This is Series One – How to Start a Successful eCommerce Business in Less than 30 Days. In this step-by-step guide, you will learn how to quickly launch an eCommerce store and start seeing those sales roll in! And here’s your host…Ishani DePillo. 

Ishani: Hello Everyone, I hope you are doing well today!. Thanks for listening in. Today’s podcast is going to be about the big guy, Amazon. If you’re not familiar with Amazon… who am I kidding, we all know Amazon, right? Well, let me tell you a bit of history about Amazon anyway. 

Started in 1994 and in his garage, Jeff Bezos sold his first book on Amazon. Now over 25 years later Amazon records $4,722 each second? That’s $17 million per hour. Isn’t that insane?  To say that Amazon has flipped the retail industry on its head is understatement. You can basically order anything online, and get it delivered to your home within days, if not hours. There’s same-day delivery and then there’s Amazon Prime where you pay a subscription fee to get 2-day FREE shipping, free music and movie streaming plus additional benefits. And 1 out of 3 Americans have an Amazon Prime Membership.

So if that many people are using Amazon to purchase what they need, shouldn’t you be on Amazon selling?

Our consensus is yes, but there are some that say no, including some of our bigger clients. I’ll go over why they don’t want to be on Amazon. But before that, let’s quickly go over how selling on amazon works.

You sign up for the Amazon Seller Program and go through their approval process, You list your products on Amazon, Amazon customers find and purchase your products on Amazon’s Marketplace, You either ship the items to the customer or have Amazon ship the item for you if you have signed up for Amazon Fulfillment. We will cover both options in this podcastAmazon sends you the money, but not before taking out their fees.

Did you know small-to-medium businesses located in the US sell more than 4,000 items per minute? And more than half of the items sold on Amazon are from small to medium-sized businesses. So yes, being an Amazon Seller might be worth it for you.

Let’s talk about the benefits and the disadvantages.

So the advantages to selling your products on Amazon are:

Reach: There are just so many users on Amazon! 112 million US Amazon Prime subscribers, to be exact. With that amount of shoppers on the marketplace, you are bound to make sales.Reputation: Amazon is one of the most powerful, respected and trusted companies in the world. Trusted by buyers that is. In fact, 89% of buyers agree they are more likely to buy on Amazon versus any other eCommerce website. And the #1 reason behind why consumers prefer Amazon over other eCommerce businesses is the their customer service. High Purchase Intent: Consumers go to Amazon to buy a product. Unparalleled shipping times: If you do end up using Fulfillment by Amazon, where Amazon ships your product from their warehouses, you get fast shipping that’s hard to beat. Amazon’s distribution warehouses are strategically placed across the US while many other businesses only have one distribution center.

All of this sounds amazing, right? But hold up, there are also some disadvantages that you need to be aware of:

Competition: There is a lot of competition on Amazon and it’s going to be hard to stand out and win. In fact, there are more than 2.5 million sellers currently actively selling on Amazon. Lack of Brand Awareness: Don’t expect Amazon customers to be loyal to your brand and make repeat purchases directly on your website after purchasing your product on Amazon. They will almost always purchase on Amazon.  Cost: Nothing is ever free. And Amazon is not the exemption. Meaning, there are fees. First, you have your seller account fee. Amazon sellers can choose between a Professional or Individual plan. Individual sellers pay $0.99 for each item sold on Amazo