Refunds Manager Blog

If you’re going to start shipping products from China to the US by sea, you might have noticed just how complex it is: dealing with customs, coordinating schedules, handling shipments from the manufacturer to the Chinese port and then the Chinese port to the US port, and then to the Amazon warehouse.

A freight forwarder who’s experienced in getting products to Amazon FBA can help you organize all of this. 

What is a freight forwarder?

A freight forwarder is a person or company who handles the transportation of products from one location to another. They work as an intermediary between the company who owns the inventory and the shippers, so that the entrepreneur or business executive doesn’t have to handle the complex negotiations and documentation required, especially internationally. 

What does a freight forwarder do?

Ultimately, a freight forwarder makes it possible for companies to import or export products without as much hassle, and of course they charge a fee for their work.  Freight forwarders provide their clients with several services. 

• Customs clearance
• All documentation and paperwork required for exporting and importing
• Storing shipments while they wait to be picked up by the next shipper (for example, storing something after it arrives at port, before Fedex takes it to the Amazon warehouse)
• Packing inventory if needed
• Purchasing any needed insurance

They may also provide additional services that ecommerce companies need. 

When do you need a freight forwarder for Amazon FBA?

Not every Amazon FBA seller needs a freight forwarder. If you’re a new seller, you’re likely ordering a small amount of inventory each time, maybe 200 – 600 units. It is better for you to arrange shipping by air because it is simpler to organize, and usually doesn’t require the use of a freight forwarder. 

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Editor’s note: the following is a guest post from Ecomengine. 

If you’re not using the right tools, inventory management can be an exhausting and potentially costly process. Whether you’re just starting out or have become a high-volume seller, relying on a robust Amazon inventory management system can save you time and money. 

There are a lot of options out there, so it might be hard to know which one is right for you. Here’s one big hint, though — you need to ditch the spreadsheets! In this article, we’ll discuss some of the key features you should be looking for in an inventory management tool as an FBA seller. 

Monitor Product Costs

How much does it cost for you to stock or create a product? You need to be very familiar with your out-of-pocket expenses every single time you add an item to your inventory. As an Amazon seller, you need to expect fluctuations in your costs — but you also need to keep track of them. 
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Just like it sounds, Amazon FBA product sourcing means that you’re finding or creating products to sell on Amazon. There are a variety of ways to do this. While experienced entrepreneurs will work directly with a manufacturer to produce products, newer entrepreneurs might feel more comfortable starting out with retail arbitrage. 

Regardless of how you source products, you need to do market research and competitor research to understand the opportunities in any product category you’re interested in. 

Methods of sourcing Amazon FBA products

These are the top methods for sourcing products to sell on Amazon FBA:

Manufacturer

Working with a manufacturer means you’re creating your own private label brand, designing the product, and branding the product, the packaging, and the listing. To do this right, you’ll need to research manufacturers to work with online, possibly travel to meet manufacturers, attend trade shows and conferences to find manufacturers, etc. 

Pros: Scalable, chance for high profit margins

Cons: Minimum order quantities (MOQ) can be cost prohibitive, risky if your product doesn’t sell well
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You’ve probably bought an Amazon basics bath towel or a box of Mama Bear diapers, but did you know that Amazon has at least 76 of its own private label brands?

Many online and brick and mortar retailers create their own brands to sell on their platform. Even though it may frustrate some Amazon sellers, Amazon has said that they don’t use their data in order to launch new product lines, but only to learn how to better support Amazon sellers. 

Instead of griping about it, why don’t we see what we can learn from these brands, especially for our own listings. 

Here are some of the top Amazon private label brands. 

1. Amazon Basics

Amazon Basics is just like it sounds. This is the private label brand through which Amazon sells hundreds of basic household items, the sort of things that consumers would pick up from their local Target or K-mart. We’re talking extension cords, adapters, hangers, baby proofing gear, camping chairs, and office accessories. 

What you can learn:

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So, have you tried doing Amazon Competitor Analysis before? If not, then it is still not too late because there are valid reasons why you should be doing this. Back in 2017, there were around 300,000 new sellers who joined Amazon U.S. marketplace and were prepared to compete with other millions of sellers to compete in the same platform.

Let’s do a quick math. With 300K sellers a year, you will have 822 sellers signing up on Amazon marketplace every single day. Well, this was in 2017. Today, this seller count has doubled or probably, tripled. Undeniably, the competition is much more intense and to outrank them and to be on the top page of Amazon SERPs (Search Engine Results Page), it requires being prepared and having your homework done.

Many sellers tend to take the idea of “competitor analysis” lightly. However, the fact is that this phase, when done right, can help your business or products distinguish from your competitors and lets you to win the buy box.

Now, the question is how you should perform Amazon Competitor Analysis? Fret not! That’s what this article is for. So, let’s get started.

What we’re covering:

• Advantages Of Tracking Your Competitors On Amazon
• The Metrics Of Your Competitors Should You Track

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It’s easy to assume that you have only two options when it comes to launching a new product: PPC and giveaways. But have you thought about using social media to drive traffic to your Amazon FBA listings?

Social media is not a quick and easy pathway to success, but it can help you gain outside traffic for your FBA products.

In this post, we’ll explore the pros and cons and we’ll also provide steps you can follow to leverage social media for your next launch.

Why use social media to drive traffic to Amazon listings

There are plenty of reasons why you might decide to use social media to market your Amazon FBA products. Here are a few common ones:

• Competitors are driving outside traffic
• You don’t want to rely on Amazon’s platform
• Your product isn’t ranking yet
• You don’t have many reviews yet and don’t want to run PPC ads

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This is a super awesome, in-depth guest post from the folks at AdBadger, a campaign management and optimization tool for Amazon PPC. 

If you’re tired of the same basic PPC suggestions over and over, we’ve got you covered. Here are 7 advanced Amazon PPC tips that your competitors likely still don’t know how to use properly.

1. Fine tune your auto campaigns
2. Make your bid calculations scientific
3. Diversify your targeting
4. Account structure is everything
5. Avoid keyword cannibalization
6. Refine your category targeting
7. Use PPC software

1.  Fine tune your Auto campaigns

You may not know this, but auto campaigns actually target both keywords and ASINs. 

So if you were to download a search term report and check out what those auto campaigns were targeting and the types of search term results that would come through, you would notice that some of your results in the customer search term column actually begin with “B0” like this:

All of the search terms that begin with “B0” are ASINs (“Amazon Standard Identification Number”). These auto campaigns are targeting customer search terms, but those ASIN targets aren’t necessarily what customers are typing into the Amazon search bar.

In fact, those are competitor products that are on Amazon. So your advertisements can actually be targeting what customers are searching for, or any other product that is on Amazon. 

What if you want to view your auto campaigns and how effective these keywords are versus those ASIN targets?

For any auto campaign that was created after November 15, 2018, you can actually click the targeting tab at the top of any of those automatic campaign ad groups, and you’ll be able to see the four different auto targeting options.

Let’s take a closer look at those Targeting Options

Those four auto targeting options are:

• Close match
• Loose match
• Substitutes
• Complements

Those first two targets, close match and loose match, are keyword targeting options which tell how closely the customer’s search term is related to your product.

The second two targets are product targets, so if someone would buy a different product instead of yours, then your product will be targeting those substitute items.

Complements would be something that goes along with your product. For example, if you were selling hair brushes, then hair spray might be a complement item. Your product ad will be targeting those complementary ASINs.
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This is a guest choice from Seller’s Choice Digital, experts in Amazon branding.

Product imagery is a vital part of selling online. Pictures communicate much more efficiently than text, making them a valuable tool that you can use to your advantage. A customer will normally check the product images before reading the description. This means that your first image is the first impression you make on the customer, and hopefully, after reading our tips, it won’t be the last.

The convenience of online shopping, unfortunately, takes away the customers’ opportunity to physically handle the product. This is a gap you need to fill with detailed and diverse imagery, to make up for the lack of seeing the product in person.

The benefits of well-produced product imagery are numerous, for example, good photos will show your brand. They’re also much more likely to be shared on social media than text is, making them more likely to be seen. This helps improve the reach and credibility of your brand. Another way to get your brand out there is by using Facebook ads. Consumers are also more likely to instinctively trust companies whose imagery they’ve seen before, yet another benefit of putting in a little extra work.

Here are a few tips you can implement when photographing and editing, to make the most of your visual marketing!

1) Know Your Specifications

Before making big decisions about your product imagery, do some research. You need to know the requirements and specifications for your photographs before ever picking up a camera. When you’re selling on a platform like Amazon, you need to look into their recommendations and requirements, not doing so might mean your images are rejected.

You should also plan what you’re using the images for. Is it a thumbnail? A header? Each of your photographs could have different purposes, meaning they require a different approach. Just remember to plan ahead to avoid big changes later on. To help you stay organized, you could use a product launch timeline.

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As an ecommerce entrepreneur, you do everything in your power to get more sales for your products. Since Amazon is one of your top channels, much of your marketing efforts go to getting more sales on Amazon. You run promotions and ads, and you create content. But have you utilized Amazon FBA affiliate marketing to grow sales?

If not, we’re giving you the rundown on how you can find affiliate opportunities for your product and reach out to affiliate marketers directly to forge new business partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

What is Amazon FBA affiliate marketing

Amazon FBA affiliate marketing allows digital publishers to earn affiliate revenue from the products they recommend from their blog posts, social media posts or other content. Affiliates earn 10% for the sale of most products—not only the product they recommended but also anything the customer purchases at that time. 

YouTubers, bloggers, podcasters and other types of digital publishers can sign up to be an affiliate marketer and drive traffic to any product they choose, typically something that aligns with the needs of their audience.

Here’s a fee schedule with what percentages affiliate make per certain items and categories. Amazon sellers are not charged additional amounts in order to pay affiliates. The cost is already covered with your FBA fees. 

What kinds of FBA products does affiliate marketing work for?

When affiliate marketers drive traffic to your product listings, they’re essentially marketing your product for you, in exchange for affiliate commission. Typically, these content creators earn most of their revenue from advertising (usually Google’s AdSense or from YouTube ad clicks) and they are looking for easy additional sources of income.

The best opportunities for affiliate marketing fall to products like these…

• Hobby products – There are thousands of websites dedicated to helping people learn or master a new hobby like sewing or DIY home renovations. These types of sites are very likely to use affiliate marketing to monetize their content. 
• Outdoor or sports gear – Similar to hobbies, products that are outdoor or sports gear are a great fit because there are lots of sites that cater to your target audience.
• Lifestyle, fashion and beauty – Lifestyle bloggers, fashion bloggers, and beauty bloggers regularly make product recommendations and post product reviews, making their content a perfect fit for affiliate marketing.
• Health and wellness – People with a certain health condition or fitness goal are likely to purchase the products that their favorite blogger or YouTuber recommends. 

How to find and reach out to affiliate marketers

If your branded FBA product is a good fit for affiliate marketing, the next step is to get more affiliate marketers linking to your listing. 
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