How to Start an Amazon Business: A Beginner’s Guide

If you are thinking about starting up an online business this year, then you could do a lot worse than choosing to launch one on Amazon.

The world’s number one e-commerce site, more than 197 million people use their devices to visit Amazon.com every month.

Furthermore, 9 out of 10 consumers will price check a product on Amazon, with 95 million people in the United States currently having an Amazon Prime membership.

What is it about Amazon that consumers love so much?

The answer is three-fold:

• Competitive pricing
• Incredibly fast shipping
• Reliable customer service

It really is that simple.

Anyway, you’ve decided that you want to launch an Amazon business. So far, so good. However, you are not sure exactly where to start or how to ensure that your new venture is a success.

From sourcing your products to carrying out market research and creating your amazon product listings, keep reading to discover how you can set up your own Amazon FBA business. You can join the 2.5 million sellers already enjoying the many benefits of selling via Amazon. You can take the help of Amazon agency to help you establish your brand.

What is an Amazon FBA business?

Everyone has heard of Amazon, but not everybody knows what an Amazon FBA business is. Think about the last time you bought something on Amazon. Did you assume that you were buying directly from them? Most people do, yet 50% of all Amazon sales come from third-party sellers.

FBA stands for “fulfilment by Amazon” and what it means is that Amazon looks after the seller’s stock. They keep it in their own warehouses, they deliver it, and they deal with any returns.

The benefit of running an Amazon FBA business is that you don’t need any employees, but you can still sell thousands of items every month. Plus, you can work remotely from anywhere in the world.

How to start an Amazon FBA business?

Whether you are looking for a side hustle to make some extra cash or you want your Amazon business to be your full-time job, if you do it right, you have the potential to earn a five, six, or even seven-figure income! Although you may need the help of an Amazon agency to make your Amazon business that lucrative.

Set up an Amazon seller account

The first step and a simple one, you can’t have an FBA business without having an Amazon seller account set up. Simply head to the Amazon website and scroll to the bottom of the homepage to a column that is labelled “Make Money with Us”. Here you will see several options, and you want to click on “sell products on Amazon”. Then all you need to do is follow the instructions provided, and you will then have your own Amazon seller account.

You will have to choose between an individual account or a professional one. The former is free but has certain limitations, whereas the latter is $39.99 per month.

Determine your niche

Although you may be tempted to sell as many items as possible to make the most sales, it is actually a much better idea to focus on one particular niche. If you have no idea what you want to sell, it is always best to pick an area that you are passionate about.

When brainstorming ideas, aim for between 3-5 possible niches that you are interested in selling.

Carry out market research

A crucial step in launching an Amazon FBA business, if you don’t know whether your products are in demand, you won’t know if there is the potential to make any money from selling them.

Start by carrying out some general product searches, as well as using a keyword research tool as this can give you a great idea of how much in demand a specific product is. You should also use Amazon BSR to see which products currently attract the most buyers.

Source your products

Choosing where you are going to source your products is a crucial step as you need to find a supplier that offers high-quality products and one that is reliable. You should look for that allows you to bulk buy items at 25% or less than their retail price.

You could also look to local trade shows or clearance items from local retailers.

Don’t also forget to look into the cost of shipping your goods, as there is little point in saving money by buying overseas but then eating into your profit margin with expensive shipping costs.

Name your brand

When naming your brand, it is important that you consider the long-term goals of your business. Will you want to expand into other products within your niche? Your brand name needs to work just as well now as it will in 5 years’ time. Make sure you use a tool to check that your preferred name has not been used before.

Once you have your name, you now need to design your logo and create brand themes to make sure your brand is memorable and easy to recognize.

Don’t also forget to copyright your name once you have decided upon it.

Write your product listings

If you pride yourself on being creative, then you will love this key step. You need to make sure that you create product listings that are both informative and appealing so that you can attract as many customers as possible.

You must also make sure that you include high-quality images of your products as poor pictures will be equated with low-value products.

If you need help with writing product descriptions, you may want to read other product descriptions within your niche to get an idea about what you need to include.

Make sure you format your descriptions clearly and that they are short and easy to read.

Promote your product

This is where it starts to get exciting, actually marketing your product to the world. Of course, you may get some sales just by having an attractive listing, but if you want to make the big bucks, you need to promote your products.

This can be done by:

• PPC (pay per click) advertising
• Encourage product reviews
• Utilize social media
• Contact relevant influencers
• Blogging
• Email marketing
• Offer coupons

And there you have it! You have created and launched your own Amazon FBA business. Of course, the success you enjoy will be largely based on the time and effort you put into your new venture, so remember this if your initial sales are not as high as you expected.

About the Author

Ryan Flannagan is the Founder & CEO of NuancedMedia, an international eCommerce marketing agency specializing in Amazon. Nuanced has sold $100s of Millions online and Ryan has built a client base representing a total revenue of over 1.5 billion dollars. Ryan is a published author and has been quoted by a number of media sources such as BuzzFeed and Modern Retail. To connect with Ryan, check out @Ryanflannagan on Twitter or via Linkedin.