Refunds Manager Blog

Ready to learn the ins and outs of Amazon branding strategy so you can totally crush your competition?

In today’s competitive Amazon marketplace, branding is the end-all-be-all topic of discussion when it comes to standing out and creating a sustainable business that allows you to scale your product line, your revenue and of course your customer base.

Dayana Mayfield (head of marketing at Refunds Manager) recently sat down with Andrew Maffetone, director of marketing and operations at Seller’s Choice, full service marketing agency for Amazon Seller’s.

Watch the video–we did have a couple tech glitches, sorry!–or read on for all our takeaways from this talk with Andrew about Amazon FBA branding.

This blog post has been created by Teikametrics: The world leader in leveraging data science and machine learning to automate advertising on Amazon. They’re offering Refunds Manager followers exclusive, early access to their new Retail Optimization Platform, Flywheel.

It’s no secret that Amazon has become a major destination for online shoppers. No matter what you’re shopping for, Amazon has become the go-to source for everything from toilet paper to sporting goods, clothing to toys for your kids. In fact, nearly 45 percent of all product searches start on the Amazon marketplace.

Before Amazon came onto the scene, there was no central marketplace for online retailers to access fulfilment and advertising services. Today, Amazon sellers have access to these advantages and more, and sellers who know how to use all the tools that Amazon offers are better equipped for success than those who don’t.

With that said, the world as an Amazon seller can be difficult to navigate, and it is important for online retailers to know the ins and outs of the ecommerce terrain. One of the most important aspects of financial understanding is gross profit. Most business owners feel that they have a firm grasp of what profit is. However, fewer might realize what exactly gross profit is, how it’s calculated, and why it is so important to Amazon sellers.

What Is Gross Profit?

Gross profit is the total amount of revenue that a company makes after subtracting its direct costs. For Amazon sellers, gross profit takes into consideration all of the expenses associated with selling on Amazon, including:

• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)
• FBA fees that Amazon collects from sellers. These include fees for services like shipping, pick & pack, order handling, and storage.
• Costs associated with being an Amazon Sponsored Product
• Amazon seller’s fees, which Amazon charges per product, depending on the business category. Usually, this fee is about 15%.
• Other marketing costs, like promotions or Amazon advertising spend

Many Amazon sellers focus solely on profit, but gross profit is actually the more important metric to identify and understand. Let’s explore this further.
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Today on the blog we’re talking about how to know if you’re ready to launch your next Amazon brand. Is it time to take on something new? Or is your new idea just a distraction, and should you focus on your existing brand instead?

As an entrepreneur, these are important questions. Many entrepreneurs get about a thousand ideas a minute, so it’s up to you to know which one to pursue.

If you’ve had some success on Amazon and are wondering if it’s time to diversify, this post is for you.

The strategy behind building brands (instead of just launching products)

Before we dive into the criteria, let’s first take a moment to review the strategy of brand building, as opposed to selling random products that seem to be a good opportunity.
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Have you heard of Amazon sellers using third party logistics companies (in addition to using FBA)?

Do you think those sellers have lost their minds? Amazon offers storage and order fulfillment, so why would an Amazon seller use a third party logistics company, or 3PL?

Most sellers assume that 3PLs only need to be used for channel outside of Amazon, such as your own Shopify store.But with increased Amazon fees (especially long term storage), more and more FBA sellers are turning to 3PLs to help them save money.

We surveyed a few successful Amazon sellers who learned the hard way how to save money when working with 3PLs. Read on to learn more.

What is a third party logistics company?

A third party logistics company helps ecommerce entrepreneurs with storage, order fulfillment, shipping, and customer service issues like exchanges and returns.

This allows the entrepreneur to focus on growing their business, building their brand and increasing demand for their products, rather than worry about the nitty gritty details of order fulfillment, which is mainly time-consuming, low-skill labor.

What do 3PLs do?

Depending on the deal you make with a 3PL, the company might handle only storage (so you’re not shipping everything from your supplier to FBA) or they may also handle order fulfillment (if you are a multichannel seller).

Here’s a list of what most 3PLs provide:

• Ecommerce order fulfillment / pick & pack
• Long term storage
• Shipment receiving from suppliers
• International freight and customs clearance assistance
• 2-day or 3-day delivery (at an additional cost to the customer)

Why would an FBA seller want to use a third party logistics company for their Amazon business?

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Are you looking to expand your Amazon FBA empire? Do you want to avoid some of the costly mistakes you made in your first 1-2 years of business and choose a product category with fewer customer returns and more opportunities for success?

We’ve put together a list of the 8 top categories for selling on Amazon. Success is never guaranteed, but you can make running a profitable FBA business easier for yourself.

Read on for details on why these categories are great!
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Hey Amazon sellers!

Today we have a special treat for you. Jazzel Yousef, the owner of a private label brand on Amazon, is telling us some of the mistakes he’s made on the path to generating $400,000 a year in top line revenue within three years of starting to sell on Amazon.

How did you get started selling on Amazon?

I started back in 2015. I graduated from university in 2014 with a degree in electrical engineering. I tried to go into my first business venture which was mobile application development for Android and iPhones but that didn’t work out.
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Guest post by Chris Dunne from FeedbackExpress

According to BrightLocal, 79% of us trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations and 91% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses.

This is why product reviews are so vital for private label sellers on Amazon — they are a silent force that help drive sales and increase conversion rates.

Positive product reviews provide social proof and build consumer trust — potential buyers (and Amazon) can see you’re selling a quality product which people are happy with.

Product reviews on Amazon also help improve your product visibility, making it easier for buyers to find your products and boosting sales.

How to generate more product reviews

Firstly, (as I’m sure many of you are aware) it is against Amazon’s terms of service to offer incentives for product reviews. Don’t do it, it’s not worth it. If you get caught (and you will eventually), you’ll lose your selling privileges.

In Amazon’s words, “You may not intentionally manipulate your products’ rankings, including by offering an excessive number of free or discounted products, in exchange for a review.”

Amazon encourages you to request reviews but any attempt to manipulate reviews is prohibited. This includes asking for a positive review or providing incentives for reviews.

Getting product reviews on Amazon requires patience, but ask for reviews consistently and with the right message at the right time—the rewards can be considerable.

Here are typical engagement rates for Amazon sellers:
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