Amazon is an incredible platform on all fronts.
With a massive reach (to the tune of 47% market share in the US and UK and 31% market share in Germany), it’s an incredible outlet to showcase products, earn more sales, and build brand awareness.
But Amazon is also an overwhelming online platform for Sellers and consumers alike. With so many options for how to shop, sell, advertise, and win on Amazon, it’s no wonder there are lots of questions.
In this guide we’ll answer some of the top questions we hear about Amazon and give helpful hints on how to succeed on the platform.
COMPARISON SHOPPING:What is a comparison shopping service?
Comparison shopping websites are tools that consumers can use to find the best price on a product they want. With a comparison shopping service, consumers can simply search for a product, and the website will automatically compare prices for that product.
HOW DO PRICE COMPARISON WEBSITES WORK?
Comparison websites gather data from e-commerce retailers.
Most comparison sites (like Google Shopping) have a mutual relationship with those retailers; if retailers want to appear on Google Shopping, they need to A) place marketing bids for their products and B) provide accurate product information to Google. This data can be supplied via a direct API or via large spreadsheets.
HOW DO I COMPARE PRODUCTS FROM DIFFERENT WEBSITES?
To compare products from different websites, navigate to a comparison shopping engine site like Google Shopping or CamelCamelCamel. Once there, you can search the product as you normally would and can see different price comparisons across various retail outlets.
BEST COMPARISON SHOPPING ENGINES, WEBSITES, AND APPS.
Some of the more popular comparison shopping engines, websites, and apps include:
What is Amazon Marketplace?
Unlike Google Shopping, Amazon marketplace is not a comparison shopping engine. Instead, it’s a full marketplace where different Sellers offer products and compete across several factors to earn sales.
Amazon’s marketplace is lucrative. You can see statistics about the top selling businesses on Amazon in this top Amazon marketplace sellers list. The top three marketplaces with the most top 1,000 Sellers are the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany.
Interestingly, the US and Germany both showed growth (year-over-year) in the number of Sellers in the top 1,000. But the UK lost 29 Sellers from the top 1,000, a total of 15%.
Is Amazon better than eBay?
Amazon and eBay are two very different marketplace models. Amazon is a retail website where Sellers compete for sales. Sellers control the selling price of products and are responsible for adjusting prices accordingly.
Conversely, eBay is an auction-based platform where consumers have power over product prices. eBay customers look for rock-bottom prices and tend to be more price sensitive than Amazon customers.
Amazon’s marketplace is much more advanced than eBay’s, and it offers more merchant support through its fulfillment services, customer service, and extensive transportation networks. Amazon also has more than double the users of eBay, meaning Amazon can open more doors to potential sales.
AMAZON VS EBAY FEES
Amazon is notorious for charging fees, and in this sense, it’s much cheaper to sell on eBay than it is to sell on Amazon. But there are trade offs to consider: selling on Amazon gives you access to more consumers, better transportation networks, and a different target audience.
So while selling on eBay is less expensive initially, Amazon’s perks may make it a smarter sales outlet for your business.
How do you sell on Amazon?
Is it easy to sell on Amazon?
Getting started selling on Amazon is fairly easy. All you need is a business address, tax information, and some products to sell.
WHAT IS A GOOD PRODUCT TO SELL ON AMAZON?
When it comes to choosing the type of product to sell on Amazon, not all categories are the same. Some of the top selling categories on Amazon are:
- Toys and Games
- Electronics *
- Cameras
- Video games
* (though this niche is highly saturated and elastic. Amazon is also introducing several own-brand products in this sector)
When it comes to choosing a product to sell on Amazon, think about the category and do some research on how that category reacts to market changes. Some catetgories also change over the course of the year due to retail seasonality. The category you sell in could be extremely profitable, or it could be oversaturated.
You can also use a tool like Jungle Scout to discover products that have a lot of searches, but relatively few Sellers. This “low-hanging fruit” might make a great category to compete in.
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