You’ll need to decide whether you have a retail relationship with Amazon or create and manage your brand by selling to consumers via Amazon’s third-party marketplace. In some instances, businesses choose to open both accounts, often referred to as a ‘hybrid’ model.

There are now 17 Amazon locations around the world where you can register and sell online. One of your responsibilities, and with our help, will be to research where you need to be tax registered. This will determine where you can hold inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment centres. Some countries require this by law, especially in the EU if you wish to use Pan European FBA.

One of the undeniable benefits of selling on Amazon is their incredible warehousing process and ability to ship to Prime customers the next day, in some cases, the same day! You have the option to use Amazon’s FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) program where they hold your inventory in a network of fulfillment centers so they can pick, pack and ship to customers on your behalf, at a cost. Or, you can choose to sell your products and ship directly to the customer from your own warehouse or 3rd party logistics partner.

Sending inventory to Amazon should be carefully planned. Amazon charges for storage based on volume and length of time it holds your stock. Amazon uses an Inventory Performance Index (IPI) scoring system – this restricts the amount of inventory you can ship in, which will then increase based on your sell-through performance

In order to work out your profitability, you must first study Amazon’s referral fees (commission on sales). The fees differ based on your product’s selling category and in addition to this, you will be calculating FBA fees and budgeted pay-per-click advertising costs. Other costs to factor in will be returns – this too varies depending on the category of products.

Once you have decided upon your plan to operate on Amazon, it’s now time to upload your catalogue. When uploading your catalogue, it’s important to list in the right category. This will help customers search and how they find your products. It’s important to factor in keyword optimisation and list as many attributes as possible. This will contribute to organic ranking, pay-per-click relevance, and performance later on. It’s worth noting that 86% of searches on Amazon DO NOT contain brands. Consider your medium and long-tail keyword strategy so that you can future proof your listings.

Amazon uses a clever algorithm – A10. This algorithm is the “secret sauce” when it comes to optimisation and while no one knows the exact ingredients, there is enough data to make accurate decisions with your brand. Amazon’s algorithm takes into account, the length of time on Amazon, Sales History, Returns % and Processing, Listing Optimisation, Photography, Brand Stores, A+ Content, Pay Per Click Advertising and Reviews.

If you have the option to register your brand with Amazon, you should do so as soon as your account is open. For instructions on this, visit https://brandregistry.amazon.co.uk Having your brands connected to Brand Registry will not only give you tools to protect your brand, it also opens up powerful selling tools such as VINE (Amazon’s product review program), Brand Stores, and A+ Content. In addition to this, Sponsored Brands and Sponsored Display Ads become accessible when creating advertising campaigns.

Making your products stand out when customers are searching on Amazon, and maintaining a high click-through rate, we cannot stress enough the importance of creating high-quality images for your products. Clean product images along with lifestyle pictures help tell the story of your product. Not only that but the accuracy of the content on your listing can help keep returns to a minimum. Get in touch and find out how we can help create images that leap off the page!