For retailers who want to succeed on Amazon, simply listing your products on the site is not enough. You need to be proactive, and up to date with the ever-evolving trends and requirements that Amazon and your customers require. With so many customers visiting to the site worldwide, Amazon is a competitive field for retailers. Therefore, you need to make sure your products, and brand, stay one step ahead of your competition. In this eBook, we’ll share some of the most important strategies that etailers should employ to succeed on Amazon

1. Guide to Etail Success on Amazon
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

2. Guide to Etail Success on Amazon
1. Optimise yourkeywords
2.Lookafter your customer scores
3.Keep your prices competitive
4.Attempt to win the “Buy Box”
5. Sign up for Fulfillmentby Amazon
6. Utilise Amazon Prime
7. Lookatselling globally
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

3. Guide to Etail Success on Amazon
If you are selling online, you already know that the Amazon marketplace is the biggest ecommerce platform in the world.
With more than 130 million unique visitors per month and an annual growth rate of over 30% over the last ten years, it
holds an influential position in the etail world.
For retailers who want to succeed on Amazon, simply listing your products on the site is not enough. You need to be
proactive, and up to date with the ever-evolving trends and requirements that Amazon and your customers require.
With so many customers visiting to the site worldwide, Amazon is a competitive field for retailers. Therefore, you need
to make sure your products, and brand, stay one step ahead of your competition.
In this eBook, we’ll share some of the most important strategies that etailers should employ to succeed on Amazon.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

4. Optimise your keywords
All products you list on Amazon need a product listing exactly the same as when you list a new product
on your Ecommerce website. When you are writing your product listings, put yourself in the mind of the
customer; What are they looking for? What keywords will they be typing into Amazon search?
Once you have a better idea of how your customers are finding you, you can optimise your keywords
and listings to match their search preferences – just like you would on your own website SEO.
When identifying keywords, make sure you use a few single words as opposed to long phrases. Using
longer phrases means that customers will have to search for that exact phrase to find your product.
As we always say “TMC” – “Test, Monitor, Change” - Don’t be afraid to experiment with your keywords and
titles - always analysing what works and what doesn’t.
Your goal is is to gain an increase in sales and conversions, something that will take some time and
continual testing.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

5. Look after your customer scores
A positive customer satisfaction rating is an essential component for not only retaining
customers, but also securing potential customers who look at customer reviews before making
a purchase.
Amazon’s Customer Satisfaction page measures how well etailers are performing on
Amazon. The report covers a number of performance metrics:
• Order defect rate (ODR), which measures the percentage of orders that receive negative
feedback
• Perfect order percentage (POP), which measures the percentage of orders that are
successful;
• Late dispatch rate (LDR), which reports on any late dispatches.
• Percentage of orders that are refunded and canceled.
Remember, your reputation on Amazon is extremely important. Customers listen to other customers, and that affects your
bottom line.
Keep a close eye on your metrics and ensure that you are dealing with their requests quickly and efficiently.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

6. Keep your prices competitive
Amazon is the most widely used etailer, which means that potential customers are
looking at your prices versus those of your competitors – pricing is key on Amazon.
Researching your market is imperative, and this includes looking closely at your
competitors and their pricing strategy. Look at what price your competitors are
offering, and if you can’t beat that price, then at least try to match it.
Price matching or beating won’t always be possible, so it’s up to you to decide
whether seeing a drop in the margin % is worth it, for a potential increase in sales.
It can be easy to forget, but when listing a product on Amazon, you’re essentially
advertising it against similar brands and products.
Naturally, one of the key ways to stand out from the crowd and stay ahead of the
competition is to continually offer competitive prices.
However, you still need to retain a sufficient margin to continue to trade.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

7. Attempt to win the “Buy Box”
With more than 75% of non-media sales on Amazon coming via the Buy Box,
wining the Buy Box is essential for long term trading on Amazon. And with only one
Buy Box available per item, you’ll find yourself competing with a number of other
etailers to win it
The Buy Box is located on a product’s page — where a customer starts the
purchase process — and can only be used by a featured merchant.
To win the Buy Box, you must meet Amazon’s criteria in a number of areas.
Although Amazon closely protects the exact formula for calculating the Buy Box, the criteria include:
1) a competitive price
2) a positive customer feedback metric
3) fast and efficient delivery
4) volume of inventory
5) low refund and return rates
Though it generally takes some time for a new seller to build up a sales history that will win them the Buy Box, focusing
on these aspects is good for business regardless of the marketplace.
They will not only help to increase your sales but will also contribute to your customers’ overall satisfaction.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

8. Sign up for Fulfillment by
Amazon
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a process for etailers looking to
grow their sales without having to worry about the increase in
warehousing.
Etailers can send their products direct to Amazon fulfilment centres
and make them available to purchase. Once purchased, Amazon
will package and deliver the product directly to the customer –
saving significant time and resources for an etailer.
Along with handling your packaging and deliveries, FBA also manages your customer support and returns, along with
keeping your inventory secure and insured against any possible losses or damages.
The biggest selling point is that because you don’t have to worry about limited storage space, you’re able to sell far
higher quantities of your products if the demand is there – thus allowing you to grow quicker
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

9. Utilise Amazon Prime
Customers spend up to 150% more once they become Prime members, purchasing items from Amazon that they might
not have in the past.
They pay a Prime subscription fee of £79 a year, and along with benefiting from fast and free shipping, they find
themselves ordering more products wanting to get their "money’s worth" from the fee.
As a seller, when you sign up for Fulfillment by Amazon, you also have access to Amazon Prime for no extra charge.
Offering your products through this service has the potential to significantly increase your sales, with Prime customers
understandably being drawn to items available through Prime as opposed to the traditional Amazon order.
Prime subscriptions are increasing at a substantial rate, with more than one million worldwide customers becoming Prime
members in the third week of December 2013 alone.
When you sell your items through Amazon, you can find yourself competing with an abundance of competitors, all offering
similar products and prices.
Offering customers the opportunity to order their item via Prime could be the deciding factor in choosing you over a
competitor.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

10. Look at selling globally
With marketplaces across France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Japan, China and
the UK, Amazon opens up the opportunity for etailers to expand their online presence.
Selling internationally could significantly increase your customer base and your sales.
According to a 2013 study by Nielsen and PayPal, cross-border online shopping will
be worth $307 billion by 2018, with 130 million cross-border online shoppers around
the world.
Amazon Global Selling is a great way to test the viability of selling internationally. The program
opens up your Amazon product listings to international customers already shopping on Amazon.
A big advantage of this method, is that you don’t need to translate or localise your listings for other
Regions, since your products are still being sold through Amazon.
Amazon Global Selling gives you great insight into which regions provide the most demand. You will be able to see which
countries are buying your products, and you can use that knowledge to determine whether to expand to that marketplace.
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D

11. Summary
Amazon is big, very big in etail and can offer any etailer the opportunity to grow
their business significantly.
There are many advantages that we have talked about in this ebook, but also
remember that they take 15% of the sales income – for a low margin business this
could be a killer.
We always advise clients to use Amazon as part of a balanced etail strategy –
some will do very well others use Amazon for credibility and for SEO purposes.
Whatever stage you are with your Ecommerce business we can help you grow and
develop a successful Ecommerce business for the future. We are experts in etail
and have built many Ecommerce businesses.
Have a look at our blogs, free resources and videos:
http://etailsuccess.com
http://vimeopro.com/retailpotential/etailsuccess
https://twitter.com/AntonyWelfare
https://www.facebook.com/EtailSuccess
C O P Y R I G H T R E TA I L P O T E N T I A L LT D