Starting to sell on Amazon.

Starting to sell business on Amazon.

Are you considering becoming a seller on Amazon? Then this page will tell you which steps to take to get started. From registration to your first sale: here you will find everything you need to know.

Already familiar with selling on Amazon? Then learn how to generate more sales on this page. But, before we get started: why is it that more and more businesses are starting to sell on Amazon? Are you also considering selling on Amazon? Then on this page we’ll explain how to do it.

welcome to sell on Amazon.

Amazon is one of the largest online marketplaces worldwide. From the small sole proprietor, to the fortune 500: you’ll find them all here. Makes sense too, especially when you know that the platform gets hundreds of millions of buyers on the digital floor every year.

Just look at these punishing numbers. There is no more debate, Amazon is on fire :

• 469.8 million USD: The platform has a daily (!!!) turnover of more than 1 billion USD. In 2021, it had record sales: 469.8 billion USD.
  
• 300+ million customer accounts: There are 300+ million active customer accounts worldwide. That’s more than the populations of Spain, UK, France and Germany combined!
  
• Top 5 largest marketplace in Belgium: Amazon is making big moves on Belgian soil. For example, Amazon’s French area is currently the 5th largest marketplace in Belgium. Amazon is also opening its first Belgian delivery hub in 2022.

To say that Amazon is doing pretty okay, then, is an understatement. The numbers show countless opportunities within the platform. But what exactly is the reason behind their success? And why you better not miss the Amazon train?

1. You respond perfectly to the search behavior of your buyers.

Amazon is one of the busiest online stores ever. And consumer search behavior is increasingly shifting from Google toward Amazon. In the USA, for example, we see that 63% of all product-related searches take place directly on Amazon. Belgium and the Netherlands will no doubt follow this trend.The bottom line is that you no longer reach the majority of your consumers on Google! Consumers are increasingly “Googling” products directly on online marketplaces like Amazon. So why stay away from there?

2. You reach a new audience.

A large proportion of your potential buyers come into contact with new products through an online marketplace such as Amazon or Bol. Are your products not listed here? Then you are creating a blind spot in your potential market. 80% (!) of Belgian & Dutch consumers discover new items/brands through an online marketplace such as Amazon. Do you want to miss out on that?

3. The platform is commission-based.

Want to start selling on Amazon? Then you can do so without any start-up costs or snags. Within a few clicks, you can set up an additional online sales channel! There you can present your products to thousands of potential buyers free of charge. Amazon works with commissions: for each product sold, you give Amazon a small piece of the pie. You have no upfront costs, and therefore nothing to lose. You only pay as soon as you sell products.

4. You no longer have to set up your own webshop.

The entire sales process takes place on the state-of-the-art Amazon platform. Consumers buy in a well thought out, reliable & optimized environment. Don’t have experience with online selling? Amazon offers you the option to be supported in customer service, logistics, data analysis, inventory management, advertising, and financing …
More on this later

5. A comprehensive advertising tool.

Don’t worry about whether consumers will find your products among the huge selection. Amazon has an extensive advertising platform you can get started with.

In short: Amazon’s success is no surprise. The platform responds perfectly to the market. They deliver quickly, have a functional website, competitive prices and a huge selection.
In addition, Jeff Bezos knows better than anyone else: the entire buyer’s journey of consumers is shifting to online marketplaces like Amazon. Worldwide, 46% of all online transactions take place on an online marketplace. In Belgium and the Netherlands, that number is only 12 and 16% respectively.

A bright future awaits companies from the BeNe region.
Should they be able to play their early mover advantage well….

Are you ready to get your business future-proofed?
Find out how to get started selling on Amazon here.

Step 1: Selling on Amazon

The difference between Vendor and Seller on Amazon

When you are active on Amazon, there are two positions from which you can sell: Vendor or Seller. In other words, first-party sellers (1P) and third-party sellers (3P). Let’s go over the different options. That way, you’ll know the best way for your business to sell.

Amazon Vendors

These are the 1P invite-only vendors on the Amazon platform: that is, it is invite-only. Vendors have a wholesale relationship with Amazon. That is, Amazon orders products from the Vendors in large runs. Then Amazon itself is responsible for selling prices, inventory management, deliveries, customer service, returns of goods, etc.

One downside is that Amazon Vendors relinquish complete control. Once Amazon has bought your products, you no longer have a say in them. This sometimes leads to unpleasant situations, such as Amazon offering your products cheaper than on your own website, or in other countries without your permission. You also keep smaller margins on your products and the payment is slower than with 3P sellers.

On the other hand, Vendors’ products typically sell well from the get-go. That’s because Amazon provides good organic rankings for their own products. If you are an Amazon Vendor, you are automatically part of the Prime service: unlimited, free delivery with no minimum order value .

Amazon Sellers

The largest share of total sales on Amazon is through Sellers: 56%. These 3P sellers market their products directly through Amazon. The share of sales through Sellers on Amazon is also growing annually.

It makes sense too, since it is very natural to keep your sales in-house. That way you stay in control of your inventory, decide on your own pricing, and enjoy a direct payout from Amazon when a sale is made.

The downside, however, is that without the right strategy and support, Sellers are less likely to get results. They will first have to convince the Amazon platform that their products are “worth it. Later in this guide more on how to rank higher organically in Amazon. Or you can enlist the expertise of a marketplace agency – such as Merkado.

For your inventory management, Seller has two fulfillment options:

• Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM)
  If you choose FBM, you are responsible for your own stock. You provide your own warehousing and you are responsible for the order and return handling of orders. Finally, your own customer service must also be available to consumers with questions. FBM is a perfect option for companies that already have an efficient web shop.
  
• Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)
  If your organization chooses FBA, an Amazon fulfillment center handles your inventory. When orders come in, Amazon processes shipping, returns and customer service itself. Of course, as a seller, you pay storage and fulfillment fees for that.

Moreover, there are several ways to engage in FBA.

• European Fulfillment Network (EFN).
• Pan-European

However, the difference between FBM and FBA is one to keep in mind. Although FBA will cost you more, it also comes with some advantages:

• Amazon is in charge of shipping your orders. As a result, you’re sure to guarantee fast delivery. And by being able to deliver orders quickly, you increase your chances on the buying block. Doesn’t “the buying block” mean anything to you? Don’t worry, we’ll go into this in more detail later.
  
• You hand over customer support completely. Amazon will handle all questions, complaints and returns itself.
  
• More storage space for products. You can take advantage of Amazon’s giant warehouse spaces
  
• Omnichannel Fulfillment. Buyers can decide how they wish to receive their purchase. Have it delivered to their home? Or pick up at an Amazon pickup point.

So, in summary, there are three possible positions to sell on Amazon: Vendor, FBA seller, and FBM seller. But, as a start-up seller, it is more likely that your choice will take place between the latter two.


Are you cheaper off via Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) or Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)?

You now know what positions you can sell from. But, as soon as you start selling, what does that look like?

What does the product page on Amazon look like?

When a consumer wishes to purchase a product, the first place they come to is the product page. As a seller, it is crucial to have a sharp idea of what this page looks like. In fact, you will have to set this up yourself through the product listing, more on this later.

1. A full photo of the product
Here, recognition is the most important factor. A clear photo of the product, out of the package with a white background works best. Add additional images from other perspectives for optimal effect.

2. The product name
Make sure your product name is recognizable to buyers. The more the product name matches their search behavior – and thus the more recognizable the name is – the faster the consumer will land on your product page.

3. Price
Here you will find the price of the provider who won the buying block. If the product is in promotion, the discount and the remaining duration of the offer will be shown here. More about the buying block later in this article.

4. Variations on the product
Is your product available in different colors, sizes, scents (e.g., for candles)? Then a potential buyer will discover all the options here.

5. Product Information
In bullets: brief descriptions of key features and benefits of the product. Be as complete as possible here. Strong product information is crucial to increase the conversion rate.

6. The buy block / buy-box
Here you can see which distributor you are buying this item from when you add the product to your shopping cart. If there are several sellers, you can compare them a little lower on the product page. Already 83% of all sales happen directly in the buy-box.

What is the buy box on Amazon?

On Amazon, multiple sellers can sell the same product. Yet the consumer will see each unique product only once. The buy box on Amazon – also known as the buy block – determines which seller is selling the particular product. It a crucial component on the platform, as there is only one product page for each product, and therefore only one buy box.

To keep the quality of its platform at peak levels, Amazon rewards sellers who provide the best experience to customers. Only the “best” seller gets to sell the product. The Amazon algorithm determines who wears the crown and comes into control of the buy box. To do so, it relies on a lot of factors. Later on this page, we will go into this in more detail.

Step 2: Is selling on Amazon for you?

We’ve talked plenty of times on this page about how “fantastic” selling on Amazon is. Still, it’s best to be careful before you start. After all, Amazon is not a magic pill for your business.

Therefore, we go over two crucial questions you should ask yourself before you decide to start selling on Amazon.

Is there an interesting market for your product?

Amazon is not a one-trick-pony for selling any product. Then again, for other products, it is written in the stars that it will go over the Amazon counter smoothly. Using the questions below, ask yourself if your product will sell well on Amazon:

Is there a high search volume on your products within Amazon?

How often do buyers search for your product? The greater your online search volume is, the greater the growth potential on Amazon. Remember: a large portion of your potential buyers are no longer on Google!

It is ideal if there is high search volume on your products while you have little competition. Can’t wait to find out if your products will rank on Amazon? Let Merkado run a free potential scan for your products.

Are you willing to bear Amazon’s costs?

Are you starting to sell on Amazon? Then there are several costs you need to consider. We go over them here:

Subscription fees

The first choice you make is your subscription type. You can choose between two options: Individual and Professional. A standard and a premium package.

Which plan fits your business best? The Individual plan costs $0.99 per product sold, while the professional plan will cost you $39.99 per month. A quick calculation shows you that it’s best to choose the professional plan if you sell more than 40 products per month.

Best to start with the individual plan. As soon as you notice that sales begin to increase, you can change plans. You can do that at any time. But know this: both subscriptions involve additional sales costs.

Selling fees

For each product you sell, you pay an additional sales charge to Amazon. Those costs vary by product category, and are on average between 10% – 15% of your gross sales per sale. Curious about the sales cost of your products? Find out in this overview.

Shipping fees

If you, as a seller, are responsible for shipping your orders yourself (FBM), there are obviously no additional shipping costs applicable to you from Amazon.

When Amazon handles the storage and shipping of your products (FBA), there are shipping costs. These costs are determined by your product category and the shipping service the buyer wants.

A complete overview of the costs to sell through Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) can be found here. Keep in mind the following other costs that may be added:

• Stock Storage
• Long-term storage
• Stock removal (returns and deletions)
• Shipping partners of Amazon
• Stock placement service
• Labeling service at FBA
• FBA preparation service
• Processing returns
• Costs for European Fulfillment Network (EFN).
• Multi-Channel Fulfillment Costs.

Practice example cost per order

Let’s look at a fictitious example to demonstrate which costs are covered by which sales plan.

• FBM
  When you sell a hair dryer through Amazon, but you ship it to the customer yourself: what does that cost you? Suppose the hair dryer has a value of €49.95 including VAT. The costs you then pay are:
  • Amazon Platform Fee: 15% * €49.95 = €7.49
  • Your own cost for shipping via Post NL: €5.50

For 1 sale, you then have about €12.99 in costs-or 25% of your gross sales. This does not include personnel costs, warehouse rental, etc.

• FBA
  Are you selling that same hair dryer, but is Amazon responsible for shipping the order? If so, you’ll pay the following fees:
  • Amazon Platform Fee: 15% * €49.95 = €7.49
  • Amazon Fulfilment cost: a standard package of mag 1.5kg costs: €3.62

For selling headphones through FBA, you have €11.11 in additional costs. But, then we don’t take into account the monthly storage cost (€36 per feet/per month).

Of course, the costs per product category are highly variable. Do the math yourself using the selling fees per product category and the price list for FBA.

Step 3: Start selling on Amazon

You now know what selling on Amazon looks like, and what costs are involved. Only one decision remains: will you enter the wonderful world of Amazon?

Read on, and find out how to get your profile up and running.

Already have a seller profile? Then skip this step, and go to putting your first products live.

Create your account on Amazon, be sure to keep your important company information handy (check here). Once your registration is successful, you’ll have access to Seller Central. This is the central hub from which your Amazon adventure begins.

The Seller Central on Amazon is the wheelhouse of all your Amazon activities. Here you list the products you want to sell, update your inventory, manage your sales account, and so on.

In addition, there are a number of important features within Seller Central on Amazon:

• You’ll find an overview of your daily sales activities with handy sales reports.
• You can consult various metrics to analyze the performance of your sales activities.
• There is a digital library of useful content to navigate yourself through the Amazon business environment.
• Do you have a pressing question, or problems? Then you can easily contact Selling Partner Support here.

Once you’ve set up a sales profile, and spent some time browsing Seller Central, you’re going to start selling your first product. But how exactly do you go about that?

The Amazon Seller Central

Adding products on Amazon: all about product listing

Your sales profile is in order, the train is slowly but surely starting to move. Next stop: your first sale.

To sell a product on Amazon, you must first add it. Keep in mind that in a marketplace, consumers see each unique product only once. That means you can also listen to each unique product only once. Therefore, you first ask yourself, “Is my product already on Amazon, or not?”

The product I want to sell is already on Amazon

If there are other sellers selling the same product, you can subscribe to an existing listing. Good news, because that comes with some benefits:

• It saves you a lot of time and effort: you don’t have to gather product information and upload it to the platform.
• You subscribe to a product that already has reviews. This greatly increases confidence in the product.
• Also, the product has already built an organic ranking.

Along the other hand, there are some drawbacks when you subscribe to an existing product listing:

• You have competition selling the same product
• You do not get access to the product page: unless you are the brand of the product itself, you cannot change anything.
• You must compete against the other seller to win the buying block

The product I want to sell is not yet on Amazon

If your product is not yet listed on Amazon, you need to create a new product listing. To do so, upload the following product information:

• The Global Trade Item Number (GTIN) of your product. This can be a UPC, ISBN or an EAN number.
• A product name. This will appear at the top of the product page, and is the first thing the consumer sees.
• A product description. Here you provide additional information about the produc
• Some clear images of the product.

When you put all this info together you get your product listing. Consumers can now find & buy your product on Amazon. Unfortunately, your potential buyers won’t always find your new product easily. To increase your chances, you can optimize your product listing…

How to optimize your Amazon listing

Formatting a product listing for your own product will take you more time than subscribing to an existing listing. But, you do have a competitive advantage: there are no other sellers! To cash in on that advantage, make sure you create a product listing of gold. These tips will get you a long way.

• Keyword research
  The chance of your product appearing in the search results is many times greater if the product name matches the search behavior of consumers. A keyword research shows you exactly how potential buyers search for your product.Use the keywords from your research in your product title.Amazon provides the following structure for this:
  [brand] + [product line] + [material/feature] + [product type] + [color] + [size] + [packaging/number]For example, the product name “Happy Socks: The Beatles collection – cotton socks (yellow-green, size 39-42, sixpack)” will perform better than “yellow-green socks.

• Images
  The imagery of your product listing has an important function. Besides the first impression it leaves behind, it gives consumers a sharp image about what they are going to buy.As a main image, it is therefore best to use an image in which you see the entire product with a white background. In addition, add at least 5 additional images from different perspectives. This way, the buyer has as complete an image of your product as possible.Want to go the extra mile? Then add a video of your product. That way potential buyers can see perfectly what your product looks like, what it can do, and so on.

• Product text
  Where the product name triggers search behavior and images provide a good first impression, the product text pulls buyers all the way over the line.In the product text, you have the consumer’s full attention. Here you convince them with information about: what the product is for, what problems it solves, how easy the consumer will have it with the product, etc.In the product text, Amazon gives you the space to provide 5 bullet points. These bullet points are an essential place to share information about your product. Potential buyers look first – and often only – at bullet points to find out information about your product. So use enough proper keywords in your bullet points to improve the findability of your product.Another small, but essential point of attention: be sure to pay attention to spelling mistakes here. After all, these lead to a conversion drop of up to 50%.

• Improving content
  As mentioned earlier, the content of your product listing is an essential element that can win over potential buyers. Amazon offers important tools to make your product’s content better than that of your competitors. They do this through “A+ content,” formerly known as “Enhanced Brand Content” (ECB).This type of content is only possible when you yourself are a brand owner of the product you are selling. For example, a large shoe chain will never be able to set up A+ content for an Adidas or Nike shoe.But what exactly is it? Well, A+ content is an extension of the standard product listing information. It allows you to add additional value and branding to your product listing. A+ content on Amazon can manifest as:
  • Detailed descriptions
  • Nice photos on top of the photos of the standard product listing
  • Additional videos (such as a tutorial)
  • Comparison tables against similar products
  A+ content can win over potential buyers. According to Amazon, it even causes a 5% increase in conversion rate!

There you go, now your product name and your product text is optimized AND your images match the content perfectly. Potential buyers will now find your product without any difficulty.

The next step is to see that you get control of the buy-box. It determines who has the right to sell a product. How to do that, you will read in the next chapter.

How do you get into control of the buy-box?

What happens when different sellers want to sell the same product? When someone makes a purchase, it is difficult to divide the profit among different sellers: after all, only one person can supply the product.

Therefore, Amazon gives control of the buy-box – and thereby the right to sell a product – to merchants who offer the “best” service to consumers. There are some criteria that are taken into account in this process. We go over them all:

Before you can compete for the buy-box

There are some “minimal rules for playing” if you want to qualify for the buy-box. Once these criteria are checked off, only then can you compete with other sellers. The criteria are:

• You have a Professional Vendor account (Pro-Merchant account in Europe)
• You have less than 1% defective orders
• Less than 2.5% of your orders are cancelled for processing
• Less than 4% of your orders were shipped late
• Product must be new and in stock

Are these criteria in order? Only then may you play along. The following criteria now come into play….

Consumers are always looking for the most competitive prices for the products they wish to purchase. They use Tweakers or visit test-buy, scouring the Internet for the best deals.

In addition, Amazon’s goal is to generate as many sales as possible. Therefore, in order to remain competitive, it will reward sellers with low prices. They are more likely to get buy-box control.

The opportunists among us are now saying; “Alright, then we will simply set our price 1 cent below that of the competition.” Sorry, we have to disappoint you. To avoid a futile bidding war, Amazon does not give advantage on minimal price differences.

Keep a good inventory

Since Amazon wants to provide a smooth experience for its customers, it is going to eliminate the smallest risks. When you have low stock, there is a chance that a buyer will not get his or her product delivered on time. Therefore, Amazon will always prefer sellers with a well-stocked inventory.

Positive experience for consumers

Vendors whose customers are satisfied are rewarded with a higher chance of getting into the buy-box. For example, a seller who does not have the lowest selling price may still come into control of the buy-box. This is because his customers are much more satisfied than those of the competition.

By a positive consumer experience, we mean:

• Reviews
  Reviews are the way for Amazon to make your service measurable. So encourage your buyers to leave a review, this can have a big impact on your continued sales.

• Delivery time
  The faster you as a seller get your product to your buyer’s front door, the happier the customer and the more Amazon will reward you for this. The standard here is two to three business days. You don’t like to wait for your order, do you?

• Customer service
  Can you help customers with questions and/or problems smoothly? The responsiveness of your customer service has a big impact on how satisfied your customers are. So try to answer all your questions within 24 hours, and make sure you always answer the phone.

So you are now fully ready to move on to your first sale. But, as you know, competition is cutthroat. How are you going to make sure your first sale stands out? You’ll find out in the next chapter.

Step 4: Launching your first product on Amazon

Hooray! Your products are online. Fingers crossed, a quick prayer, and then the orders should be pouring in, right? Our sincere apologies, but that’s not how it works on Amazon. Alas.

Starting to sell your products is very important. Because selling more will get you higher in the search results, your product will get more reviews, you can prove that you offer good customer service, and the chances of you getting the buy box will increase.

But, how do you go about making your first sale? We give you some tips.

Tip 1: growth hack your first order

A fast start is vital when you launch a product on Amazon. The algorithm picks you up earlier that way, and that has only one effect: more sales! (yes please).

One way to make your product more attractive to Amazon is a price manipulation. It’s true: price is not everything on Amazon. But it does go a long way in helping you when you want to get into control of the buy box!

That’s why at the start you set the price of your product low. Very low. Sounds a little crazy. But, in the long run, not a bad investment. Having a hard time mentally setting your prices that low? Then look at the loss in margin as a kind of marketing budget.

Such price manipulation will in fact increase sales. A good test period to prove to Amazon that you can guarantee good delivery time, service, etc. Once you have been able to prove that, you can raise the price again, without having to give up the buy-box.

Tip 2: Advertise on Amazon

Advertising on Amazon can mean the difference between success or failure on Amazon, especially when you have a lot of competition on your product. Through ads, you reach potential buyers with very high purchase intent. Advertising with the right products in the right place can give your sales a huge boost.

Like Google or any social media platform, Amazon offers a sea of advertising opportunities. Based on a pay-per-click (PPC) model, sellers can get their products in the spotlight.

We go over the options:

Sponsored products
This is one of the most common types of ads on Amazon. Sponsored products keywords on which you can advertise individual items. Your product will then appear on the first row of search results: still above the organic results (or to the right).

A second possibility of “sponsored products” is to advertise on the product page of a relevant items. I guess a practical example makes it clear. Suppose someone is on the product page of a razor. Then Amazon displays relevant items under the product listing of that razor. In this case: extra blades and toothbrush attachments. But, you could just as easily advertise shaving cream there.

• Sponsored brands
  It is also possible to advertise as a brand. You advertise a group of products of your brand. When someone clicks on your brand through the product page, he will be directed to your brand page. On that page the consumer sees all the products you offer.Sponsored brand ads are shown at the top, left and below the results of a search.

• Advertising as an Amazon Vendor
  As a Seller (FBM & FBA), you only have the ability to set up sponsored brand & sponsored product ads. If you have an Amazon Vendor account, then you have more opportunities to advertise, such as:
  • Display ads
  • Video ads
  • And more

Advertising on Amazon can be decisive for your sales results. You come into the consumer’s view faster, at crucial moments of their buyer’s journey. Fantastic, right?

Of course, this comes at a cost. Fortunately, Amazon has an extensive advertising platform that allows you to perfectly set how much you want to spend, in what way (daily budgets, budget caps, …). So you get the results you want, without encountering unpleasant financial surprises.

Get started!

Did you get as far as here in the blog? Top!!! Then you have enough knowledge to take your first steps into the Amazon landscape. Whether you get started yourself, or enlist the help of a marketplace agency like Merkado; we’re sure you’ll have a bright future ahead of you.

But, be wary. There are a whole host of additional features, sales strategies and other nuances you can use to get the most out of your Amazon adventure.

Good luck, and bon voyage!