FBA - Fulfilment by Amazon - is a process
whereby Amazon stocks a seller’s goods and lists them for sale at their site, as
well as taking payment for orders and delivering goods to buyers. A major benefit for most sellers using FBA is
spending less time dealing with payment and fulfilment, customer after sales
service and refunds. Time saved can be
rechannelled into sourcing and testing new products and consigning them to
Amazon.
More
benefits:
*
Knowing a product will be despatched by Amazon increases buyer confidence and
has a favourable impact on sales. A
recent survey by Amazon UK tells how 85% of Amazon sellers delivering goods
direct to buyers reported an increase in sales after beginning with FBA, with
more than half of those people reporting upwards of 20% more sales over
previously fulfilling orders direct.
* Product owners can sell across Amazon’s
European Marketplace unlike, as happens on eBay, where sellers can only maximise
their exposure by listing separately on multiple country eBay sites.
* Product owners can continue selling and
making money while they are on holiday or focussing on important family
matters. But, as happens on eBay, sellers
do not have to tell prospective customers they will be unavailable for a specified
period and discourage many from buying. FBA
products are fulfilled no matter what is happening at your end, as long as
sufficient stock is available in Amazon’s warehouses.
This is
how FBA works:
- You prepare your goods to Amazon’s
specifications, by naming and describing goods and providing reference labels,
for instance, and saying how your goods will be delivered to Amazon and what
delivery service will be used.
- Amazon stocks other people’s products and
charges sellers for space used.
- Sellers can leave it to Amazon to promote
their product or drive their own traffic, by blogging about the product, for
instance, or promoting an FBA product to people buying from them on eBay and
other marketplaces.
- When
they sell, Amazon picks and packs products and delivers them to buyers.
- Amazon handles after sales queries, including
refunds, and keeps sellers updated on sales, returns and refunds and how much they
have earned.
There
is much more you need to know, all of it available inside a comprehensive pdf
guide to download from Amazon at:
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/fba-help/QRG/FBA-Quick-Start-Guide.pdf
Now you
know how it all works, or you will after studying the manual, it’s time to find
a product that’s just perfect for maximising your sales and profits and minimising
Amazon’s share.
Let the
following tips guide your choice:
- Choose something similar or having much in
common with other bestselling products on Amazon. When you find it, you make your product
different, by creating more eye-catching packaging for a private label item,
for instance, or by adding other items to your offer.
- The best products are - usually - small and
lightweight. That’s because Amazon
charges sellers for space required to store their goods and by weight of each
product taken out of storage and delivered to buyers. So a small, lightweight product is likely to consume
a lower portion of seller profits than a large, heavy item with a similar price
and profit margin. The obvious exception to small and lightweight is bulky and/or heavy
with significant profit margins that aren’t swallowed up by Amazon.
Examples
of small and lightweight products include jewellery, small collectibles,
gloves, Christening spoons. During the
listing and pricing process, Amazon reveals their share of the proceeds for products
of specific weight, size and price, and how much is left for the seller. Sellers can adjust prices for their products to
maximise their own share and minimise Amazon’s.
- Products
should be unique to their seller or have low seller rivalry. Numerous people marketing an identical item
causes constant price reduction wars, sometimes to a level that covers Amazon’s
fees and leaves nothing for the seller.
Product bundling is a
good way to avoid competition and minimise price wars and comparison shopping. Should a rival
seller market a similar bundle at a lower price and gain favour from price comparison
software, the original seller simply changes the contents of his own bundle and
moves on.
- Higher prices are often achieved on Amazon for
similar products offered on eBay. Experts
say there are more buyers with higher disposable income on Amazon than on eBay.
So you can research sales figures and prices for specific products on eBay and
then you either buy stock on eBay to sell at higher prices on Amazon or look
for an alternative reliable supplier.
-
Private label products reduce excessive rivalry for many brand name products
and allow sellers to set their own prices and be unfettered by recommended
retail prices. Private label products,
sometimes called white/unlabelled/unbranded products, are provided by
manufacturers who allow resellers to add their own labels. It’s almost as if the product is unique to
its seller and in a buyer’s mind it probably is.
- Choose products matching high frequency search
terms for similar branded products on Amazon.
You cannot use brand names or trademarks, of course, but generic terms
such as after shave and wrinkle cream benefit words and phrases like free,
fast, amazing and new are allowed.
- Design your own labels and packaging to stand
out from the crowd of comparable brand name items on Amazon.
- Choose products that are unlikely to break in
transit. That way they are unlikely to
arrive damaged and be returned for refund.
- Choose products that are easy to use and do
not require instructions most buyers won’t bother reading anyway. The easier and faster it is the use, the less
chance your product will cause early disappointment and a rush to return it
before its guarantee period expires.
-
Choose products to build a brand around and lead to repeat customers and
multiple product orders. Give your
product a name that’s easy to remember when time comes to re-order.
FBA is
more costly than doing everything yourself, but it saves sellers performing low
value tasks and frees up time to focus their skills on more profitable matters.
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