Is It Time For You To Start Selling On Amazon?

The amount of shopping that people now do online is higher than ever before. Even before the coronavirus lockdown forced some bricks-and-mortar businesses to shut, official statistics from the UK revealed how online sales accounted for a fifth of all retail sales by the end of 2019. Of course, it hit even greater heights in May 2020 as people were unable to go out and shop.

For e-commerce businesses, there’s no shortage of platforms on which to promote and sell your products. But, without a doubt, one of the biggest online success stories is Amazon. It dominates the UK e-commerce scene, with such a huge lead over its competitors.

So, is it now time for you to start selling your products with the retail giant to help grow both your revenue and visibility?

What Products Can You Sell on Amazon?

Millions of products are sold by or through Amazon every single day. The e-commerce giant has come a long way since it first started out as an online bookstore.

Now, shoppers can buy every possible product with one click. So, there’s no need to worry about if your products – however niche or bespoke – will sit right in the Amazon shop window. The answer is likely to be “yes”.

Amazon – Selling to Vs. Selling through

After creating an Amazon account (if you don’t have one already), you have two selling options: selling to or selling through.

The first option, it should be said, is an invite-only option. That’s where you sell products wholesale to Amazon and they do the rest. The second option is to use Amazon Marketplace and list your products as a third-party seller on the Amazon platform.

Getting Your Goods to Online Shoppers

The next choice to make is how to fulfil your orders. Again, you’ll have two options: Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) or Fulfilment by Merchant (FBM).

With FBA, you don’t have to think about the logistics. You can always find the best products for FBA. But FBM can work out better for some businesses. It gives you a lot more control and, with comparison sites such as Parcel2Go.com, you can find the best courier deals for you.

How Much Does It Cost to Sell on Amazon?

It won’t come as much of a surprise to learn there are costs associated with selling on Amazon. How much can depend on a number of factors, such as the category of product, your fulfilment method and whether you choose an Individual or Professional account? The last factor will often be influenced by how much you sell each month. Be sure to check Amazon’s pricing plans first.

On the face of it, there are clear benefits for small businesses to sell their products on Amazon. But there are also some key questions to ask yourself before getting started.

And, ultimately, it needs to make business sense for you too. While there is potential to increase profits by selling to a wider audience, the numbers need to make sense. Once they do, the sky’s the limit.