Slightly Modified speech deck I delivered about Amazon Australia to FMCG business people in August 2017. It covers everything from what Amazon is, how big it's become, how it works, Prime, winning the buy box, FBA, how to apply to sell on Amazon Australia and the pro's and con's of Seller Central vs. Vendor Central. I didn't get into Amazon Vendor Express as I don't know if or when they'll launch that here on Amazon Australia. Some slides might not make sense on their own but you'll cope! If not, send me an email, cheers.
2. Today’s Agenda
What is Amazon?
Where is it?
What is it?
How successful is Amazon
Why/which consumers buy online?
Starting out with Amazon
What is Amazon looking for?
How do I make contact?
How do I make Amazon work.
Things to be aware of
3. About Amazon
Amazon is the world’s biggest online ecommerce marketplace
$61 Billion 2012 Grown to $138 Billion 2016
95 Million Product Searches Per month
Estimated 80 Million Prime Members World-Wide
310 Million Active Customer Accounts World-Wide
There are now over 2 Million 3rd Party Marketplace Sellers which
make up almost ½ all sales. “The Third Pillar”
USA, DE, UK, FR, ES, IT, CA, IN, JP, CN, MX, (AU)
Amazon is crushing everything in its path (remember book stores?)
and it’s just getting started…
4.
5.
6.
7. …and it’s not just traditional retail that’s being smashed…
8.
9. Amazon looks like a big company with lots of employees…
10.
11. Until you compare it to one of its biggest retail competitors…
12.
13. Amazon
Customers
It is estimated a third of all product searches globally begin on
Amazon
There are an estimated 380 million products on Amazon
Amazon customers are extremely “purchase focused”
Amazon’s customers have their credit cards on file.
Amazon’s number 1 priority is, ‘The Customer’.
15. Amazon Prime
Amazon’s Growth Engine
Customers pay approx. $100 USD per year to join Amazon Prime
Membership.
It entitles them to Free 2 Day Shipping on all orders over $35 (but
only orders which are Fulfilled by Amazon).
Also Included:
Prime Video
Prime Music
Prime TV
Audible
Prime Now
Games
Prime Photo Storage
And more…
There are estimated to be 80 Million Prime Members Worldwide…
37. Amazon FBA
You have 2 fulfillment options when selling on Amazon:
1. Ship products that you sell on Amazon yourself (FBM)
2. Opt to use FBA’s services - you can ship your products to
Amazon’s warehouses...
Amazon will Store, Pick, Pack and Ship your orders.
Amazon will provide (nearly) all customer service
Amazon will handle returns
38. Amazon FBA
As a 3rd Party Seller:
You have much higher chance of winning the Buy Box
You can scale your business exponentially from anywhere in the
world
You don’t need to have your own warehouse
Your customer service is greatly reduced
You can Fulfil Orders from other channels
39. Sales Volumes?
What sort of sales volume is occurring?
Quick search for random product ‘coat hangers’ reveals over
$1,130,000 worth of coat hangers are being sold on page 1 every
month…
(Tool used is Junglescout chrome extension)
44. Amazon Australia
Winners:
Australian Branded Manufacturers, retailers
Australian Distributors with exclusive distribution rights from
brands (both domestic & International)
45. Amazon Australia
Likely Losers:
Retailers who currently stock and compete with other retailers
without exclusive brand agreements
Grocery retailers IF Amazon introduces ‘Amazon Fresh’
49. Launch Strategies
It’ll be a land grab at the beginning!
All products will be new and have no reviews (some reviews will
come across from the same products on amazon.com if they’re
listed there).
New products will have no reviews.
Your job is to get sales and reviews for your products as quickly as
possible.
Note: very few if any ‘launch’ or ‘customer email follow up’
services will be around to help you! Much the work will need to be
manual…
Launch products in USA or Europe now to get reviews… Why?
Amazon Australia
51. Known Brands
Vs.
No-name’s.
Small ‘unknown’ brands compete and beat known brands on
Amazon all the time…
On the next slide, check out unknown ‘NoCry’ brand’s ‘knee pad’
sales performance, compared to Nike, ASICS, Dewalt…
Amazon Australia
54. Discovery &
Marketing
You need to ‘rank’ your products for search terms
Use promotions (discounts codes) to ‘spike’ Amazon’s algorithm
Get sales through ‘keywords’
Sales velocity through keywords = high rankings.
57. Amazon Vendor Central
vs
3rd Party Seller Central
Amazon Vendor Central is Invite only
Sell yourself (3rd Party DiY) or go with Amazon Vendor Central?
Bigger Australian brands will be contacted by Amazon directly to
sell to Amazon wholesale.
FBA (i.e. DiY) Vendor Central
15% Referral Fee + FBA Fee Est. 50% wholesale price to Amazon
Paid every 15 days Approx 60 – 90 days to get paid
Need to have a team to manage inventory Need a team to manage wholesale
Cost of prep and shipping products to FBA Cost of shipping products to FBA
No Access to Amazon Vine Access to Amazon Vine (amazon review)
(Almost) Guaranteed MAP (Manufacturer
Agreed Pricing)
No guarantee Amazon will honour MAP
Can be tricky to learn platform and rank
your inventory
Amazon almost guarantees sales of your
products
Full control of your product listings Amazon assumes control (they’re bad!)
Amazon Australia
58. What to do if you’re a
Wholesaler/Retailer?
Explore Private Labelling popular products you sell
Learn about Amazon’s ‘buy box’ system so you can compete
Learn how to ship your products to Amazon’s FBA Warehouses
Amazon Australia
59. In summary…
Learn about the platform, understand how it works
Embrace the changes that are coming
Work out how to leverage Amazon as a channel for your own
success
Do not stick your head in the sand and hope for the best!
Amazon Australia
60. Amazon
Australia
Resources
Resources
www.junglescout.com – product and competitor analysis
www.jumpsend.com – auto customer email follow-up’s and launch
www.theamazingseller.com – Scott Voelker’s Podcast
www.privatelabelpodcast.com – Kevin Rizer’s Podcast
www.thewholesaleformula.com – How to sell wholesale
www.bobsledmarketingcom – Kiri Masters (USA & Europe agency)
www.amaznsales.com – Australian Amazon consultancy firm (for
Australian Businesses)
Me, Chris Thomas: 0414 986 957, chris@christhomas.com.au