How to Increase Your Amazon Marketability [guest post]

How to Increase Your Amazon Marketability

It’s no secret that Amazon is a great place to sell nearly anything. The platform alone accounts for nearly half of all e-commerce sales in the United States. But such a crowded marketplace also means that you’ll face stiff competition in nearly every sector. In 2014 alone, there were more than 2 billion items sold on the Amazon Marketplace.

To succeed in such a tough environment, you need to take advantage of every possible opportunity. Writers have focused on everything from images to copy to marketing tactics, but it’s also important to capitalize in all situations.

Just like Facebook advertising firms look to optimize campaigns and entice users through various strategies, so must Amazon vendors. These quick tips will give you an edge and have a significant impact on your bottom line.

Use Vendor-Powered Coupons

Vendor-powered coupons are only available to Professional Vendors and Sellers, who have Pro Merchant accounts. These offer significant exposure for specific products. The coupons allow you to provide discounts on individual items and get your products seen by more Amazon users.

Amazon tries to make the best deals as visible as possible. This means that if you can offer even a marginally better discount than the competition, you’ll likely get greater exposure. Apply discounts to your flagship items to attract new customers who are less likely to be familiar with your offerings.

Get in the Buy Box

If you’ve ever shopped on Amazon, you’ve likely noticed the buy box. This is a small section on the right side of a product’s page providing different ways to purchase the item. There are often many vendors selling a given item, but only a few are featured in the buy box. These select few have a substantially higher chance of being noticed.

The best way to get visibility through the buy box is to beat out your competitors on price. Items are automatically listed by their cost, including shipping, which makes it the simplest way to get ahead of the competition. You can also focus on improving your seller rating and shipping performance to move up to the top of the buy box.

Don’t Be Afraid to Automate

While many of the most important aspects of marketing will always need a personal touch, there are still important facets of your advertising strategy that can be automated effectively. There are already high-quality keyword research programs available to cut down on your research time, allowing you to focus on more personal parts of the job.

The buy box presents another great opportunity for automation. Since your visibility is largely determined by your overall cost, automatic repricing tools will keep your prices under the competition, ensuring that you never leave the buy box. These accessible tools are easy ways to reduce the time you spend on menial tasks and free up more time to focus on what really matters to your business.

It’s impossible to cover every effective Amazon marketing strategy in a short article, but these quick tips will give you a leg up on the competition. By finding ways to implement them in conjunction with a unique marketing plan, you’ll increase your visibility and outreach. Doing so is absolutely crucial on a platform with over 80 million American Prime members.

About Rae Steinbach

Rae is a graduate of Tufts University with a combined International Relations and Chinese degree. After spending time living and working abroad in China, she returned to NYC to pursue her career and continue curating quality content. Rae is passionate about travel, food, and writing (of course).