Amazon US

Big_Internet_Ecommerce_Competitor_Analysis

Amazon Competitor Analysis – Key Competitor Metrics to Track in 2020

Do you know why Amazon is the largest e-commerce marketplace in the world? This is a platform where 87% of customers actually shop for products and thousands of sellers sell their products. Whether you are a new seller or an established one on Amazon, the main goal is to drive traffic to your products, maximize your reach, and increase sales. The competition in the Amazon marketplace is so intense with thousands of sellers on Amazon. There are millions of similar products from different sellers that are listed and ranked by Amazon which gives customers a choice to buy quality products. Since every product has hundreds of different vendors, the time is now, more than ever, that Amazon sellers carry out better analyses of their competitors to stand out from other merchants. It’s no easy feat to maintain a competitive advantage on Amazon, especially when you’re not keeping track of your competitors. A comprehensive study of your rivals is one of the most successful ways to stay ahead and survive in the largest competitive marketplace. Why is Amazon Competitor Analysis important for Amazon Sellers? Amazon is a giant marketplace and is only getting bigger. And just because it’s crowded and highly competitive doesn’t mean all is lost. Evaluating competitors’ products and marketing strategies help in identifying gaps between what your competitors offer and what customers need. Bridging the gaps and finding new opportunities to make your products stand out from the competitors is what the game is all about. The quantitative and qualitative data of competitors give valuable insights for Amazon sellers to make better decisions, optimize advertising campaigns, and more effectively, track performance and profitability. Use competition as leverage and carve out a spot in the marketplace for yourself. 5 Key Competitor Metrics Every Amazon Seller Must Essentially Track 1. Analyze the targeted keywords of your Competitors Keywords are the search terms entered by shoppers on Amazon’s search box to find a product. Shoppers can easily find your product only when it appears on the top pages of Amazon search results with their search terms. The most critical step in Amazon’s competitor analysis is researching your competitors’ keyword strategies. Competitive keyword analysis helps evaluate specific keywords used by your competitors in the product listing page and identifies whether they are using evergreen keywords or trending keywords to improve their product’s ranking. With this data, you can adjust the relevant Amazon keywords in the product listing page to optimize product visibility and conversions while also gaining a competitive advantage over other sellers. 2. Audit your competitors’ Product Listing Figure out your competitors first and compile a list of their products. Compare all the features of your competitors’ product listings from the title and product description to images with your listings and check how well your competitors have optimized their listings. Look at what other sellers’ product listings on Amazon have that attract customers, like the product title, quality images that showcase the key benefits of the product, description of the product in bullet points, use of optimized keywords in the title, and product content. This gives a clearer picture of what needs to be done to improve your product listings. Auditing your competitors’ product listings is a simple strategy that boosts your products’ rankings and sales with less time and investment. Pay attention to all forms of the product content like your product title, product description, tags, and meta-tags. Order content in a fashion that places the most relevant keywords first. Not only does this improve your product’s ranking and visibility, but it also helps customers better understand the details of the product being sold. 3. Know your Competitor’s Price It’s a known fact that customers compare the prices of products between sellers before purchasing a product. This doesn’t mean that only a product with a low price gets sold. Better availability and the faster shipping time also play a key role in differentiating sellers from other competitors. However, assessing the competitor’s prices is also an important factor for an Amazon seller to make sure that the pricing strategy is robust and stays competitive in the highly saturated Amazon marketplace. As a seller, you need to be aware of your competitor’s pricing strategies to identify hot-selling items and how fast your competitor’s products are being sold out, based on which you can work and improve your sales strategies. 4. Check the Reviews of your Competitors Reviews not only indicate the number of sales but also give valuable feedback on the products, either positive or negative. More the number of sales, the higher the rank of your product. Analyzing product reviews of competitors reveals a wealth of information about buyers like what product features make them happy, and what they don’t like about the product. This helps you address the specific issues of your product. Feedback on the products of your competitors also provides useful insights to position product descriptions to attract customers who shop in comparison. 5. Evaluate your Competitors’ PPC Strategies An in-depth evaluation of competitors’ ad campaigns helps Amazon sellers to consistently structure their ad campaigns and leverage the untapped keyword potential to generate more traffic for their products at a low cost. Keeping track of different strategies of your competitor’s ad campaigns helps you to understand and analyze the keyword choice of your competitors and helps in optimizing your Cost-Per-Click over time. This enables you to get more out of your Sponsored Products campaign than your competitors do and allows you to win high-value top sponsored positions. Leverage the advantage of Amazon Competitor Research Tools – It’s worth your time and money. There are many amazon competitor research tools like Sonar, Helium 10, Sellics, and Keyword Scout, that make it simple for you to compare your product listings to your competitors’ listings, show the type of keywords (Short or long-tail) used by your competitors, search volume, cost per click, and other valuable information and help you discover your competitor’s advertising strategy. These tools give you an actionable Amazon

Amazon Competitor Analysis – Key Competitor Metrics to Track in 2020 Read More »

Big_Internet_Ecommerce_One_On_One_Coaching

Quick Insights Into Inventory Management for Amazon

Leave a Comment / Amazon / John

Are you an Amazon seller? If yes, these are some of the most popular marketing factors that you probably gave importance to in order to ensure the growth and success of your business – Amazon Rankings – Product listing Optimization – Ad Campaigns. Every Amazon Seller wants their products to be ranked on the top of the Amazon search results page to increase the product’s visibility and boost sales. While many factors do help achieve this higher rank, inventory management is one of the more important factors that play a crucial role in the success of your business. Effective implementation of inventory management helps rank your products at the top of all other search results and helps raise your revenue. What is Inventory Management and Why is It Important for Amazon Sellers? Inventory management is all about monitoring the product’s weight, size, quantity, and supply, and keeping track of the stocked goods from time to time based on the demand. It’s not just stocking and tracking the goods but building an efficient strategy focused on customer satisfaction and optimum level of inventory that helps in the growth of your business. Maintain the optimum level of inventory – Save the Costs Ensure that your inventory is not too high or too low. Too high an inventory may result in dead or spoiled stock and unnecessary costs on the rent of occupied space. Too low an inventory may result in late delivery to the customer which may lead to bad reviews affecting your sales. Inventory Management – Customer Satisfaction Today, customer expectations are soaring. You can build the trust of customers with the timely delivery of your products. Amazon users have become accustomed to a one or two-day delivery and to meet their expectations, you need to make sure that the products are ready for shipment and reach the customers on time. Timely deliveries also lead to positive feedback and increased ratings of sellers, boosting sales in the bargain. Advantages of Inventory Management Improves Amazon Search Rank Increase Customer Satisfaction Boost sales Saves money How Inventory Management impacts Amazon’s Search Rank? Amazon’s algorithm relies on several factors to rank a product listing on the search results page. Two important factors related to inventory management that affect Amazon’s Search Rank are: Product Availability Typically, if your products are out of stock for a long time, they do not show up in the Amazon Search Results. Users do not wait for your products if they are out of stock. They just go to other players in the market, unless of course, your product is exceptionally unique and better. Similarly, if your products are frequently found out of stock, your listing likely gets knocked down in the Amazon rankings, even when your products are available. Positive customer experience is necessary to avoid losing sales, your product’s organic ranking, and your Ads visibility. Reviews and Ratings Every review on your product, whether positive or negative, counts in a product’s ranking. Product availability has a direct impact on reviews and rankings. Continuous feedback on a product from customers is vital for an Amazon seller, as it boosts search results. Moreover, fresh reviews that specify the benefits of the products attract more customers and increase conversion rates. No inventory implies no new product reviews from the buyers which in turn implies no sales, thus directly affecting the product’s visibility in the Amazon search results. How to effectively manage Inventory? Effective inventory management is the key to ensuring the smooth running of your business. Keeping track of stock is no easy task. You need to be mindful of inventory management, as it can make or break your business. Here are 6 tips for effective inventory management Plan and Prioritize Prioritize your inventory based on the demand for the products. This helps you understand what products need to be ordered or manufactured more frequently to fulfil customers’ needs and wants. Analytics can help you plan your business and inventory more efficiently. You can plan for seasonal sales fluctuations, forecast the demand for products, identify trends, monitor costs, estimate profits, and concentrate on shipments and products that require immediate attention. Avoid Dead and Spoiled Stock Deadstock is the inventory that doesn’t get sold and has been stored in the warehouse for an extended period. Spoiled stock is the stock that may have reached the expiry date or defective products that do not meet the intended specifications of the customers. A huge quantity of either dead or spoiled stock harms your business in more ways than one. Invades valuable warehouse space which could have been used to store high-demand and revenue-generating products. Drop in the sales of a product. Unnecessary wastage of money on storage and maintenance of products that are not profitable anymore. Therefore, maintaining a steady level of inventory on Amazon is a crucial piece of a business’s profitability. Keep an eye on your inventory turnover rate Inventory turnover is the number of products you sell in a given period. How fast the inventory sold is the Inventory Turnover rate. A high inventory turnover rate indicates strong sales which suggests you promptly replenish the products of high demand and keep track of the stock. Inventory turnover rate is important to estimate the amount of stock you need to order so as to maintain optimum stock levels. Use Inventory Management Software It’s a common fact that most Amazon sellers to date, use documents or spreadsheets to keep track of their inventory. Though this could work for small businesses with small inventories, it is time-consuming with a high margin of error and inefficient in the long run. Inventory management software automates different aspects of inventory management with more accuracy and efficiency. It allows you to manage shipments and returns and interact with customers easier than ever. It also helps keep track of inventory levels in real-time so you can map trends to determine required inventory levels for your products over different periods, which is key to making sound purchasing decisions. Make

Quick Insights Into Inventory Management for Amazon Read More »

Big_Internet_Ecommerce_Private_Label_Consultation

Source and Sell Private Label Products on Amazon

If you are planning to start your own e-commerce business, then to make some serious money, marketing private label products on Amazon is the best option for you. You can also take advantage of the fulfilment programs provided by Amazon such as Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) Program and Merchant Fulfillment Network (MFN) to improve sales conversion. Here’s all you need to know about sourcing and selling private-label products on Amazon. Product Research For Private Label Products The first step would be to brainstorm product ideas and you can get product ideas from just about anywhere. For example, you can visit physical stores and see what’s hot & trending or you can ask regular customers which products make the most sale. You can also get product ideas from Amazon so always pay attention to the “New Releases” section and Amazon Best Sellers page. Keep looking for new products under different sub-categories. Social media is a great place where you can get new product ideas but you will have to do your own research to check what is trending by analyzing viral posts. Find the Target Market For Private Label Products You can sell anything on Amazon, even if there is little to no demand for that product. You can’t sell something that has too many competitors. You can easily come up with a great product idea but you also have to study the market and find out the best product for your audience. If you are a new Amazon seller then it might be your first product or you want to add a new product to your business. Our Amazon Product researchers have observed that many Amazon sellers waste their money on finding out what the best product to sell is. While searching for your winning product, you need to take care of pricing, shipping, availability for sourcing, product demand, seasonality, and competition. Find the Right Product Suppliers Now that you have an awesome product idea that you want to sell, you have to research product suppliers and manufacturers. For the perfect Private Label products, you have to research marketplaces like Alibaba, and IndiaMart which give you great product ideas. You can sort your results by minimum order requirements, materials, and price. You also get an idea about costs and other charges through this process. If you still can’t get the best supplier and manufacturer for your desired products, then Google is always there for you. Use the product name first as your search term and then mention the private label supplier at the end. Finalizing Logo Design and Packaging Once you get a few good suppliers, don’t order the products immediately. Request for a quote and samples first. You have to compare price quotes of multiple suppliers and also make sure that the products are up to your standards. There will be charges you incur such as shipping costs, import duties, and any other fees. Once you source the product, branding, design, and packaging come next. You can put your logo on the packaging and the product itself. Since it is a private label product, you have to make sure you design the product differently and not like the products already in the marketplace. When it comes to design, there are a lot of things to cover. For example, it might be a sample design with just a label or logo. Depending on the products, you might also have to do a full-scale package design that includes instruction booklets, an ingredients list, and other elements. Make sure the branding is done professionally as it plays a major role in your marketing and sales. At BIE, we have many services that enhance the brand and we have professional graphic designers on our team who guide you through the design process. Figure Out Your Fulfillment Strategy For an Amazon seller, product ratings matter a lot, and your shipping and fulfilment process has a direct impact, on your ratings and reviews. There are so many options available by which you can fulfil an order. But before making any decision, make sure you consider the costs of everything. There will be many costs such as shipping, picking, packing, warehousing, and logistics. You can fulfil your order in-house, that is on your own, or you can ship your private label products to Amazon’s warehouse, and the order will be fulfilled by Amazon. Nowadays, many Amazon sellers choose the Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) program to fulfil their orders. It’s easy to get more sales using FBA and customer service is provided by Amazon. You can use third-party fulfilment centres or ask your private label product supplier if they offer fulfilment services. Basically, drop shipping. Whatever strategy you choose, keep in mind, ratings, and also make sure your supply chain works systematically. Amazon Product Listings Your next step is to ensure your product gets listed on your seller account on Amazon. Make sure you use high-quality and professional product images only. At BIE, we have an e-commerce product photography service where we offer you professional product images. The title is the most important element of your Amazon product listing. Make sure you use the brand name first in your title as it is a private-label product. After the brand name, make sure you use the keywords and search terms that the users could search. Your product title will define what you’re selling so make it as effective as possible. Once the title is done, including all the benefits and features of the product in the bullet points, is crucial. Here you can put some keywords that you want to target. Lastly, make sure you put all the information about the product in the description. The product description is the place where you can instruct the buyer and help them to make a purchase decision. The product description is your sales copy that will decide whether the product will sell or not. Sell Your Products and Start Advertising Once the listing is done, you can add more products and start selling. You

Source and Sell Private Label Products on Amazon Read More »

Big_Internet_Ecommerce_Amazon_Store_Management

Amazon’s Vendor Purge – Is It Really Bad News?

Leave a Comment / Amazon, LifeStyle / John

In a huge strategy shift, Amazon is reportedly going to purge small vendors, reserving Vendor central only for biggies like P&G, Sony, Lego, and other massive names. This news on the vendor purge came as a rude shock to many suppliers when Bloomberg first wrote about it last month. Much has been said and discussed since then and we have now arrived at a point where it is almost finalised and everyone is waiting for the official news to roll over. Why is Amazon doing this to vendors? “Third-party sellers are kicking our first-party butt. Badly,” – Jeff Bezos wrote in his Annual shareholder letter. This is not just a statement but a thoroughly researched statistical analysis put in simple layman’s language. Ask me how? In 2018, nearly 58% of Amazon’s total sales came from third-party sellers. In the present year, this is estimated to go even higher. This made Amazon think about pushing small vendors below $10M in annual sales to the seller central platform. Seller central is more profitable for Amazon It is hard to believe but Amazon is not making as much as we would like to hear from the Vendor central. Amazon has to hire more vendor managers and spend more on the logistics – for the fulfilment and shipping of first-party products. The cost will go further once Amazon implements its One-Day shipping program. Seller Central on the other hand is relatively easy in terms of logistics and Amazon gets a share of every single sale that is made. Small Vendors are posing a risk With the increase in competition, there is a rapid increase in counterfeit/ unauthorized products as well. With so many small vendors, Amazon is finding it difficult to properly vet, inspect, and dismiss the products that do not meet the quality standards. This directly or indirectly impacts the business model and affects customer satisfaction. Amazon had stopped issuing POs to thousands of such small vendors a few weeks back and kept them on hold until they reviewed their products. The third Party is less demanding This might sound surprising, but the third-party sellers are smarter – they put in extra effort and are self-sufficient with their own pricing, forecasting, marketing, and shipping. They strive to drive more traffic to the marketplace and provide exemplary customer service. Ultimately, Amazon gets a cut out of every sale by simply lending their marketplace and growing along with the millions of other sellers. Vendor Central, on the other hand, is a lot of work. They need to demand forecast, negotiate, buy, manage inventory, take care of logistics, and provide customer support. Amazon is simply unable to allocate that kind of human resources. Also, Amazon sells products at loss, in an attempt to win the “Buy Box” at times. There are tons of vendor manager posts unfilled since 2018 and that explains why first-party businesses growing double digits every quarter is long gone. So what’s going to happen to the small vendors? I would say it is a welcome move for vendors as seller central is in its best shape now than ever before. If you are a vendor, do not feel threatened by the sudden policy change. The transition to seller central is going to be rewarding. Far superior reporting Control over pricing Inventory control No chargebacks If you are a Private Label seller and have got Brand Registry done, you have access to Enhanced Brand Content, which is pretty much similar to A+ content in Vendor central, and you can also create your storefront page. In addition, there is a new Brand Analytics tool which is very similar to the Retail Analytics dashboard in vendor central but with limited metrics. Coming to campaigns, in seller central, you have sponsored products and sponsored brand ads. While product display ads are still not on the third-party platform, there is not much your missing out on as you can make the most out of these two. With Amazon’s new selling plan, you can reach customers in 10 countries for just $39.99 per month. Isn’t that good news? How to prepare yourself for the transition? Set up a seller central account Consider the FBA program to enjoy Prime benefits Work out on product profitability and re-price accordingly Optimize your listings as there is going to be more competition now Redefine your marketing strategy Take Away Never put all the eggs in one basket. If you haven’t explored other marketplaces, it is high time you stop relying only on Amazon. Walmart, ETSY, eBay, and Opensky are great marketplaces where you can list your products and expand your business. If you need any professional help for your Amazon store management, get in touch with us. BIE is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based agency providing human resources to manage all things Amazon. BOOK A FREE CONSULTING CALL

Amazon’s Vendor Purge – Is It Really Bad News? Read More »

Subscribe to Newsletter for updates

Big Internet eCommerce

Amazon Graphic Design

Dedicated Remote Teams

Listing Optimization

Digital Marketing

Amazon Vendor Central

Services

Product Sourcing

One On One Coaching

Refunds & Reconciliation

Shopify Services

Quick Links

Resources