If you’re thinking of selling on Amazon, or you already just started, learn about these top mistakes that sellers make and how to avoid them to ensure your business’s success.
1. Competing with Amazon
One of the biggest mistakes that small brands can make when selling on Amazon is trying to compete with Amazon’s own listings. It’s pointless to try and compete with a company on its own platform. You won’t see any growth when you try to compete with Amazon and the company already has a range of products that are widely sought after.
Amazon has enough inventory with the lowest prices that you just can’t beat. Even when you try to lower your prices than Amazon’s, your business won’t make enough profits. Therefore, it’s important to try and focus on selling products that Amazon does not carry.
2. Not following Amazon’s Guidelines
Like every other brand, your goal is to become one of the top sellers on Amazon. But you can’t make an impact on your business if you are not following Amazon’s guidelines. For instance, you decide to go ahead and list your products without knowing the guidelines, you may run into the issue where your account has been suspended.
This is a huge mistake that many sellers make. Always read Amazon’s policies first before you decide to start selling. Amazon makes the rules and you must follow them to ensure success.
3. Ignoring Customer Reviews
You can’t avoid your customer feedback. It’s one of the most important aspects of running a successful business on Amazon. Positive customer reviews are a part of what makes your business one of the best.
If you find that you are getting negative reviews, fix it by responding sincerely to the customer and amend the issue that they are having. This is so you can hopefully regain customer loyalty and it shows from the customer that you care about their needs.
Don’t be afraid to ask your customers for feedback. Keep in touch with them after they’ve purchased a product from you and ask them to rate their experience. Positive feedback goes a long way and it gives you the opportunity to establish trust with new customers.
4. Carrying Too Much Inventory from the Start
You may be tempted to stock up on some products so you can start selling as much as you can. But how do you know if the product you’ve stocked up on is going to sell? First, you need to figure out which products will sell and which ones don’t.
Start by purchasing a small batch first. Then if you find out that the product is not wanted by your customers, you won’t lose out on a ton of money. Once you figure out which products are the popular choice, it will be wise for you to go ahead and start stocking up for your inventory.
5. Responding Late to Customer Inquiries
Responding late to customer inquiries a big no-no. Amazon’s policies require that you respond to customer inquiries within 24 hours. If you are not following up within that amount of time, you will certainly see your account suspended within a certain amount of time.
So, it’s important to always follow the guidelines that Amazon created for you.
6. Delays on Order Fulfillment
One of the reasons that customers come to Amazon is so that they can get fast and free shipping. That’s what prime members sign up for so they can get the free, two-day shipping. But if your product does not offer prime benefits, customers still expect a reasonable amount of time and cost for shipment.
If you are not offering these types of benefits to the customers, then you can be sure that your brand won’t be able to compete with other sellers online. But you can fix this costly mistake by using Amazon’s program, Fulfillment by Amazon. FBA can fulfill your orders for you and ship the products out on time. It’s a big win for your business and you won’t have to worry about whether your product will get to the customer on time.