Amazon’s online marketplace is a great place to gain new customers and sell products thanks to its large customer base, which includes 100 million U.S.-based subscribers of Amazon Prime. But making sales on Amazon is all about staying ahead of the game by practicing profit-improving tactics. Discover five ways to boost your Amazon sales.
1. Prep for Competitor Stockouts
When a business runs out of inventory, it can run into trouble. That’s because stockouts can lead to canceled orders and frustrated customers—and cancelled orders hurt your Amazon Seller Metrics. However, stockouts happen to every seller, including your competitors, which presents an opportunity for sellers to get one leg up on the competition. One simple and free way to anticipate if a seller is likely facing a stockout is by manually inputting the maximum number of items you can order for an item that is in your shopping cart. For example, if you enter “999” as the quantity to order for a shirt that is in your shopping cart but receive a message, such as “this seller only has 2 of these available”, then it’s possible the seller may be running low on inventory. You can also leverage social media or create Google alerts to monitor your competitor’s social activity and determine if customers are mentioning stockout complaints. Also, use an inventory tracking system or Amazon’s internal selling coach to track when you’ll need to add more inventory so you can have inventory in advance of your competitors.
2. Differentiate Your Offerings
If you want to drive more sales on Amazon, try to make your product offering unique. Offer an additional item with the product that you’re selling, such as including a free case to hold paint brushes. Also, consider selling services alongside the product, offering a discount code, or starting a sale for a limited time to drive interest in your product.
3. Think About Shipping in Advance
When you’re fulfilling your own orders on Amazon, it’s important to think about your shipping process ahead of time. You can streamline your shipping process by leveraging automated shipping software, such as Endicia. Endicia can help you save time on order fulfillment by importing all of your Amazon orders and allowing you to print multiple shipping labels at once. This will allow you to pick and pack your orders faster. By automating your process, you can help fulfill orders faster, meet Amazon’s strict time requirements and keep your customers coming back for more.
4. Get Reviews
Positive reviews influence product sales on Amazon. While Amazon automatically sends an email asking for feedback from buyers, you can be proactive by including a personal note on their packing slip thanking the customer for their business and saying you appreciate any feedback. Also, don’t forget to respond to poor reviews of the product in a professional manner, including addressing customer service concerns. Reviews can provide opportunities for you to know what you can improve on to enhance the customer experience and increase your sales.
5. Optimize Your Product Images
Make sure you use the maximum amount of product images (one Main image and 6 additional images) to help support your Amazon listing. The Main image is the most important since it is the first image you will see in the product search. It should always be a professional photo of just your product (filling up 85% or more of the image area) against a white background. Many Amazon sellers suggest using a 2000 pixel by 2000 pixel square image as that is the maximum zoom level. You can include other images that can help your customers imagine how they can use the product or how the product appears from different views. For example, you can include additional images that show the back and side of your product. Consider also including packaging images or lifestyle photos. The more images you use in your listing, the more information your customer has to make a purchase decision.
Final Thoughts
Increasing your Amazon sales requires having a plan. From leveraging automated shipping tools to optimizing your product images, you can put profit-improving tactics into action so you can boost your Amazon sales.