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O P E N

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Use Fulfilment by Amazon

3. List from the point of view of customer

4. Aim for Buy Box

5. Competitive Pricing

6. Keep track of customer metrics

7. Staying ahead in the game

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Introduction

Amazon India is one of the most preferred platforms for any online retailer. The company philosophy and principles are skewed towards maximum customer satisfaction, and every step is directed towards ensuring this.

As an online seller, getting listed on Amazon’s platform may be a matter of just getting through the formalities and paperwork. But it is a highly competitive playground with many players (read individual sellers) vying for the top spot.

So you need to be on top of your game to be customer’s favourite. You need to choose the right strategy and constantly innovate to grab eyeballs.

In this ebook, we have compiled the MUST-DO strategies for you to stay ahead of competition in the Amazon marketplace.

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1 Use Fulfilment by Amazon

Read Story – Decoding FBA: Fulfilment by Amazon

Through Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), you can utilize Amazon’s warehouses to store your inventory and have them packed and shipped out faster. Scaling up is easier as you would not have to worry about space constraints; if there is demand for your products, you can always stock them in the warehouses.

In a customer’s mind, the FBA tag is attached with credibility and trust. So the chances of your product getting picked over one that doesn’t have the FBA tag are more. This is supported with Amazon’s world-class customer service

to ensure all your customers’ queries are looked into and answered on time.When you join FBA, your products become more visible and are eligible for special services like One Day delivery, Free Delivery, Buy Box etc. which help you to reach out to more customers.

As per a survey done by Amazon in 2014, 86% sellers using FBA registered a surge in sales after using the service.

Source: Amazon

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21 List from the point of view of customer

Remember, you are listing for the customer. When you include phrases and terms, think of what he or she might search for when there is a requirement for the product. Online shopping has become so popular now that customers directly search on their preferred platforms than on Google.

How about taking stock of your listings to see if they are optimized? Here’s a short checklist:

• Are you using single words? It’s better to use single words than phrases for higher visibility. Your product will turn up only if customer types the exact word; so if you use phrases, you are limiting your product’s visibility in search results.

• Have you checked/researched how other similar products are listed? Check out how other similar products have been listed, especially those which turn up high in the rankings.

• Have you experimented? Fixing on the right keywords may need some trial and testing.

• Are you repeating words from product title? Amazon already considers the product title for search results so don’t waste your words by including these again.

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Top 4 search results when you search for “bag” on Amazon.in

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3 Aim for Buy Box

Getting featured in the Buy Box is a big advantage for Amazon sellers. It means Amazon considers your product the best fit for that particular product’s page. It is the CTA, which tells shoppers to buy that particular product with the ‘Add to cart’ button included in the box itself.

Winning the Buy Box is by no means an easy fete. It is an ongoing process when sellers can rent it for a certain period of time. To win a share of it, you need to be on par Amazon’s standards for the following:

• Competitive price• Positive customer feedback• Significant inventory volume• Fast, efficient delivery• Low return, refund rates

In general, these are some pointers that can help you to increase your sales from Amazon’s marketplace and will help to ensure you deliver maximum customer satisfaction.

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4 Competitive Pricing

It’s no secret that majority of the Indian consumer base is price conscious. For many, price is the deciding factor for purchases. So to appeal to these and others, it is best to price your products such that they are competent enough to grab customer eyeballs.

Always keep track of the prices being offered in the market for your products. Sometimes you may not be able to beat a competitor’s pricing, but try to match it.

If you don’t want to, make sure it’s after you have weighed all your options. Can you expect more volume of sales with the pricing you offer? Can you be sure that there won’t be returns due to the price factor?

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5 Keep track of customer metrics

Amazon is all about customer satisfaction. Sellers with highest ratings from customers obviously carry more credibility. For a customer in the online world, review from another user is like a personal recommendation in the offline world.

As a seller, you can gauge the performance of other sellers on the platform based on the popularity with customers. Amazon has a Customer Metrics page, which will give you reports about customer satisfaction.

Many performance metrics are included in this like:

• Order defect rate – indicates the percentage of orders with negative feedback• Late dispatch rate – indicates late shipping and rate of returns and refunds• Perfect order percentage – indicates percentage of successful orders

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Staying ahead in the game

Volume in sales can ensure higher returns. But this should not be at the cost of quality of your products. Remember, your customer has multiple options for the same product. Even if you employ the right combination of the above strategies, they will be fruitful only with products that are of good quality and value for customers.

Write to us at editor@indianonlineseller.com and share your selling experience on Amazon.

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