HOW TO SCALE YOUR MATURE BRAND ON AMAZON

Maybe you’ve been selling on Amazon for a while now. You know the ropes, you’ve launched a product or few and your revenues are steady. You’ve got grand ambitions, but you’re not 100% sure exactly how to take things further, or what your next steps towards scaling up your Amazon FBA business might be.
We’re here to help point you in the right direction. But first of all, let’s talk about your brand.

YOUR BRAND IDENTITY

Your brand may be mature, but is your brand identity and online presence as good as it could be? A great brand identity leads to a better perception of brand value from your customer’s POV.

First, have you registered your brand with Amazon Brand Registry? It’s free to enrol, and among other benefits it can help increase visibility, as Amazon ranks registered brand data above unregistered brands.

Second, look at what you can do to build your brand presence outside of Amazon, so you can have an authentic presence online with social proof behind your brand. You probably already use at least one social media platform — are there others you could be visible on? Or how about your website — could it benefit from a revamp?

Customers may well search for your brand online, and you can drive them to your Amazon listings through a strong web and social media presence. As a bonus, directing traffic to Amazon from another page or platform is algorithm-friendly and can boost your rankings.

OPTIMIZE YOUR AMAZON PRESENCE

The quality of your product listings can make or break an Amazon sale. You need to consider SEO-friendly product titles and keywords, and text that links to Amazon’s A9 algorithm. Getting this right will automatically push your products up the listings. Ranking for multiple keywords also increases traffic and conversions.

Consider the format of your information. How easy is it for the customer to read? Make sure the information the customer needs is clearly scannable by using headings, sub-headings and bullet-points.

Don’t forget about your images either! These are what is most likely to make customers stop mid-scroll, and click on your product above that of your competitor. Make sure photos are well-lit, in focus and cover your product from all angles.

LAUNCH MORE PRODUCTS

Now that optimizing your listings is second nature, why not consider launching more products?

Look to your existing customer base to gain insight into other products they may be interested in, through the ‘Frequently Bought Together’ list or ‘Sponsored Products related to this Item.’ Checking out the sub-categories within your category, as well as your direct competition, is also a good way to research what else you could be selling.

The trick is to get the balance right between supply and demand, and products with different values and profit margins.

You could also choose to post a separate listing for a different version of an existing product. Adding a ‘child’ ASIN to one of your popular listings can help you gain traction more quickly than launching a product from scratch.

WHOLESALE VERSUS ARBITRAGE

Online or retail arbitrage can work well for some sellers — but they’re not the best option for everyone. With retail arbitrage there’s a lot of time and physical work involved, although some sellers do outsource this by training and paying shoppers to pick up stock for them.

Online arbitrage makes a lot more sense for many sellers, but is time consuming in another way. In an increasingly saturated sector, it’s becoming more difficult to find online shops with great deals.

Wholesale is a popular option, but often requires a significant amount of capital upfront, with the idea that by investing this, you’ll make a lot more in return. However, you may be sharing the market with larger-scale wholesale sellers who might be getting the same product at a better cost than you — leading to a price war which could pose costly if your margins are already thin

PRIVATE LABELING

Private labeling involves having products manufactured for you with your own logo or labeling. Many of these products are manufactured overseas. There are similarities to wholesale selling — you’re looking for products that can sell at a high rate with a good profit margin.
It sounds simple, but if you are sourcing things from abroad you need to be aware of potential issues. Aside from language barriers and financial risks, there may also be supply-chain issues, or problems with quality control — which you, as the seller, will take the responsibility for.

OTHER SALES CHANNELS

Selling on other marketplaces around the world aside from Amazon.com is a simple and effective way of scaling your brand on Amazon. As well as expanding your brand presence overseas, this can open up new streams of revenue.

It’s important to do your research here however, to find the best areas of opportunity and decide which products to offer. There will be associated taxes and shipping charges to factor in too.

Omnichannel marketing is another effective way of scaling your brand, and can help you build a more rounded presence online, as well as increasing business security by giving you multiple streams of potential online income. If you’re marketing on your own channels, there’s also the option to sign up as an Amazon affiliate too, where you can promote additional products on your website to increase revenue.

OUTSOURCE SOME HELP!

Keeping up with scaling your brand on Amazon can take up a lot of your time. In addition, to do it successfully, you need to know your Amazon — understanding the platform’s algorithms, policies, and performance metrics.

Why not outsource some of the work and let the Amazon experts step in?

At Marketplace Sorted, we’ve managed many seller accounts in several categories and niches, driving impressive product sales and profit margins, as well as helping brands achieve their full potential when it comes to Amazon growth. We are a 360° full service brand management and growth firm managing the entire process on a performance basis with our Amazon Brand Accelerator program.

Contact us to see how we can help scale your brand — Schedule a needs analysis call with our partnerships director today.