This document provides information on getting started with selling on Amazon, including through Vendor Central and Seller Central accounts. It discusses Amazon's growth and market stake. It outlines the benefits and disadvantages of the Vendor Central and Seller Central platforms. It also discusses factors that influence winning the Amazon "Buy Box", including customer satisfaction, landed price, Fulfilled by Amazon, stock levels, and performance history. The document provides a case study on how one company used Amazon ads to increase product traffic, sales, and revenue over time.

1. Getting Started on
Amazon
Why you can’t afford to not be there

2. Amazon’s Stake in the Market

3. In 2017 Amazon saw a 31% growth in sales
worldwide, spurred on by its Prime delivery
service (BBC, 2018)

4. There was a 19% growth in UK sales in
2017 (Verdict, 2018)

5. Source: Amazon
UK Revenue Growth in $’s and £’s

6. It is estimated there are more than 8
MILLION Amazon Prime members in the
the UK (Yahoo, 2018)

7. In February 2018 it was reported that
Amazon was now the 5th BIGGEST
RETAILER, and accounted for 33.5% OF ALL
UK SPEND ONLINE in 2017 (Verdict, 2018)

8. Starting Out on Amazon
Vendor Central vs. Seller Central

9. Vendors
Sellers
• For product manufacturers
• Invite only
• Operate as a 1st party (1p) seller
• Wholesale direct to Amazon
• All orders will be fulfilled by Amazon
• For merchants and brands
• Anyone can sign up
• Operate as a third party (3p) seller
• Sell direct to customers of Amazon
• Can handle shipping yourself or use FBA

10. Benefits
• Anyone can open an account
• Can sell direct to shoppers on Amazon
• It can prove to be cost effective
• Free data analytics
• Receive payments quickly
• Can make use of FBA
• Fewer advertising options
• Fulfilment costs can be high
• You receive limited exposure without the use
of advertising
Disadvantages
Seller Central

11. Benefits
• Listings appear as dispatched and sold by
Amazon
• Additional advertising opportunities available
• Increased consumer confidence
• Larger sales volumes (wholesale)
• Your customers benefit from Amazon’s world
class customer service
• Restricted access to the platform makes for
‘lower competition’
• Limited control over product pricing
• Slower payment terms
• Slower potential for international expansion
Disadvantages
Vendor Central
(invitation only)

12. Competing on Amazon
Winning the Amazon Buy Box

13. The Buy Box appears on the product detail
pages where customers can add items
directly into their cart – Products with the
same ASIN/ SKUs are grouped together
under one listing…

14. Example of the Buy Box
The number of sellers listing the
product under the same ASIN
Buy Box

15. Example of the Buy Box
The number of sellers listing the
product under the same ASIN
Buy Box

16. Only ONE of these retailers will be
immediately visible and this is the seller
that WINS the buy box

17. Factors in winning the buy box

18. Customer Satisfaction Landed Price Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA)
and Amazon Prime
Stock Levels Performance History

19. Customer Satisfaction
• Amazon wants to know that customers are happy and are getting the
service and products that they expect, and within the time specified
• The customer satisfaction element is essentially made up of several
combining factors:
• Your responsiveness to customer queries
• Delivery success rates and timings
• The number of order cancellations by you as the seller
• Your order defect rate which is made up of 3 factors – negative
feedback, chargeback claims, and a-z guarantee claims
• Return dissatisfaction rate
• Your seller feedback reviews & ratings

20. Landed Price
• Your pricing will not only include the product price but also the cost of
shipping
• Lowering your price and increasing your delivery cost to maintain profit won’t work in
your favour here
• Whilst being the lowest price may help your sales, to win the buy box, you
don’t necessarily have to be the cheapest you just have to be competitive
• If you already benefit from extremely strong performance metrics, then
you may be able to price your products higher and still win a share of the
buy box

21. Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) and Amazon
Prime
• FBA is known to be one of the biggest influencers over the buy box in
Amazon
It essentially means that Amazon takes care of your shipping and customer service
meaning that aspect of your account health remains on track and your customers
benefit from Amazon’s world class customer service
• Bear in mind though that although running your products through FBA has
its competitive advantages & benefits, and certainly increases the
likelihood it doesn’t necessarily guarantee you the buy box, products
fulfilled by merchants can also win

22. Stock Levels
• Amazon wants to know that if you win the buy box you have enough stock to meet the
demand
• This is ever more prevalent for seasonal products, as Amazon will look to give preference to
sellers who are carrying large stock quantities
 In some product categories if you don’t sell and advertise throughout the year then Amazon will prevent you
doing so at peak times such as Christmas
• If you have an extremely popular or fast selling product you won’t be able to win the buy
box if you only have a couple of units in stock
• The other factor to bear in mind is that if there is a seller who has consistently sold large
volumes of a single item then they will always have an advantage in winning the buy box
• If you have no stock the buy box will simply move on to another seller

23. Performance History
• If you have a strong history of successfully fulfilling a large
volume of orders, Amazon will build a picture of you as a seller
as consistent and trustworthy
• A good performance history will also show your capability in
delivering a positive shopping experience for consumers

24. With 82% of Amazon’s sales going through
the buy box (Big Commerce), and an even
higher percentage on mobile devices it is
important you are doing what you can to win
this

25. Keep prices competitive, Utilise FBA where
you can, ensure high stock levels, manage
customer feedback and promote products
to increase exposure and sales

26. Getting Set Up On Amazon Ads

27. How to Reach Customers
Campaign and Ad Types

28. Sponsored
Brands
Organic
listings
Sponsored
Ads

31. Sponsored Products
• Ads for professional sellers on Amazon
• Target based on user searches and help your
products reach a new audience
• Use manual keyword or automated targeting
• Ads can appear in search results and on
product detail pages
• Ads appear as a normal Amazon listing
price, reviews etc.) but will have a sponsored
badge
• You can select which products to advertise
• Can appear on desktops, mobiles and the
Amazon app
• When users click they go direct to your
product detail page

32. Sponsored Brands
• You can grow sales, exposure and brand
awareness
• Improve brand visibility
• For registered brand owners only
• Promote a portfolio of products
• Feature 3 product listings of our choice,
a logo and headline text to control brand
message and maximise performance
• Appear above search results on desktop
mobile
• Targeted to searches based on keywords
• Leads users to a custom landing page that
features 3 or more product listings that you
select

33. Amazon in Action
Buy Direct 4 U Case study

34. So What Did We Do?
• We looked at the use of automated vs manual strategies
• We looked at which products that were being advertising on (or not)
• We looked at the available campaign types
• We looked at bids that were in place
• We applied logical campaign structures
• And over the last 2 months we have looked at bidding strategies and placements
(new features in Beta)

35. What Did We Learn?
• Automated and manual campaign types work well when ran together
Click through rates are often higher in manual campaigns, we have also found CPCs
to be slightly higher, ACoS is often increased as well
• Headline Search Ads (now sponsored brands) worked well for driving
awareness and traffic but ACoS was very high
• Ads across the board work best for top of search placements, this has been
by a considerable amount in some areas
• We found that running a ‘whole catalogue’ campaign with £0.01-£0.04
bids helped to identify products with potential. It also worked to advertise
on products that performed reasonable organically

36. Over a 1 year period we helped to
increase product traffic via sponsored
ads by 128.93%

37. This increase, with a focus on product
targeting and campaign types resulted in
199.94% more sales via sponsored ads

38. This ended with a 90.66% increase in
revenue

39. Are Amazon Ads Right For You?

40. Do you sell or manufacture products?

41. Then the answer is most likely YES

42. Increase Your Sales
Shoppers come to Amazon ready to buy, get your ads in
front of potential customers at this very moment
There are over 8 billion UK members
Increase Visibility
While your organic listing may rank low, your ad has the
potential to appear on page 1 and product detail pages
which can mean an instant visibility boost
Target Customers & Expand
Use keywords to match your product listings to customers
searches who are ready to purchase
You can also expand internationally faster and make use of
Amazon’s distribution network with FBA
Control Your Ad Costs
With advertising you will pay for the clicks your ad receives,
you don’t pay when your ad is shown
You can easily manage your bids and budgets
No monthly fees are associated to having an ad account

43. Thank You
Any Questions?