How to Win on Amazon in 2023
When it comes to e-commerce, Amazon is still king, especially in the marketplace world. Most brands understand that success on Amazon equals success online.
As a result, everyone is looking for magic tips and tricks to conquer this key player.
So, how can you and your business win on Amazon this year?
Let’s get the bad news out the way first. Amazon in 2023 is still going to be a highly challenging and complex channel. There’s no single easy way to succeed. Trust me, if there were, I’d be sharing it here. Hard work, knowledge and plenty of patience are what’s needed to be successful.
With this in mind, I’d like to share 5 priorities for 2023 that can’t be overlooked when planning your Amazon strategy.
Create a ‘Brand Story‘
Many brands face the same issue – they have long-tail products and can’t increase visibility or revenue for those ASINs.
It’s very hard to cross-sell products on Amazon. Apart from adding additional photos and comparison charts, it’s difficult to showcase your remaining product list.
However, this issue can be resolved with the ‘Brand Story’ feature. It lets you add your products and generate direct traffic to specific listings. You can also send customers directly to your ‘Brand Store’ to further explore your range.
If you have an amazing story to tell (for example, why your brand exists or what you do particularly well or differently) you can add additional information on the ‘Brand Store’ and share this with potential customers.
By using these branding tools, together with A+ premium content (more on this to follow!), you can create a cohesive and aesthetically pleasing product detail page to increase your overall conversion rate.
Utilise the A+ Premium Content Function
Last year, Amazon announced all eligible sellers would get access to A+ Premium Content. This was really big news because before this, the function was only available for Vendor clients.
To qualify for A+ Premium, sellers need to have three things:
- Brand registry
- All your ASINs need to have a published Brand Story
- Your brand needs to have 15 approved A+ contents in the past 12 months
Studies show that people take in 80% of what they see and 20% of what they read.
To keep your brand in consumers’ minds, A+ Premium content focuses on creative images and videos rather than words. This way, you can create a better customer experience with branded content and additional modules such as carousels, FAQs and videos.
The FAQ is particularly useful, as by calling out the most pressing questions or remarks from reviews, you can decrease return rates. It’s a win, win!
Review Your Amazon Advertising Campaigns
It’s no secret that selling on Amazon without advertising is almost impossible. You need an extra push, and the visibility provided by Amazon’s advertising tools is invaluable in achieving this.
However, with more competition and bigger players coming onto Amazon, advertising is getting more expensive on a monthly basis (see the CPC changes in the past 2 years). So, you can’t just create campaigns and leave them running without reviewing them.
I recommend reviewing all your advertising campaigns on a weekly basis and removing poorly performed search terms to protect your spend and control ACOS.
In addition, keep your campaigns structured. You should focus on:
- Knowing exactly what you want to advertise and not mixing different product groups (one product group = one campaign).
- The fewer keywords you have in your campaign, the bigger the chance that Amazon will show your ad. If you have lots of keywords, add them under separate campaigns.
- Monitor your campaigns budget. If your campaigns perform well, I recommend using budget rules to ensure you don’t run out of money (use this just when you run on sustainable ACOS).
Monitor Your Inventory Changes
Amazon’s operations side is a beast. It’s impossible to avoid warehouse damage or losses entirely. However, one thing you can do is stay on top of your business admin and make sure Amazon reimburses you for any inventory changes.
Knowing that FBA prices are going up year on year (alongside margins being squeezed), getting reimbursements from Amazon is more important than ever before.
To do this, the two main steps are:
- Monitor the ‘Inventory Adjustments Report’ on a daily or weekly basis and request refunds for any inventory changes
- Once a month, open ‘Items Lost in Warehouse’ cases with Amazon as part of your inventory check. This way, anything that was missed on your weekly reviews will get reimbursed and found stock will be put back in your inventory.
Keep an eye on keywords trends
Keyword analysis and research are vital. They require a lot of time, tailoring and constant monitoring. Due to this, most sellers list their products and simply forget to come back and review them.
But Amazon is constantly changing. New trends are always emerging and customer search terms change on a monthly basis. I’m not saying you should completely change your listing content every month, but you could start the year by reviewing your content and running keywords analysis.
As part of this, don’t forget to add seasonal and relative keywords to your listings. These will help you get a visibility boost (for example, ‘Valentine’s day gift’, ‘Mother’s Day gift’ and so on).
All these changes help you gain more views and stay on top of search trends. Amazon is all about this – if you’re ahead of trends, you’ll also stay ahead in sales.
Final thoughts
Don’t believe people who say that Amazon is too overcrowded and it’s impossible to grow anymore. This simply isn’t true! Anything is possible for your brand, as long as you’re utilising all Amazon’s tools and functions, staying on top of trends and keeping a close eye on your margins.
Amazon is not an easy channel. There’s no doubt about this. However, if you nail selling on Amazon – you’re nailing online success.