Why an Amazon product might flop & what you should do if it does?

You might have spent weeks researching a great idea, months waiting for your product to be manufactured. It finally arrives in Amazon – but even after weeks – sales seem to be really slow.

The thing to understand is that sometimes products take a few months to take off – and sometimes no matter what you do – it might never take off. 


Do not give up. Not every product will be a winner. If you are unlucky enough that your first product doesn’t do as well as you expect – then you should try again. 

In this article we cover the top 7 reasons why your Amazon product might flop and what to do about it.

Reason 1 Competition 

Your product might not be selling well because there’s too much competition in your market.

If you can’t win the war on Amazon, then take the battle off-Amazon. Try every marketing strategy possible, from Facebook to optimizing Google SEO.

Remember, even though it might be competitive now, in a few months the competition will kill off several sellers. Hang in there without expecting a profit and the market might become easier in a few months.  

Reason 2 Low Sales 

If the market you’re in has low sales overall, it could be seasonal.

You might be trying to sell inflatable swimming pool armchairs in November. Use cash cow pro to check the sales of the market.

The only way to boost sales is to drive additional traffic from outside Amazon to your product. You might need to set up a separate e-commerce site. 

Reason 3 Listing 

Your product could have flopped because your images, keywords and listing are poor quality.

Get professional photos done of your product, do detailed keyword research and get a copywriter to update your listing.

You can track the results of your improved listing in cash cow pro which will show your sales, conversion rates and keyword position. 

Reason 4 Price War 

Maybe you’re stuck in a price war, which is usually a game of who can bleed the longest.

I recommend you set your price to break even, so after Amazon fees you make just enough to pay for the product and the freight. The secret is to hang in there. 

You might not be making any profit, but your item should still sell and in a few weeks time the market price may increase. If after 3 months there has been no improvement in the market price, then sell out your stock and move on. 

Reason 5 Expensive Pay Per Click 

Maybe you tried using quite a high bid on pay per click and you are still unable to get sales or impressions.

Instead of burning through money on Amazon pay per click, reinvest into other marketing channels off-Amazon. 

Reason 6 Quality Issues 

If you’re getting negative reviews and requests for refunds, you need to quickly fix any quality issues you’re having.

If you have 100 units in stock, consider adding 500 more but check the quality much more carefully before shipping into Amazon. That way you will dilute the bad quality products with good quality products, and your defect rate should go down from 10% to 2% or less.

It’s essential that you inspect the products at the factory before shipment every time. 

Reason 7 Flood 

Some markets become hot and there’s a flood of new sellers doing blasts and promotions, pushing your listing down the rankings.

If this is happening, drop your price to break even and get out of the market as soon as you can.

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