SESSION TITLEPresenter ’s Name

Expanding Product Sales Using eBay & Amazon

PRESENTER: Robyn Johnson

Expanding Product Sales Using eBay & Amazon

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Robyn JohnsonInternet Merchants AssociationBestFromTheNest.com/Miva16or text “MIVA” to415-653-7636

Robyn Johnson• Started with $100• Grew to 7 Figures• Amazon Expert

New and Noteworthy

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• Courses• Coach • Speaker• Author

Sellers By Trade, Teachers at Heart

• Brand Owners• 3p Sellers• Marketplace Sellers• Exclusive Ecom Site Sellers• Ebay• Amazon

Poll

Slides Available @ http://www.bestfromthenest.com/MIVA16

Know Your Customer- RITN

• Collector• Hard to Find/Discontinued• Niche Down• Second Hand• International Audience

• Look at completed listings• Look at Sold• Global Shipping Program• Tools: TeraPeak• Fee Calculator:

http://www.fees.ebay.com/feeweb/feecalculator

• Structured Data• UPC Driven Catalog• Changes to Help Sellers

(Monty Python Reference For the Non-Geeks In the Room)

Elephant in the Room

Prime Customers Spend Significantly more than non-prime membersIt is estimated that 50% of household will have a prime membership by 2020If your item isn’t available via Amazon Prime- it still doesn’t exist

Methods For selling On Amazon

• MF- Merchant Fulfilled• FBA- Fulfillment By Amazon• 3P Sellers• Selling Directly To Amazon

Understanding Amazon

• ASIN• MSKU• FNSKU• Gated Categories• Prep and Product Policies

Amazon can also be your biggest ally…

• High level of qualified buyers• SEO and Marketing “done for you”• Established trust with the customer• Logistics that can scale your brand faster• Sales that can outpace your ecommerce and retail stores• Distribution that is hard to outmatch

Don’t underestimate the sales volume…

• Well funded/skilled Amazon resellers can spend 10k a month or more on a single product line.

• A good relationship can go on for years and can help you launch other products

Not being on Amazon is an option …

• Any seller can create a page on Amazon• Once data is in the catalogue it becomes part

of Amazon

Slides Available @ http://www.bestfromthenest.com/MIVA16

What you don’t know, can hurt your brand…

What you don’t know can hurt your brand…

Ways your listing can end up on Amazon…

• A seller purchases an item from you wholesale and creates the listing

• A brick and mortar store creates the listing and sells on Amazon to supplement their store sales

Ways your listing can end up on Amazon…

• A shopper can buy an item on sale or clearance and create the listings

• Items can be purchased through a liquidator or clearance

• Items can be bought from a B & M and sold directly to Amazon

Done Right, Amazon is Great

• Brand Awareness• Brand Legitimacy• Massive Distribution• Back up for your own distribution!

Brand Registry

– Control your listings– GCID’s instead of UPC’s– A Starting Point to Control 3p Sellers

Traffic

• Amazon has its own SEO• There is a strategy to creating effective listings• Make it readable to the customer• Utilize keyword, bullets, and all the images• No buys=no confidence

MAP Violators, Counterfeits, and Unauthorized Sellers

• Amazon makes it difficult for you to get them off of your listing

• Be clear and upfront about your Amazon policy• If you have a MAP policy enforce it, especially before the

show• Keeping track of who you sell too and don’t restock problem

customers• Lot Tracking- Moroccan Oil example

Amazon Policies

• Amazon has a policy for everything• They expect you to be up to date on ALL of the policies• However, they don’t tell you when they are updating

some policies• Amazonians have their own language and their a

unique set of guiding principals.

Selling to Amazon or 3P Seller

Vendor Central (Direct to Amazon)

• A+ Listings• Subscribe & Save• Amazon Vine

• NO PRICING CONTROL• 90 Payment Schedule• Amazon can return overstock

Independent Seller or Direct

• Potential MAP Pricing Control• Control over vendor returns• Control over quick payment• No Invitation Required• Higher Margins

Benefits To Using a marketplace Seller

Time/ResourcesAmazon MetricsPrice ParityPossible Tax Nexus

Prime Time Tips

• Keep on average 4-6 weeks in stock• Watch for LTS fees• Stay up to date on policies and Hazmat changes• Partner Shipping Rates• MCF

Bringing New Items to MarketAmazon or Ebay

• Identify Need• Keyword Research• Quality Listing• Sponsored Ads

Creating A Listing• Pictures

–The illusion of holding the product–1001 Pixels on shortest side–Multiple–Regulations per category (i.e.

Shoes, grocery, clothing)

Creating A Listing

• Title– Customer Centric – > 200 Characters– Important words first– Order of keywords not as important

Creating A Listing

• Bullets– Feature laden– Benefits to the customer– Descriptions– Nothing Seller Specific– Sponsor Ads and Keywords Potential Change

Product Evaluation- Determine Demand

• Merchant Words/Keyword Search– How are people searching for this item– Helps create Title, Bullet points, Keywords

• Google– Is this product/brand easily searchable?

• Yelp/Forums/Blogs– Has it been reviewed, do people know about it?

What if you find an item that is not already on Amazon?

• What to look for in bringing items to Amazon– Is it unique?– Does it have brand or do something so special it doesn’t

need one– Is it something that is new to market?– Is it a rising or falling trend

• Selfie Stick – on the way out

Determining Demand

• Are people searching for this product?• Are people searching AMAZON for this

product?• Are there similar products like this on the

marketplace?– What makes mine different?– Is the market too saturated?

Brand Name

Keywords

Items that have an Underserved Demand

• Identifying underserved markets– Following blogs, reviews, social media

• Serving a Saturated market– Identifying grievances of a item - Reviews

• Doesn’t come with batteries• Doesn’t have a carrying case• Breaks Easily

Keyword Research

• Look for alternate searches– Carts/Buggys– Soda/Pop– Football/Soccer

• Long tail strings• Look at product reviews

– Complimentary products, alternate uses

Optimize listing

•Title•Photos•Bullets

•Description•Keywords

Starting at a lower price

• Conversions for organic rank• How are people searching for my

product?• Looking for a gift, ends up buying something

for themselves

Sponsored Ads• Keywords for conversion• Sales from ads can increase organic search rank

for keywords, due to sales and keywords used• Automatic and Manual Targeting• Must have Buy Box• Set daily budget and monitor• Set up Campaigns• Advertising Reports

Manual Target

Watching ACOS• We aim to have our ACoS to be below 10% for

us to continue running an ad for that keyword.

• We only run manual campaigns unless we are fishing for new keywords.

• Especially if your ACoS is high, it is easy to spend a majority of your products on Sponsored Ads.

Refining your campaigns

• Look for high ACoS• Check for conversions• Eliminate low conversation words

Run Down

• Identify Need• Keyword Research• Quality Listing• Sponsored Ads

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Robyn JohnsonInternet Merchants AssociationBestFromTheNest.com/Miva16or text “MIVA” to415-653-7636