Many of you know I got started online when I opened up my very first ecommerce store. I love ecommerce sites. I still have my ecommerce sites. We still sell products every single day from my ecommerce sites.
Lately I have been getting phone calls from people asking me to help them build their ecommerce stores. We work on Yahoo, Volusion, OSCommerce and many other platforms and a lot of people like the fact that I don’t just sell ecommerce design and marketing… but I do it for my own sites! The thing is, most people are surprised when I tell them that before even building out their own site, the very first thing that I want to see them do is to get their products onto Amazon. Let me explain why.
SEO used to be easy. You could put up your site. Follow the rules. Get #1 in Google. Get lots of traffic and sales. Done. Today it does not work like that. Today Google is showing sites in the top results that are authority sites. The thing with being an authority site is that you have to have traffic to be an authority site. So if you are depending on Google to send you that traffic to become an authority site to get ranked number one to get traffic… you see the problem? =)
So today it is even more important to get your products out there on as many channels as possible! You need to look at Google and SEO as one channel to get more sales. But not the only channel and possibly not the most important channel.
So what is a channel anyways? A channel is simply another pathway towards sales. All successful companies know that it is important to not be dependent on one channel. You could have an affiliate program. That affiliate program is a channel as it drives sales. You could use PPC to drive traffic and sales. That is another channel. You could have a team of re-sellers or sales reps. They are another channel. The key is to setup multiple distribution channels to sell your products in as many places as possible.
I mean think about it. Would you rather have your products in one store? Or a chain of stores?
Think about it this way also. If you have a product what is the fastest way to get sales? Put up a brick and mortar store. Buy the shelving and decorate the store. Co-ordinate a ribbon cutting ceremony. Run ads in your local area. Pass out flyers. Invite all your friends.
Or….
Negotiate a deal with an established business that already has a lot of traffic and customers for a little bit of shelf space in their store.
That is what you get with Amazon.
Amazon already has the traffic. They already have thousands of visitors on their site every single day. They don’t only have visitors, but they have thousands of visitors with their wallets out ready to buy!
So why do I recommend ecommerce owners get on Amazon first even before they open up their own ecommerce website?
#1 Traffic
Amazon already has the traffic. You don’t have to wait to build your site, get the products up, write unique descriptions, begin an SEO and social media campaign or drive traffic with PPC. All the traffic is already there. You literally have to upload your products and wait for the sales.
#2 Market Research
Many times we don’t know if a product will sell or not. Did you know that there are major retailers that use Amazon to test whether or not they will carry a product in their retail stores? Brilliant! Instead of taking up expensive shelf space in a retail store to find out if a product will sell or not, you can now upload your digital versions of your products and test what the demand is even before you stock up.
#3 Amazon Fulfillment
One of the biggest benefits of Amazon is their Amazon fulfillment centers. By storing your products with Amazon, your products are available to be sold through the Amazon Prime Free Shipping Program. Your customers will also thank you because when your products are shipped through Amazon Fulfillment, you can get better shipping rates with UPS.
There are other channels to pay attention to. The other major channels are Ebay, NewEgg.com, Sears.com, and rakuten.com.
So before you start another ecommerce website, consider getting your products sold on Amazon first!
Need help setting up your Amazon store? We can help you from start to finish to get your products up in no time flat. Just give us a call and let’s get you added to Amazon in no time flat!