FBA is an easy business to get started in – for some people, too easy. While we’re firmly of the mind that you should get started right now, you do need to do some thinking and planning before you take action.
Continue reading ““Don’t ask me how I know that” – FBA rookie mistakes”
Amazon regulates its marketplace to protect buyers. Obviously, it doesn’t want anyone buying a counterfeit product or one that could be harmful to customers. That’s why it prohibits some activities.
Continue reading “What’s Not Allowed on Amazon”
If you sell seasonal products, you run a big risk of product obsolescence. All kinds of Christmas stuff – Santa hats and beards, for instance – is useless by the time we get to December 26th. That’s why we never recommend selling products that are purely seasonal.
Continue reading “Seasonal Products on Amazon”
Supply chains all over the world have been disrupted, and it’s costing more to ship products, too. It’s hurt most businesses over the last year, and according to research group IHS Markit, it’s likely to continue this year.
But there are a lot of things you can do to help your business. So let’s look at ways around the supply chain issue.
Continue reading “Help, Supply Chain Issues!”
There are plenty of people who can’t be bothered to work out their own business model or product – they just want to cream the profit out of someone else’s. Unfortunately, they flourish on Amazon, as some honest sellers have found to their cost.
Continue reading “Beating the Black Hats on Amazon”
There are quite a few ways you can go beyond the basic buy/sell transaction and give your customers something they’ll value. We’ve summarized some of the best here.
A personal touch
Whenever I buy on eBay, it’s always so nice to get a card in the box that says something like “Hope you like this, please just let me know it arrived safely – or get in touch if anything’s wrong”. Yes, that’s in the terms and conditions, but it is so nice to get the message direct – even more so if it’s handwritten and signed.
Continue reading “Ways to delight your Amazon customers”
Stock-outs mean you can’t sell your product. But “no sales” isn’t just “no sales”, it’s a lot worse. If you run low or have a stock-out, things will happen that will really hurt your business.
Continue reading “How to avoid stock-outs”
First off, remember that negotiation is about specifics. So when you order samples, you need to provide the manufacturer with all the right information for your product specification – length, weight, appearance, packaging, and so on. You want to be comparing apples and apples, not apples, oranges and bananas, when you get responses from the different factories.
Continue reading “Top tips for negotiating with your suppliers”
Over the past few years, a new kind of Amazon business has emerged – the FBA consolidator or aggregators. These are big businesses, with plenty of money to spend on buying up FBA businesses and scaling them up big-time.
Continue reading “Can I sell my FBA business? And what is it worth?”
You may be brilliant at spotting new product trends and product improvement ideas. You may be really great at dealing with suppliers and running business strategy. But if your writing skills aren’t that great, your product pages could be letting you down.
Everyone has weak spots. When you start out, you’re probably going to have to do nearly everything yourself. But to get your business on to the next level, you’re going to want to use freelancers to fill in the gaps in your skill set.
Don’t wait till you are run off your feet. You need to have the time to decide which areas to outsource, the time to write a job specification, and the time to interview freelancers. So start thinking well ahead of time.
First, think where are the areas that either you don’t really understand all that well, or where you find it a real effort to get started. You should also think about what areas are taking up too much of your time. And finally, think about where you can make the greatest contribution to the growth of your business. That’s where you ought to concentrate – other tasks can be outsourced.
Thank goodness, there are plenty of consultants in the gig economy who are happy to help you with tasks like
• product description writing;
• SEO and listing optimization;
• customer service – monitoring messages and reviews, and responding;
• inventory management;
• graphical design;
• social media management, creating content;
• product photography;
• product sourcing;
• supplier management;
• advertising campaign management.
Finding freelancers is a breeze. If you don’t know someone personally then you can use one of the freelancer platforms like Upwork (nearly ten million freelancers!), FreeUp (specializing in online business), or Fiverr (for cheapskates since it starts at just $5). Both Upwork and FreeUp have client reviews and rank their freelances, which is extremely helpful in getting the right person.
The more specific you are about exactly what’s needed, about time lines (ten product pages now, or one a month for ten months, are very different things), and about your store branding and where you want to go with the business, the more likely you are to find the right freelances. “I want some stuff written for Amazon” will not get responses from top freelancers; “I want product description pages including A+ content for 20 products aimed at dog owners” is far more likely to get the right writer.
Set up interviews, or chat online, with the freelancers who have the best match to your requirements, and make sure you both understand each other’s requirements and ways of working. Decide whether you are going to treat the project as a one-off job, a project with payment by milestones, or whether this is a pay-per-hour job on an as-required basis.
Make sure you know what software you’re going to use. You may need to give a freelance a log-in to your own inventory management systems, or to share documents on Google Drive. You also need to know what’s the best way to chat to each other – email, Skype, or collaboration tools like Trello. Ensure you have VOIP in case of emergencies.
Finally, make sure your freelancers understand where you want your business to go. For instance, you might point to your competitors’ business and say “I want our products to be better than theirs,” or “how can I get a better sales ranking than them?” Or you might say “I want my store to be the go-to store for stationery addicts on Amazon, can you help me get there?”
The more your freelancers understand your business, the better they’ll be able to help you – and the further your business will go.