Amazon Marketplace is the e-commerce platform on which you as a retailer and manufacturer can offer and sell your products to millions of people without investing an endless marketing budget. Amazon enables you to integrate your shop via Marketplace with little effort and, depending on your strategy, at a reasonable price.
Marketplace is a platform from which everyone benefits: The more products Amazon can offer, the more likely it is that customers will first call up Amazon when they need to buy something again, and this of course leads to higher sales for the merchants who sell via Amazon. This is also proven by current figures: According to Statista, about 44 million Germans regularly buy Amazon products. And sales via Amazon by third-party providers account for almost ⅓ of the online giant's annual turnover: Reason enough to take a look at it as a retailer.
How do I manage my online trading via Amazon Marketplace?
After a short registration process you can list your products on Amazon and start selling them directly. If you register your shop in Europe, all European Marketplaces and shipping through Amazon Prime are available to you at the same time, which means an immense range and logistical flexibility for the sale of your products.
Once the sale begins, Amazon offers you several ways to organize the shipping. You either receive a notification when a sale has taken place and send your goods yourself or you use the service in Marketplace and have your goods picked, packed and shipped by Amazon: EU-wide and at the well-known speed of the online giant.
What does the Amazon Marketplace cost?
Membership on the Amazon Marketplace is subject to fees, which you should take a closer look at beforehand. It is important that you have an idea in advance of how high your sales should be, because on this basis you can choose between a basic account and a professional provider account.
The basic account is worthwhile if you achieve less than 40 sales per month, because fees of 0.99 Euro Cent are charged for each sales transaction. With the Professional Supplier Account you pay a monthly flat fee of 39.00 Euro. So it's worth it if you achieve significantly more than the 40 sales per month. Amazon offers an exact listing of the fees with examples also for wholesalers. In addition, Amazon charges percentage sales fees, which you can view here.
We have prepared a simple example for you:
If you, as a small wine merchant, offer your wine on the Amazon Marketplace at 10€ per bottle and do not sell more than 40 bottles per month with a basic account, you pay a fixed fee of 0.99 Cent per sale plus 1€ percentage sales fee, since according to the catalogue these spirits amount to 10%.
So it's a good idea to calculate how your sales are to go through Amazon before you start using the system. With 1000 sales per month and a flat-rate account fee of 39.00 € and 10% of your sales per month, you are already in the lucrative range. The sales fees vary depending on the category. We therefore recommend that you thoroughly deal with the topic and get sufficient advice.
What can I sell through Amazon Marketplace?
Whether you're just starting out or an advanced online retailer, selling your products through Amazon Marketplace can simplify your business in many ways. While Amazon itself only offers new products, as a Marketplace retailer you can sell almost anything - if your goods meet Amazon's criteria. To do this, you have to look at Amazon's blacklist, which explains exactly what kind of condition is not allowed (see here) - but in principle you can sell used goods or B-goods via Amazon. Keep in mind that the customer satisfaction of your online shop always plays a role in the ranking of your products on Amazon, which is why the sale of bad products as a disaster and your credibility as an online retailer can of course also be affected.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of selling through Amazon Marketplace?
Offering your products via Marketplace not only means that you can use the online giant's millionfold reach, but also that you can advertise and sell your products across countries without knowing the local language or having to worry about shipping, if you use the Amazon shipping service.
Another clear advantage for you as a retailer is that Amazon provides comprehensive security and fraud protection when selling products, so you don't have to worry about fraudsters. And while we're on the subject of payment: Amazon Payments itself handles the payment process through Amazon, so you don't have to search for a payment service provider and integrate it into your online store. This can often cause problems, especially due to the strict guidelines regarding credit card data and data protection. Connecting via Amazon can be a real blessing here.
Last but not least, for a modern online giant like Amazon, the use of data and its evaluation is child's play, from which you as an online merchant naturally benefit. Marketplace provides you with sufficient information about the sale and success of your products, which gives you a good insight and which you can use to improve your sales via Amazon Marketing with the right strategy. Especially PPC campaigns and keyword optimization can be optimized continuously.
The fees for your sales may turn out to be disadvantageous if you do not adequately deal with the subject and open the wrong account. Even the limited nature of product sales, if the quality does not meet Amazon's requirements, can have a negative effect on your turnover. It may be that selling through Amazon is not the right way to position your trade individually, since you are operating it under the flagship Amazon. However, it can be a start to sell your products under wide reach, and then later make you independent with your brand.
Amazon Marketplace or eBay?
Amazon Marketplace is not the only platform for selling goods, which is why a comparison with other platforms such as eBay is recommended. Many online merchants use eBay because it's cheaper in terms of fees. The shipping service, as well as some other very helpful tools are not offered on eBay. While eBay gives you the opportunity to strengthen your own brand and distribute products as independently as possible, the use of Amazon Marketplace is more restrictive, but sales are also more successful due to its reach via Amazon. Depending on whether you want to position your brand or sell your products more easily, you can choose between eBay and Amazon Marketplace.
Amazon provides two different selling modells - Seller and Vendor model. The difference between Vendor and Seller lies in your positioning. As a vendor you are a supplier for Amazon and your products are bought and sold through Amazon. This method is useful if you don't necessarily want to promote your own brand, but want to sell many products quickly. As a seller, you offer your products alongside Amazon's products. So you have much higher competition, but you sell your products yourself and decide how you want to advertise them. Here you can also let the logistics run via Amazon.
BidX can help you sell successfully on Amazon!
Selling successfully on Amazon is not easy. The opportunities Amazon offers are becoming more and more complex and it takes a lot of time to learn about all of them. This is why BidX exists. BidX helps you sell successfully on Amazon through automated bid and keyword adjustments.
