Strategies for attracting new customers from Amazon to your online store

Once I attended the talk on “How to sell on Amazon to capture new customers in your online store”, given by Carlos Bravo as part of PrestaShop Day. Or what is the same, “How to do SEO on Amazon”. And since then, I’ve been looking for the moment to share with you these interesting tips on how to sell on Amazon as a company, so that you can try them and reach without mercy these desired first positions. So, let’s go for it!

5 key factors to appear in the top positions on Amazon

First of all, we have to be aware that Amazon can also be (and is) a marketing channel. In fact, the US it represents 60-70% of their sales and 40% of all online sales in the country. In Spain, Amazon accounts for 10% of total online sales. And when it comes to UK, “Amazon enjoyed staggering sales growth over the past decade, taking net sales from roughly 4 billion to over 26 billion U.S. dollars” (source)

For an online store, PrestaShop or not, it’s good to have several sales channels. And it’s clear that Amazon can be one of them, because many times, when a person searches for a product, they go directly to Amazon and not to Google, so keep an eye on this fact!

So… is it profitable to sell on Amazon? Would it be convenient to sell part of my catalog on its platform? And if so, how can I do it?

Selling your products on Amazon

Especially if it’s your own brand or a product that nobody knows, you’re going to have strong competition to get sales. And to beat that competition and get Amazon to take you into account, the first thing you have to do, paradoxically, is to get sales.

The key is to organize launch campaigns and thus reach the new customers you want to attract. And to have an impact with the campaigns, the best idea is to give away or give a 99% discount on any of your products. I know. Not very appealing. But you have to consider it as an investment.

Another part of the strategy would be to rely on Facebook Ads. Thanks to this you can segment your audience (for example, if they’re interested in outdoor sports and skateboarding), and capture leads that will come in handy later (we explain it below)

This way, once you have the product on Amazon (let’s go with the example of skates), you can make an email offering 99% discount to users who signed up for Facebook Ads, who were interested in outdoor sports, and wow: skates.

If you’re a loyal reader and shop at Amazon, this strategy sounds familiar. Ever wondered why so many (new) authors put their books on sale for 99% off or even free, for a while? Well, there you have it.

What about belonging to Amazon Prime, is it a good idea? This way, you have access to European markets, so it’s useful if you want to sell in UK, France, Germany… Doing so seems relatively easy, thanks to the Pan-European Program, by which Amazon stores your products in logistic centers in Europe, and from there they send them to each country.

But be careful, because if you do this, you have to pay VAT in each of the countries where Amazon has stored your products. That is, you have to register for tax in each country, with all that this implies. You have plenty of information about it in here.

So check the costs and whether it’s worth selling abroad or not. It’s advisable to wait to do it until you have a sufficiently high volume of sales, which allows you to offset the costs.

Requirements to sell on Amazon: product reviews

Before you do anything, you should know that in order to get sales, you have to get product reviews, because for Amazon, products without reviews are not relevant. And if they’re not relevant, it doesn’t rank them in its search. And then nobody sees them, so nobody buys them, so who’s going to rate them?

So no matter how much you register on Amazon and upload your catalog, we’re back to the strategy of starting your sales with a 99% discount on the product. Why? Because roughly 30% of those who receive a discount will leave you a review. With this you have already won part of the way.

Of course, the product reviews that count are only those with 4 or 5 stars. In other words, a 3-star rating counts as a non-positive rating, lowering your rating and producing a possible lack of trust.

In addition, if you have positive reviews as a seller, it will be easier to position the product. So it’s worth investing resources, if you’ve been negatively valued as a seller, in reversing this valuation. And by investing resources we mean offering a discount, a 2 for 1, an additional detail… something that the user values as positive.

You also have the possibility to work with Amazon ads. But don’t make the mistake of doing it from the beginning, thinking that this will make you being seen right away. You’ll have to wait until you have at least 10 (or 20) ratings, otherwise, in principle, your Amazon ads will not work.

Improve the CTR and conversion rate of your Amazon catalogue

Amazon, like Google, takes into account the CTR rate (that is, the number of times a user clicks on the link of your product) to position it better. It’s a way of saying: “Hey, my product is interesting!” So, to increase this CTR rate, there is a little trick that you should keep in mind and Carlos discussed in his talk:

When you want to link to your product with the discount or promotion from a website, or when you’re just going to pass the link to a person who has asked you for it because they show interest, do the following:

1. Search for your product on Amazon through the keyword you want to position yourself for: skates
2. Go to the search page where your product finally appears.
3. Click on the link of your product and you’ll see that the keyword appears in the URL above
4. This is the link you have to use

This way, it will look to Amazon like that person has found your product through the search and bought it. So you get two things: position by CTR and also increase conversion (because a good percentage of those who click, will buy, since they asked for the link themselves)

Photos and description of your catalog to sell on Amazon

Amazon is a very visual platform. Before buying, people look and look at the photos. So try to use good, quality images that showcase your product well and at the same time, thanks to their HQ, will solve all the doubts that the customer may have regarding finishes, materials, etc.

The image above also serves as an example: when you move the mouse over it, on the right, a higher resolution zoom and detail image of the product in question is displayed.

Another factor to take into account are the product descriptions. Use keywords, details, and make them entertaining and original. Remember that you always have to know how to capture the customer’s attention.

Create your own brand on Amazon and attract traffic to your online store

There are a few ways to take advantage of Amazon, of the pull that the platform has on customers and that those who visit it, can be lead to your eCommerce. Because while at the beginning Amazon had the products cheaper than on other sites, now it isn’t always so. Try following these steps:

• Create your own brand and register it on Amazon. This way, you will begin to sound familiar to users and also encourage them to search for you on Google with your brand name.
• Customize the management of your orders. For example, after the order, say thank you with a nice or funny image and include on it your website address, logo, etc.
• Incentivize the purchase on your website by adding discounts for the next order (because if you take into account the commissions you pay when selling through Amazon, you may not notice the difference)
• Add a little extra and exceed the buyer’s expectations. For example, send a free gift with the purchase to compensate for the shipping costs, if they are high.

Last tips for your sales on Amazon

And as if everything we’ve told you wasn’t enough, here are a few last tips to help your sales on Amazon:

1. Create your own packs (for example: skates + sunglasses) This way you’ll have less competition, because few stores (or none) will have made exactly the same packs as you. At least until they copy your strategy.
2. Always have stock available.
3. Sell known brands, even with second-hand or discontinued products (as before, you won’t have as much or any competition)
4. Avoid top sellers, because they’ll be very competitive and you’ll have to invest a lot of money to sell something.
5. You need to have a varied catalogue with a lot of products: what sells well today may not sell tomorrow. That’s why it’s good to rotate and add products. In fact, it’s better to have product rotation than margin.

So, as you’ve seen, selling on Amazon is not as easy as just uploading your products and that’s it. You must have a whole strategy behind it, if you don’t want your efforts to be in vain. But if it goes well, it can be a great asset.

Have you tried? Do you think it is worth it? Tell us in comments!