What are possible ways of selling on Amazon?

Amazon records high growth each year in terms of the number of sellers and buyers as well as in terms of a turnover generated from sales. Also companies that have observed amazon only with the side eye must admit that sales on the amazon should no longer be ignored. Sales methods on Amazon’s marketplaces vary depending on the strategy, the type of products and the capabilities of individual companies.

A brief overview of possible ways to sell through amazon marketplaces:

1. independent sales of goods on the Amazon marketplaces, both to final customers (B2C) as well as to business (B2B) customers – this is about the most demanding form of sales, but it would be recommended if you want to take full control of your brands on the amazon and that you are aware of the long-term commitment to managing your Amazon account;
2. sales of your branded products is taken over by Amazon, who acts as a distributor – this option can be used by manufacturers, but exclusively in case they are invited by the amazon, which regularly monitors market trends, and invites manufacturers to become amazon’s vendor for products considered by amazon they have a market potential; therefore, there is one of the options in case you are invited to cooperate with the amazon and you do not want to manage sales on amazon by yourself;
3. sale is taken over by one of the experienced, well-established and long-standing sellers on Amazon (indirect sales), who either acts as a seller and sells (a) under your brand name, or (b) under his own brand name;
4. sales (B2C and B2B) under the Amazon brand and/or under your brand name, however with products exclusively sold on amazon; it is so-called the “Amazon Accelerator”, promoted by amazon also as the “Amazon Family of Brands”;
5. sales within a special category within the Amazon marketplace meant for handmade products, i.e. “Amazon Handmade programme”, which also allows buyers to order a personalized product;

Individual options listed above can be combined and individual ones not at all. Within the framework of individual options, additional options are available, especially in case of sales option under No. 1. Individual options also have specific Amazon requirements that need to be met in advance. Your chosen option should be in line with your market entry strategies, with your existing online sales, if you have it, and of course with your existing partnership network (traditional sales network, suppliers, …) in case you have it.

The options and roles that are reasonable to assume when selling on amazon also depend on your current role, e.g. whether you are

• a manufacturer with a small or larger number of products and you want to sell them under your own brand names,
• a manufacturer who is willing to sell white or private label products to others,
• a retailer or a retail chain with your own trademarks and/or third party trademarks,
• a marketing consultant without own products, and you would like to sell third party products through Amazon under your own brands or third-party brands.

As you can see, the number of variations on the topic is huge, so we recommend taking the time to study the options and carefully plan. 80% of the time should be reserved for planning, complying with requirements and preparation, 20% for implementation; i.e. the 80/20 rule, which is especially strong and important when introducing amazon sales and especially when you want to introduce your own amazon sales under your own brand, which will require a greater investment in a form of knowledge, time and money.

At WOTRA, we already have experience in implementing individual options. For example, we are proud we’ve been able to complete a very demanding project and helped the client to implement its own sales under its own and partner brands on the European amazon (option under No. 1) with a very demanding technological solution in conjunction with their pre-existing online store and very demanding partnership business model.

In case you want to know more about the benefits and potential traps related to the sales on Amazon marketplaces and expand sales to new markets through online sales channels (amazon and/or other available and established online marketplaces), we invite you to consult with the author of this article and/or ask for customised training specific to your organization’s needs.