Top Five Reasons You Should be Managing Your Brand on Amazon:
Despite its huge success and popularity with consumers, many brands are resistant to the idea of selling their products on Amazon. Given the snafus some big brands have encountered in the past, it’s reasonable to be cautious.
There are many pitfalls that brands can encounter without the proper preparation and strategy being set up beforehand. However, in my experience as a founder of a company that helps brands sell online, the overwhelming majority of brands I’ve worked with have seen impressive benefits from expanding their brand onto Amazon. Below the top five reasons you don’t want to overlook:
1. If you don’t, someone else will…
Sooner or later someone will seize upon your success and offer your brand on Amazon – either via wholesale diversion, retail arbitrage or just outright counterfeit! When someone else drives this effort, your don’t get to decide what your message is, how you look or worse yet – how you will be affected OFFLINE. And the bottom line is, whether or not its your message, consumers will believe it is and run away in droves.
2. Its where the consumers are…
Consumers are using online marketplaces to buy everything from essential goods to luxury ones. It’s convenient, its safe and its just oh so easy. And let’s not forget that there are over 112M Prime Members in the USA and over 150M members globally. By being online you are where your customer is, when they want to purchase – which is the number one rule in the “how to sell more book”!
3. Amazon is not going away…
While some other marketplaces have made gains on Amazon in recent years, Amazon is by far way ahead of them. If you want to expand your brand online, Amazon is the place to go and its not likely to change for quite some time.
4. Protection…
Amazon is a scary place because you’ve heard that brands lose control once they sell to Amazon. This can be true but there is no reason not to be a seller on Amazon. Another concern is the ability to control your brand amongst other sellers, counterfeiters etc. Amazon has been gradually improving the ways brands can protect their names by building systems to authorize agents, registration of your brand, gating, transparency programs and project zero. All programs designed to help brands protect their IP. In addition, governmental oversight grows stronger every day, pressing marketplaces to better police counterfeit and other dangerous issues. Over time, Amazon will become more restrictive with bad behaviors.
5. Diversify, diversify, diversify
Lastly, if none of the above is motivating consider this: e-commerce growth is expected to grow 18% while brick and mortar continues to decline. And while this has cooled in recent months, once the convenience bug has hit the consumer, they rarely go back. And in the case of an economic downturn, it smart business to be in as many locations – physical and online as possible.
Is it too late? Have all the opportunities been taken? While first mover advantage is great, going to Amazon at this particular time is still advantageous. Why? Amazon is in love with brands and is building more and more tools for brands to use to connect with customers and KEEP those customers engaged on the platform. Amazon realizes that the more time customers spend on Amazon the better off brands AND Amazon are.
