It only takes one visit to Amazon to note the sheer, overwhelming number of products sold there. So how are you, an aspiring Amazon FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon) seller, supposed to choose a niche?
You want to sell products that will earn you revenue- or else what’s the point- but how do you know what those products are? You’re not able to just track the shopping habits of everyone in the world!
Don’t worry, just remember these 5 things when selecting your product inventory:
1. The simpler the better
When deciding on what kind of products you’d like to sell, consider the potential for customer dissatisfaction. Electronics are often faulty, and region-specific power plugs might make them incompatible for international customers. Choosing products with less chance of malfunction could improve your future customer rating by potentially reducing the frequency of complaints.
You might also want to choose simpler products to reduce admin headaches for yourself. Food and beauty trading requires you to obtain certifications and licenses to prove they’re fit for consumption or safe to use. Selling products like clothes would usually require you to stock multiple different sizes and even colours, too.
So, keep in mind that simplicity might make your business more practical and efficient.
2. Avoid seasonal items
Even if you’re a hopeless romantic, it might be best not to set up that Valentine’s Day themed Amazon shop you were thinking of. Christmas, Halloween, Easter- all products relevant to holidays have a narrow purchase window. It’s unlikely you’ll be making much profit on baubles in August.
To earn the most from your Amazon FBA selling year-round, make sure to stock year-round products.
If you decide to stock a huge wealth of products, of course, include as many seasonal products as your heart desires- but only if they aren’t your primary source of Amazon revenue.
3. Think about the product size & weight
Especially when you first start selling on Amazon, you might want to stick to stocking small, lightweight products. This will not only save you on shipping costs, but the cost of packaging too. Expensive shipping fees are one of the easiest ways to detract potential customers, especially on Amazon, where free shipping has come to be expected.
Amazon FBA might store your inventory in their own warehouses, but even Amazon has finite storage space; asking them to store large or unwieldy products for long periods of time might lead to you incurring additional storage fees, too.
4. Price between £10 and £50
It might seem most logical to sell the cheapest items possible to attract potential customers; who doesn’t love a bargain? However, items that sell at less than £10 are harder to make a profit from in small volumes.
Sure, if you’re selling thousands and thousands of items each with a miniscule profit, that profit adds up. But if you’re only receiving small volumes of orders (which is likely when you first start out) a small profit margin isn’t going to support you or your business.
More than £50, though, and the buyer is less likely to spend impulsively; they’re more likely to spend longer considering their purchase, and therefore more likely to reconsider that purchase or decide against it altogether.
5. What are people looking for?
You don’t tend to browse on Amazon like you would on other online stores. On, say, a clothing website, a shopper might trawl through everything in the ‘trousers’ tab, on the off chance they see something they like that they weren’t explicitly looking for. But there are too many products listed, and too many categories of products, browse in such a way on Amazon.
Think about the last time you bought a product from Amazon and what your shopping process was; you had a specific product in mind, you searched for it, you chose an item from the first page or two of results.
Keep this process in mind when deciding on the products you want to sell.
Fulfill a customer need: moving boxes for the new homeowners; measuring spoons for the aspiring baker; garden twine for the green-fingered retiree. Don’t stock something that is unlikely to be searched for specifically.
If you’ve just started out as an Amazon seller, take a look at our other guides to see where you can improve your sales. Or, if you’re ready to outsource your Amazon marketing, chat to one of our specialists for expert advice on how you can help your business grow.