Amazon FBA is a service provided by Amazon that allows anyone to sell a product without worrying about storage or logistics. That in turn means that it’s now impossible to run a large-scale product-based business from your front room, with no need for staff, large investments, or warehouses.
This is great because it means you can live the dream of running a business with relatively little involvement. But therein also lies the pitfall: how do you set yourself apart from the competition, when you are sourcing the same products (from the same manufacturers) and letting the same company take care of delivery?
Branding
One key method is to ensure that your branding is front and center. You can do this with the packaging (more on this in a moment), but also by placing your branding on the item itself. If you are reselling a product from Alibaba, then look for a “white label” product. That means the company will not use its own branding anywhere, and will allow you to use yours in its place.
The Service
Next up is the service and how well you treat the customer. If the customer has any problems or questions you need to ensure that there is someone available to answer those queries as soon as possible. Good quality service will ensure that your customer feels confident handing over their money and knows that they’ll get what they asked for in return. It also ingratiates them to you which hopefully results in their being more likely to want to deal with you in future as well.
The Packaging
Packaging is something that’s highly important when it comes to selling anything – especially if you’re delivering the item. Think about Amazon versus eBay. When it comes to these two companies you might find that you can get the same item just as quickly and for the same price from either online vendor. Thus the only thing you know will be different is the packaging – which means you’re likely to pick Amazon in that scenario.
Packaging can make an item seem more premium, can make it more enjoyable to open and can strengthen your brand. At the same time you will this way be able to strengthen your brand and get free advertising.
Of course, with Amazon FBA the exterior packaging will be handled by Amazon – but you can still add your own packaging for the product itself, which is a perfect way to really stand out and get people excited for what you’re selling.
Creating Better Original Products for Amazon FBA – Consider Design
Amazon is not all about reselling – it can also be a great opportunity to sell your own products! And it’s almost just as easy – just approach a manufacturer on Alibaba selling something similar to what you have in mind, and discuss making the necessary tweaks with them. Voila!
If you’ve come up with an idea for a product, then that probably makes you an ‘inventor’. If you’re now planning on turning that idea into a business, then you’re also most likely an ‘entrepreneur’. There are many hats in fact that you will have to wear in order to make this project a success and many skills you’re going to learn, but one that often gets forgotten and that might not necessarily come naturally is also one of the most important: you must also be a ‘designer’.
An Idea is Not a Product
Strange though it may sound, it can often be quite easy to forget the design stage altogether if you are someone who tends to focus on creating products and selling them. Most likely you will have had the idea for your product in order to solve a problem (known as a ‘stress point’) and from that point it might be a simple matter of choosing a colour and size as far as you’re concerned. Even those that do take design seriously and spend time thinking about it will often approach it in the wrong way – thinking about it from a purely aesthetic standpoint rather than a functional one.
Good design should be woven in the very fabric of your product. Great design focusses not only on looks, but also on the experience that the consumer has when they use your product. Is it eye catching enough to sell itself? Is it designed in a way that will fit neatly into a buyer’s lifestyle? Is it designed in a way that makes it intuitive to use, and pleasant to operate? The
Let’s take a look at the iPod. Here the idea and the product was simple: to create a small mp3 player that could fit 100 songs on it. This was the specification that Jobs gave his team and it was a relatively straightforward one – in fact there were many superior mp3 players on the market already.
What made the iPod great then was the fantastic design. That includes the white headphones that made the product instantly recognisable and desirable, but it also includes the ‘scroll wheel’ which was an absolute masterstroke of design – the scroll wheel enabled users to quickly scroll through a hundred songs in seconds in a way that was faster and more intuitive than any button would allow.
You don’t need to do this yourself – that’s where the manufacturer comes in handy. You can also outsource to other services like CADCrowd. But even if it just means picking the right “base product,” then you need to make sure you are thinking about design first!
Getting the Best Reviews for Amazon Products
Depending on the nature of your industry, a few reviews can even make or break your business success. A perfect example of this is the mobile app industry. If you release an app and the first 10 reviews leave a 1 star rating, then you can all but guarantee your sales are going to slow down or even completely halt.
The same is of course true for Amazon sellers, and it only takes a few bad reviews – which are displayed right in the search results – to ensure that people choose a different product over yours.
So, what do you do? Providing the very best product and service you can is one important step but these additional tips can also help a great deal…
Offer a Freebie
One way you can avoid negative reviews is to offer a free sample of whatever it is you’re selling. That could mean standing outside your restaurant with tasters, or if could mean having a free ‘trial version’ of your app. This isn’t just good marketing – it also works to actively turn away the kinds of customers you don’t want.
Of course, this will cost you money as an Amazon seller and it only works if your product is inexpensive (ideally something people order in bulk). While it might hurt you upfront, it can pay off big time in the long run – it’s called a “loss leader.” Give away one of your amazing razors from your website, then link your lucky recipients to your Amazon listing.
In turn, this will then help you to make sure that the vast majority of your reviews are positive. Why? Because anyone who tries your freebie and doesn’t like it, won’t become a customer. The only people entitled to leave a review are people who paid for your services and if they have all previously tried whatever it is you’re offering, then you know that in theory they should at least be impressed. Meaning positive reviews only!
Over Deliver
Another strategy is to over deliver on your promise by pleasantly surprising your customers. You can do this in any number of ways. One obvious strategy is to deliver a parcel faster than you say you will, another is to include a free gift. Otherwise you can just make sure that aspects of their experience are better than they would have predicted.
Either way, people will be so pleasantly surprised at getting something ‘extra’ that they will be almost guaranteed to leave a positive review.
Leave a Reply