In today’s rapidly evolving digital marketplace, having an online store or an established selling website is a critical first step for any eCommerce business. However, relying solely on your own website can limit your growth potential. To truly scale, reach new customers, and boost sales, your brand must also sell on Amazon.
With its unmatched reach, logistics infrastructure, and built-in trust, Amazon offers a unique opportunity for both startups and small business owners to grow their online business while complementing their existing sales channels. Amazon supports amazon sellers with tools like Sponsored Products and encourages customer reviews to enhance product visibility. Even if you’ve built a strong brand presence through your own brand site, expanding to Amazon can help you generate more traffic, increase purchases, and gain a competitive edge. For those who want to sell on Amazon, the platform offers significant opportunities for growth and visibility.
Introduction to Online Business
Starting an online business can be a lucrative venture for entrepreneurs and small businesses, allowing them to reach new customers and sell products globally. Ecommerce businesses can operate from a single website or multiple online channels, including social media and established selling websites. To succeed in online business, it’s essential to have a solid understanding of ecommerce principles, including managing inventory, fulfilling customer orders, and providing excellent customer service.
Online businesses can benefit from using various tools and resources, such as software and websites, to streamline their operations and improve their sales channels. By leveraging the power of ecommerce, businesses can expand their reach, increase sales, and build a strong brand presence in the market.
The Case for Selling on Amazon
Amazon is more than a marketplace—it’s a powerful ecosystem that supports millions of sellers, many of whom are growing fast thanks to Amazon’s tools and infrastructure. Whether you’re a new amazon seller looking to start selling or an experienced brand exploring new fulfillment options, Amazon is where your business can thrive.
Today, many customers begin their product search directly on Amazon, bypassing search engines entirely. This means that even if you have excellent SEO on your own website, you may miss out on new customers who are already browsing Amazon for product ideas. Listing your products on Amazon allows you to show up in their search results and get discovered alongside or ahead of other sellers in your niche. Amazon's FBA program simplifies logistics for sellers by handling storage, packing, and shipping, allowing you to focus on product development and customer service. This scalable opportunity helps you reach a vast consumer base effectively.
Getting Started on Amazon
Creating a seller central account is the first step to getting started on Amazon, allowing businesses to manage their product listings, inventory, and customer orders. To start selling on Amazon, businesses need to decide on a fulfillment option, such as Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) or fulfilling orders themselves. Amazon’s FBA program can help businesses streamline their logistics and shipping, allowing them to focus on growing their sales and expanding their product lines.
When setting up an Amazon selling account, businesses should consider their product ideas, target audience, and pricing strategy to ensure they can compete with other sellers. By following Amazon’s guidelines and best practices, businesses can create a successful online store and start generating sales on the platform.
How Amazon Supports Business Growth
The benefits of selling on Amazon are vast. First, there’s exposure. Amazon has hundreds of millions of active users, including millions of Prime members, who are ready to buy. These amazon customers trust the platform’s buying experience and are more likely to purchase from sellers listed within its ecosystem. Additionally, analyzing amazon product reviews can provide insights into customer preferences and product improvements, helping businesses refine their offerings.
Second, Amazon handles much of the operational heavy lifting. With Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), or what some refer to as Amazon’s FBA program, you can send inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, and they’ll ship products, manage customer orders, process returns and customer service, and ensure every customer receives their items quickly and reliably. This convenience allows sellers to focus on marketing, new products, and growing their brand instead of getting bogged down in logistics. Amazon also facilitates numerous transactions, contributing to impressive sales figures for sellers and offering a vast marketplace for businesses looking to sell their products efficiently.
Additionally, when you fulfill customer orders through FBA, your listings become eligible for Prime shipping, giving you a competitive advantage and increasing the likelihood of conversion. If you choose not to use FBA, you can still sell products and manage inventory through your Seller Central account, which provides access to tools for tracking units sold, optimizing product listings, and adjusting product detail pages.
Product Listings and Optimization
Creating high-quality product listings is crucial for businesses selling on Amazon, as it helps customers find and purchase their products. Product listings should include detailed product descriptions, high-quality images, and relevant keywords to improve search results and attract new customers. Businesses can optimize their product listings by using lifestyle imagery, customer reviews, and other marketing strategies to increase conversions and sales.
Amazon’s product detail page is a critical component of the sales process, as it provides customers with essential information about the product and helps them make informed purchasing decisions. By optimizing their product listings and detail pages, businesses can improve their visibility, drive more sales, and build a strong reputation on Amazon.
Fulfillment and Shipping
Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a popular option for businesses selling on Amazon, as it allows them to leverage Amazon’s logistics and shipping expertise. FBA can help businesses save time and money on shipping, while also providing customers with fast and reliable delivery options. When using FBA, businesses need to send their inventory to Amazon’s fulfillment centers, where it will be stored and shipped to customers.
Amazon’s fulfillment options, including FBA, can help businesses improve their customer satisfaction ratings and increase sales by providing fast and reliable shipping. By choosing the right fulfillment option, businesses can ensure that their customers receive their products quickly and efficiently, leading to positive reviews and future purchases.
Marketing and Promotion
Amazon provides various marketing and promotion tools for businesses to increase their visibility and drive sales, including sponsored products and cost-per-click (CPC) advertising. Businesses can use Amazon’s advertising options to reach new customers, increase brand awareness, and promote their products to a targeted audience. Social media can also be a powerful marketing channel for businesses selling on Amazon, allowing them to engage with customers, promote their products, and build a strong brand presence.
By leveraging Amazon’s marketing and promotion tools, businesses can increase their sales, expand their customer base, and build a successful online business. Additionally, businesses can use other marketing strategies, such as offering lightning deals, discounts, and promotions, to drive sales and attract new customers to their Amazon store.
Control, Customization, and Brand Protection
Unlike selling through some third-party retailers, Amazon allows brands to maintain control over their presence and reputation. Through Amazon’s Brand Registry, you can protect your own brand from counterfeit products, gain access to enhanced content tools like lifestyle imagery and A+ content, and build out your Amazon store with customized branding.
Optimized product detail pages help attract and convert new customers. They provide space to share detailed descriptions, highlight product benefits, and integrate customer feedback. When managed properly, these pages can also reduce the risk of bad reviews by clearly setting expectations and showcasing positive reviews from happy buyers.
Amazon and Your Own Website: A Complementary Strategy
Some brands worry that selling on Amazon will cannibalize sales from their online store, but this concern is often misplaced. In reality, Amazon functions as a powerful discovery engine. Shoppers may find you on Amazon, make an initial purchase, and then return to your own website for future purchases or to explore a wider selection of services and products. Additionally, with a high percentage of online traffic originating from mobile devices, leveraging Amazon can significantly enhance your m-commerce strategy.
A smart strategy is to treat Amazon as one of several sales channels. Use it to reach more customers, test product ideas, and gather data. Track what performs well and apply those insights to your DTC site, retail strategy, or even international plans. For brands considering global expansion, Amazon’s reach across multiple countries and languages can be a launchpad for success.
Key Considerations for Success
To truly succeed, you’ll need to develop a thoughtful Amazon eCommerce strategy. That starts with setting up a selling account and optimizing your product listings with strong copy, keywords, and visuals. Great listings increase engagement and help your brand rise in search results.
Don't forget the importance of product detail optimization—titles, bullets, descriptions, and backend keywords all play a role. Tools within Seller Central help you monitor traffic, units sold, cost per click (CPC) for ads, and more, allowing you to continually improve your performance.
It’s also critical to control costs and avoid aged inventory. Keep a close eye on stock levels and choose the right fulfillment centers to reduce shipping expenses. Smart inventory planning helps you maintain healthy margins and avoid penalties.
Amazon also offers features like lightning deals to promote products and increase visibility during peak shopping times. Combine that with off-platform marketing like social media campaigns, and you have a complete funnel for driving money-making traffic to your listings.
Final Thoughts
If you're serious about building a resilient, scalable, and customer-focused eCommerce business, it’s time to sell on Amazon. Even if you already have a loyal following on your own website, Amazon gives you additional reach, tools, and capabilities to generate sales, streamline operations, and connect with new customers around the world.
An effective Amazon presence doesn’t mean giving up control of your brand—it means amplifying it. With the right approach, Amazon becomes more than a marketplace; it becomes a growth engine for your small business.
About the author
Partner at Asymmetric Applications Group, Inc., a unique agency that specializes in helping SMBs gain a competitive advantage through the application of asymmetric tools and techniques. Learn more about my background and experience at www.linkedin.com/in/mark-a-hope. You can contact me at +1 (608) 410-4450 or by email at mark.hope@asymmetric.pro.