product listing. A+ Pages include high quality photos, video, and comparison charts.

Previously, Amazon hid all Enhanced Brand Content and A+ Pages from mobile shoppers. To view the enhanced content on mobile, shoppers needed to click into the Product Description.

Now for many products, Enhanced Brand Content and A+ Pages is showing up just under “Have a question?” as the first “About this item” element. They even show up ahead of the description, features & details. There are still products that require clicking into the description, but Amazon may continue rolling out this feature to all.

For those products with enhanced content showing on the main page, with just a few scrolls on a mobile device, Enhanced Brand Content and A+ pages are available to convince a shopper to buy. This is an awesome opportunity to show off your product in a super simple and visual way to shoppers looking for more information.

Enhanced Brand Content still is not indexed, meaning Amazon does not pull the copy for search queries. So far, we have not seen an incredible uptick in conversion rates with EBC. But according to Amazon, A+ enhanced marketing content “increases sales an average of 3-10% by increasing conversion, SEO relevance, and customer purchase confidence.”

As you’re prepping for the 2017 holiday season, optimizing for mobile is crucial. Shopping on the Amazon mobile app grew by 56% in 2016 from the previous year, and that number will likely only continue to climb.

This addition of EBC and A+ on the main mobile page for tons of products could certainly have a positive impact on how these listings convert on mobile.

How to Get Amazon Enhanced Brand Content or A+ Pages

Enhanced Brand Content is only available for approved brand owners, which requires enrolling in Amazon’s Brand Registry program. Requirements include a registered trademark and product/packaging that carries the registered brand name.

A+ Pages are only available to Amazon Vendors. Vendor Central requires an invitation from Amazon, and Vendor Express allows sellers to sell products directly to Amazon.

The Latest Benefit to Brand Registry

Amazon has been aggressively adding to its Brand Registry program benefits. Notable features of Brand Registry 2.0 include:

If you aren’t brand registered yet, it’s time to talk with your lawyer about registering a trademark. We’ve got a good feeling that there is a lot more to come for brand registered sellers.

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