We’ve spoken with a number of people who currently run their Amazon business via a distributor, and sometimes this arrangement works well. If your products are flying via this route, then great. However, some products need a bit more help to get them going. Your distributor may not be aware of all the levers that can drive long term lasting success.
Use the checklist below to help you assess how well your partnership is working for you:
Do your product detail pages have clear titles, compelling bullet points and several images (including back of pack and ideally lifestyle images)?
Your listing is often all the Amazon shopper has to make a decision about whether to buy. Do you feel your listings are as good as your competitors?
Do you have a brand store?
To check this, look at the product detail page for one of your lines on Amazon. Immediately underneath the title will be a blue hyperlink. It might say ‘Brand: Yourbrand’ or ‘Visit the Yourbrand Store’. When you click this if it takes you to a branded shop front with your logos and lines, then this is probably your brand store. If you are just seeing a list of products with ‘Showing results for Yourbrand’, then you probably don’t have a brand store. Are you making the most of your shop front on Amazon?
Are your sales in growth?
Amazon’s UK sales grew by 51%1 from 2019 to 2020. Not every category saw the same growth, but the rate at which Amazon is growing its share of shoppers’ income suggests that, you too should be seeing a growth curve. If that’s not the case, do you know why and what steps are in place to maximise your brand?
Does your product appear on page 1 against the most obvious search terms for your products?
70% of customers on Amazon do not click past the 1st page of search results2, so if you can’t find your lines easily this could be cause for concern. Have you addressed this with your distributor?
Do you have an agreed advertising support package in place?
Amazon advertising is one of the best methods for increasing the visibility of your products. The advertising provides priority placements to directly increase visibility, whilst the increase in page views feeds into the Amazon Algorithm, promoting your product higher within the listings. Do you have an advertising plan in place?
Is the advertising delivering results that improve over time?
Advertising should provide returns that improve over time as it becomes more efficient. This might not happen
if your product category is becoming increasingly competitive. Do you know how your advertising is performing?
Do you have an agreed promotional plan?
Promotions play a role in growing your products on Amazon. As in all retail, they can provide sales uplifts during and post promotion, and introduce new buyers to your brand. On Amazon there is the added benefit that a well-executed promotion can increase page views and therefore your organic ranking. Are you happy with your agreed promotional strategy?
Are your products consistently in stock/well supplied?
Interruptions in availability cause issues for the Amazon Algorithm and for advertising efficiency. If your products
are frequently unavailable on the platform, this should be a cause for concern.
If you’re not happy with how you answered the checklist, we’d love to talk about how we could help.
MINSTER fb specialises in supporting businesses that own their brands, have secure supply chains and want to invest in growth online. If you’d like to discuss how we could work together, click here. The process involves answering up to 5 questions and supplying your contact details. In response we will send you an indicative cost and an outline of how we can support your Amazon ambitions.
1 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1035592/net-sales-amazon-united-kingdom-uk/
2 Feedvisor, “The 2018 Amazon User Study: Getting to Know Your Customers.” (2018).