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Amazon Affiliates Vs Amazon Sellers: The Benefits Of Both Worlds

By Greg Mercer

Whether it’s through the ever popular FBA or other means, using Amazon’s platform to sell products can be very lucrative. Many people who once focused on Amazon affiliate sites have moved over to the other side of the platform, and focus instead on FBA.

There are a lot of obvious differences between the two business models, and each has its fair share of pros and cons. One thing that I’ve seen very few people talking about, and something that I consider to be untapped, is the areas where Amazon sellers and associates can overlap.

Today’s post is going to talk about the synergy that exists between being an Amazon associate and being a seller. How both parties could leverage this to boost their knowledge of the market, work towards getting higher seller rankings, and ultimately make more money; because that’s always the end goal.

You’ll be able to take action on some of the things in this post almost immediately, but for those more willing to play the long game, there are a few other strategies I will outline as well.

First up, let’s look at how Jungle Scout has changed the research I do as an Amazon affiliate. This tool is very much designed for sellers, but what a lot of people don’t realize is that it can be used for product research that will hugely benefit affiliates as well.

Even Shopify store owners could get a lot of use out of Jungle Scout, but that’s a story for another day…

How Jungle Scout Helps Amazon Affiliates Make More Money

Back in 2013, long before Jungle Scout was around, I built an Amazon site in the luxury watch niche. Over time, I ranked the site for what I thought were some pretty lucrative search terms. Things like, “Best Rolex” and “Rolex Submariner Review”. The search volume wasn’t really that high, but when a watch sells for five figures, even 1 or 2 sales a month is going to get you a nice paycheck.

THE ORIGINAL ROLEX SUBMARINER, MODELLED BY SEAN CONNERY IN GOLDFINGER

I knew that there weren’t going to be a whole lot of people buying Rolexes on Amazon, but I figured there must be some, and again, I only wanted to capture a handful of monthly sales.

Fast forward to 2016, and I think that site has only ever scored 1 Rolex affiliate commission, and a couple of other thousand dollar watches on top of that. I couldn’t figure out whether it was because my content wasn’t high-end enough, because I needed to put my site visitors through an auto-responder, or something else.

Jungle Scout gave me the answer. There just aren’t any buyers picking up Rolexes on Amazon:

IGNORE ENTRY NUMBER 4, WHICH ISN’T A ROLEX.

If the best Rolex is getting only a dozen sales per month across the entire Amazon platform, even if I ranked number 1 in Google for every single Rolex Submariner keyword, I’d struggle to fluke a sale. No wonder the commissions this site was picking up where so sparse.

With this insight, I was able to really dig into the watches that do sell on Amazon. Thanks to the data from Jungle Scout and Amazon’s best seller list, I was able to start finding watches that were moving very well. This site now picks up daily sales and has seen something like 500% increase in money earned.

Ok, so it’s focusing on far less expensive watches, but without Jungle Scout I never would have had access to this data. It’s definitely changed how I do my product research for affiliate sites, especially the ones I research and build for other people. It’s a tool that every affiliate should be utilizing.

Between 70 and 100 people every month commission my company to build them an Amazon affiliate site, and Jungle Scout helps us make sure we pick winning products most of the time.

Next up, let’s look at the other side of the aforementioned coin.

How Affiliate Sites Can Benefit Amazon Sellers

There are actually multiple ways that Amazon sellers could use affiliate sites to their advantage. These methods all rely on either the seller owning their own site, or on them reaching out to an existing site owner. A smart way to do it would be to consider both.

1.) Get New Product Ideas

You already have great methods for getting Amazon data thanks to Jungle Scout and other known research methods, but did you ever think to consider the data affiliates get?

I used to own a shaving site that promoted razors, brushes, and soaps. I got dozens of commissions per day. What I ALSO got though, were commissions on razor stands, shaving bowls, strops, blades, and pretty much every other product you could think of.

Some of the same products kept earning me commissions again and again, even though I’d never directly promoted them. If I had launched an FBA style product in this niche, I would have had instant access to dozens of product ideas, and would also have known which brands or “types” of products were selling the most.

Sure, you can get this data by looking at Best Seller Rank (BSR) or other things on Amazon itself. But what I found was that it wasn’t always the products with the higher BSR that were selling the most, and it definitely wasn’t always the product types with the highest BSR.

Besides, it’s really useful to be able to log in to your dashboard and get an instant overview of what is, and what isn’t selling well. Additionally, you get a good insight into “pairings” and what items typically get bought together.

In Q4 2015, that site had sales data for over 1,600 products. Thinking of scaling horizontally in your niche? This data will definitely give you insights.

How To Get Your Hands On This Data

There are two real ways of getting your hands on this data:

1.) Reach out to successful affiliates in your niche (you can find them easily enough) and ask them. I wouldn’t just straight out ask them like that, but you should be able to befriend them. Explain that you’re looking to expand in your niche, and ask if they can give you some insights.

2.) Build and rank your own affiliate site. This is definitely going to be a long-term play, because it’s going to take you up to 12 months to really get a lot of sales data. But there are other advantages to having your own site that you we will go into below.

Again, you could always do both.

2.) Increase Your BSR

I shouldn’t need to explain the advantages of increasing your BSR, but did you think about how affiliate sites can contribute to this?

Again, you can do this by either reaching out to existing affiliates, or by having your own site. The basic concept is that you can use affiliate sites to send traffic directly to your product listings. You could write/commission reviews of your products to place on your own site or an affiliate’s site, or you could ask them to feature your product in “best of” posts.

You’re not exactly asking them to go and leave a bunch of 5 star reviews on Amazon’s platform, so this isn’t a breach of their terms (until they change their mind again).

Not only is this extra traffic going to give you a boost in sales revenue, it’s also going to lead to an increased ranking on Amazon’s platform, which in turn leads to more sales. It’s a double win.

It also means that your sales aren’t 100% reliant on Amazon’s platform as well, so let’s call it a triple win.

3.) Diversify Your Sales

I’m not suggesting you go all out and launch your own eCommerce store to sell directly from (though that is of course an option), but having a site you control that can send traffic to your product listings is only a good thing.

At the very worst case, you’re diversifying your traffic streams, and in the best case you are giving yourself a huge advantage over your competitors.

It does also give you a fair amount of risk mitigation as well. If something ever DID go wrong with your Amazon listings or even your account, you’d have the option to go it alone and sell on your own site to the audience you’d have built up over time.

Quick Win Strategies And Long Term Plays

What I’ve outlined in this post gives you a couple of different strategies, some of them are more quick win, while others are definitely more long term.

My recommendation would be to do both. For the quick wins, start building relationships with other affiliate sites. I’m not talking about going straight for the huge WireCutter type sites, but instead seeking out the smaller affiliate sites. The ones that rank well, get decent traffic, yet aren’t run by a huge team.

Start relationship building with these people and see if you can get some product features or guest posts. Maybe you can even pick their brain for new product ideas or improvements too.

At the same time, get your own affiliate site started and get it ranking in Google. If your brand is something that you will be selling for a long time and you are invested in, then it makes sense to play the long game here and spend the months in getting your site to rank in Google.

Need help?

There are people who can help you do this (such as us). The possibilities once you have your own affiliate site ranking are huge, and you can scale in many different directions from there, in a very leveraged fashion.

If you are giving serious thought to starting an affiliate site to supplement your business, then get in touch with me and my team will get you started.

(SOURCE)

FBA / e-commerce models..... continued

By Julie  Čolan

In one of my earlier blogs I spoke a little about the different approaches that can be adopted when sourcing products and selling through FBA and how there is (in my mind at least...) a logical sequence in how and when to apply these models. Last time I dealt with retail arbitrage (step 1) and online arbitrage (step 2) and today I'm going to talk around "distribution" (which I see as the next step in the journey).

So what do I mean by "distribution"?
I'm not sure if it's the best term for what I am trying to explain but I am really just talking about coming to more formal / repeatable agreements with suppliers for a continued supply of stock (i.e. becoming a "distributor").

So far the RA and OA models have not really required any negotiations or the building of relationships with suppliers but this is where, I think,  you can drive some real value in you business (as well as  through branding - more on that later).

So instead of simply visiting stores (high street or online), step 3 requires you to get out there and actually talk to suppliers of goods that you may want to sell - there are a few different types of supplier you will want to talk to and I would generally categorise these as:

• Niche retailers
• Wholesalers
• Distributors
• Manufacturers / brand owners
• Liquidators

I'll give a quick summary of each as follows:

Niche retailers are people that are selling items not widely available on the High Street. They may be fairly local in geography or simply only sold through catalogues / direct marketing / events etc. By getting these types of products on to Amazon you may just be opening them to a much wider market. The reason I distinguish this from RA is that you are much more likely to want to build a relationship with the retailer to secure continuity of supply on favourable terms.

Wholesalers seem to be the logical step for those graduating from RA / OA but, in my experience, most wholesalers are not going to provide you stock at a price you can make work on Amazon unless you commit to a very significant volume. I have had some product lines that have worked and been supplied by commercial wholesalers although I would say that they have been few and far between. As a rule of thumb, the more difficult a wholesaler is to do business with you, the better the opportunity. Any wholesaler who will give you access to their pricelist at the drop of a hat (e.g. just on provision of your e-mail address) is unlikely to have any compelling offers.

Distributors are essentially wholesalers but tend to have exclusive (or near exclusive) deals with manufacturers / brand owners to sell the products wholesale in specific territories. This is almost as good as dealing with the brand owner themselves but does take a lot of time and energy to build up a relationship and credibility with this type of seller. Distributors tend to be a bit wary of FBA sellers as they don't necessarily perceive that we bring a lot of value to the table but they can usually be persuaded. Personally I tend to prefer to deal with manufacturers / brand owners directly (especially as there are tools you can bring in to play to demonstrate value - more on that below) but distributors can be a lucrative source of products.

Manufacturers / brand owners are my favourite supplier! Most people confuse manufacturers and brand owners as the same thing but they often aren't. I'm pretty sure that Nike don't own the factories in the Far East where there products  are made, in fact that same factory probably makes Addidas in the evening shift (brands used for illustration purposes only - I have no idea on the manufacturing of either one). Anyway, most manufacturers just want to make stuff and not get involved in all the marketing and sales palaver that follows and the brand owners don't necessarily want to own the factories. This is the dynamic that can help us all move into the "private label" space (for another day) but it is important that you understand the difference,  Anyway, locating either manufacturers or brand owners is easy, the difficulty is persuading them to let you be the owner of their Amazon listing, marketeer  and online sales lead - all stuff that they need (badly) but just don't know about it. The way I have approached this is to seek out local(ish) brand owners, firms that have been producing products for years but aren't tuned in to the magic of e-commerce as yet. It is surprising how many firms you will find that are local to you with a bit of research. I started with Google, simply asked around and ended up driving around commercial / industrial parks in my local vicinity to find target suppliers. 

The people you really want to find are those with a good product but an established "old school" route to market - probably through wholesalers. There are many many business owners out there creating great products but without the knowledge of e-commerce to understand that they are missing out on a huge market place. So how do you persuade such companies to partner with you? You don't own a shop (in the physical sense at least), haven't been in "the trade" since 1952 and so may have little credibility in their eyes. So now you're really in the heart of business, selling the benefit and trying to demonstrate how YOU can really help them as business owners. Hopefully by the point you are at this stage you have mastered the RA and OA models and have learnt a thing or two about Amazon. Demonstrating to the brand owner that you understand how Amazon works, the sheer volume of sales that are processed through it and the turnover of similar products (Jungle Scout can be a great way of concisely demonstrating this benefit - another topic for another day I guess) can be particularly compelling stories. You can also start to bring into play how you can optimise their product listings to drive more traffic and better conversion rates, and manage follow-up comms with customers to help build brand awareness and develop follow-on sales.

Anyway, I'm starting to realise that I have tried to tackle a huge subject over a few blogs and all of this stuff needs much more depth to do it justice - that will follow I promise. For now though I hope you're enjoying my insight - I really do welcome your comments (even if not wholly positive) and questions. I will complete this series of blogs on the overview of approaches to e-commerce / FBA to talk about Private Labelling / building a brand in the coming days.

FBA Article From Entrepreneur.com

Hi all, I just wanted to share this article from Thomas Smale @ entrepreneur.com - it's an interesting and succinct intro inyo the world of Amazon FBA - I'd like to know what you all think after reading this:

Amazon FBA -- "Fulfillment by Amazon" -- is fast becoming a buzzword among entrepreneurs. Over the years, there's been a lot written about Amazon affiliate marketing to help people get started, but not about FBA. What is all the fuss about? Why is there so much commotion about the FBA business model right now?

To put it simply, it could be the future for entrepreneurs. It has never been easier to sell products on a massive, trusted ecommerce platform, and get your fair share of the market. Best of all, you won't find too many business opportunities out there with this degree of scalability built right into them.

So let's take a closer look at the FBA opportunity, and how you can create an escape plan for the nine-to-five.

What is Amazon FBA?

The program allows virtually anyone to sell their goods on the Amazon platform. Fulfillment is one of the biggest challenges of any ecommerce business. With FBA, Amazon will store your products in one of its warehouses, ship them to your customers, handle all refunds and returns and provide excellent customer service.

Related: Which Country Spends the Most Online? (Infographic)

This does not mean that you don't have any responsibilities as a seller. What it does mean is that you can free up a lot of time to focus on high-level, value-generating activities such as driving traffic to your product page or optimizing your conversion rate.

Why Amazon FBA is better than an ecommerce store.

Besides the fact that fulfillment is handled by Amazon, there are several more advantages to leveraging FBA. For one, orders placed through Amazon are processed and shipped faster than those sent out from retailers. FBA can help your products gain more visibility in the marketplace, and that can translate into more sales for you.

FBA also makes your products eligible for Amazon Prime free two-day shipping, free shipping and other similar options, which customers love. Finally, one of the biggest advantages of FBA is that Amazon is a trusted brand. It has worked hard to optimize the checkout process and earn credibility with customers. You as a seller get to leverage the reputation of a trusted and well-known company.

How to get set up with FBA.

Here are the five basic steps you need to take to start building your FBA business:                    

1. Create an Amazon Seller Central account. It is advisable to sign up for a professional account, which has a monthly fee associated with it.
2. Choose a niche. Some are good, others are not worth getting into. Do your research and brainstorm product ideas.
3. Find a supplier. Once you know what products you're going to be selling, start building a working relationship with a reliable supplier. Ask for a sample, work out the lead time and calculate what kind of margin you have on your products.
4. Create a listing for your product. Optimize your product page with the right keywords and content.
5. Drive traffic. Send your target audience to your product page to increase sales.

According to Josh Shogren of Passion Into Paychecks, picking the right product is the key to success with FBA businesses: "It is vital that you spend a lot of time finding the right product that will give you the best chance for success."

Related: 2015 Will Likely Be Known as the Year of Mobile Commerce (Infographic)

Shogren suggests that some of the most important factors include:

• The price point of the product should be somewhere between $10 and $50.
• The product should be as light as possible.
• Check to see if any potential competitors have a 5,000 best seller rank (BSR) or lower in their primary category.
• Make sure there aren't any brand names within the product category or niche.
• If possible, sell a product that isn't easily broken.
• The more reviews a product has, the greater the competition is. Fifty or fewer reviews on first page products is a good indicator that you can break into the market.
• The cost of manufacturing should be 25 percent or less of the actual sale price.

How to be a successful FBA seller.

"Top Amazon sellers aren't like the rest," says Lauren Shepherd at Teikametrics. "The most successful sellers have adapted to the evolving ecosystem that is online retail by treating selling on Amazon like trading on the stock market."

According to Shepherd, the following six factors are crucial to your success:

• Scaling a business is easier when fulfillment logistics are handled by Amazon.
• Be willing to admit when you are wrong, and make adjustments accordingly.
• Manage your inventory, risk and cash flow.
• Focus on cash flow and access to working capital.
• Don't try to be right -- focus on making money instead.
• Measure your growth by quarters or years, not by weeks.

Why start a FBA business?

Have you ever thought about escaping the nine-to-five working life? Have you ever considered escaping the cubicle? With a successful FBA business, you have the opportunity to design your lifestyle and make your dreams a reality. Location and financial freedom are within your reach. FBA is the future for people who want to make money online and live a life of their choosing. 

Consider the case of Spencer Haws of Niche Pursuits, who recently published a post showing how he sold $40,639 worth of physical products in 30 days.

"Amazon FBA is the real deal," he said. "It's a very real business, and I am seeing very real income for it."

Final thoughts

If you are interested in learning more about selling on Amazon, there are some great podcasts, such as Up Fuel and The Amazing Seller, that are covering the topic. FBA is quickly going mainstream, and there are more and more people talking about the freedom that is available through a business model such as this.

If that wasn't enough, it is also possible to sell an Amazon FBA business. As with any other online business, you can have an exit strategy in place and move onto new ventures and greener pastures if that's what you want to do.

For many, the FBA business model has the potential to turn their dreams of financial and location independence into reality, and is certainly looking like the way forward for entrepreneurs everywhere.

Link Here: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/252685