Amazon Seller Consulting

There’s little doubt that Amazon is the largest marketplace for most product sellers – it accounts for 46 percent of all product searches consumers perform today. Having a successful e-commerce site right now is good news – that means customers are interested in your product and willing to buy from you. That also means those customers are just the tip of the iceberg. With Amazon consulting services from Nuanced Media, we can ensure Amazon’s customers – those that are not getting to your site – learn about your product and begin buying. We create a multi-channel stream of business for your company, which means scaling far beyond your current sales in many cases.

There are numerous mistakes you could be making (or you could be doing everything just fine). The most common problem though is retail readiness. Your product needs to be able to, at the very minimum, meet some basic requirements. Before you launch on the site, you need:

• At least six photos with annotations
• Optimized content based on keyword research (title, features, backing search terms)
• At least five reviews and ½ stars or more

Yes! Our team at Nuanced Media is available to work closely with you to help you to perform at the very best possible level by creating an advanced strategy. Our Amazon experts work with you to educate you, train you, and provide you with the research you need to achieve your goals. Our education materials, which use Loom, are the best training tools you’ll have access to. They are broken down to be easy to understand and beneficial at every stage of the process. You can use our services as fully hands-on or completely hands-off, depending on your needs and goals.

If you’re doing well on Amazon marketplace already, that’s a significant accomplishment. It also means that the market wants your products. Here’s the thing – you can do well on Amazon and on your e-commerce marketplace, reclaiming more of your profits as you go. You’ll need to create a multi-channel business that’s built-in key strategies that we can help you with creating and implementing. A custom strategy will provide you with the best route to reaching all of your customers and can work to move many of them back to your website. We encourage you to speak to our Amazon and e-commerce strategy experts to help you develop a successful approach.

• If you plan to choose Fulfilled by Merchant and remain with the current 3p fulfillment system, you have three options, Standard Fulfilled by Merchant, Premium Shipping, and Seller Fulfilled Prime.
• When comparing them, you’ll notice the biggest differences come from how tight the service level agreement is that you agree to with Amazon. For example, in the standard FBM, you may agree to get the product to the customer within seven business days with standard shipping whereas with the Premium shipping model may have that at just 5 days, and Seller Fulfilled Prime model may require three days.
• For most businesses, the only worthy option here is seller Fulfilled Prime. That’s because it has an impact on Amazon’s likelihood to rank your product on the sink better. You can still improve ranking without it, it just takes a bit more strategizing and effort to get to that point. Premium Shipping doesn’t offer any benefits and only encourages Amazon to scrutinize your listing more so.
• Because you are juggling so many variables with the FBM method, we often recommend choosing FBA instead. There are some exceptions to this, such as you have a strong business case against doing so, such as inventory requirements or contractual agreements to 3PLs that warranty going a different route.

It’s not hard to get overwhelmed by the complexity of these options. The chart below breaks them down a bit clearer for you. It’s a look at the fees you will pay when you sell on Amazon and your own e-commerce website using either FBA or MCF.

Item	Kitchen Product: Set of Plastic Mixing Bowls
Quantity Sold	1
Size	Standard-size Large; weighs 2-lbs.
Selling Price	$25.00 (sold in March for FBA fee dating)
Shipping Charge	No shipping charges added to the customer’s order FBA: Qualifies for Prime Free Shipping MCF: You offer free shipping on your website for orders $25 & over
Wholesale Cost	$7.00

Fulfillment & Other Fees	Sold on Amazon & Fulfilled via FBA	Sold on Website & Fulfilled via MCF
FBA / MCF Fulfillment Fee	$4.71	$5.95
Inventory Storage Fee (1 month)	64¢	64¢
Inbound Shipping to FBA	$1.60	$1.60
Amazon Seller Fee (15%)	$3.75	None
Total Fees	$10.70	$8.19
Calculate Profit
Selling Price	$25.00	$25.00
Less Product Cost	-$7.00	-$7.00
Less Total Fees	-$10.70	-$8.19
Total Profit	$7.30	$9.81

As you can see, Amazon’s Seller Feesmake our set of mixing bowls less profitable when sold on Amazon compared to on our own website. However, in both cases, we’re more than doubling our $7 cost, which is considered a decent return, especially on Amazon sales where the seller fees heavily impact profits.

You’ll need to look at your own profit calculations to make clear decisions for your products. However, when doing so, look at the estimates using multi-unit orders and include other factors. This should include any shipping fees that you charge for those orders that are made at your own e-commerce website. It matters when you are selling on the volume that Amazon allows for you to achieve.