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This Week in AMZ #14: Walmart Fires Back Again, Hackers Target 3rd Party Sellers, Survey Reveals What Teens Think About Amazon and More

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: JeepersMedia via Visualhunt / CC BY

Walmart Rolls Out New Discount Program

Walmart is increasingly challenging Amazon. From next week, it plans to offer discounts on around 10,000 online-only items. But there’s a catch: These items won’t be shipped.

Instead, customers will have to pick them up at one of the Walmart stores. This is how the company can offer the discounts in the first place.

The move is another example of Walmart’s recent initiatives to compete with Amazon. Earlier this year, Walmart announced its free 2-day shipping on all orders over $35. This was a response meant to rival Amazon’s Prime membership, which currently costs $99 per year.

Should you be concerned as an Amazon seller? Probably not. But as Walmart tries to drive more visitors online, it will become a more attractive marketplace for sellers looking to diversify.

What Does the Amazon Influencer Program Mean For Sellers?

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

Influencer marketing plays an increasingly integral part of brands pushing their products online. A recent survey revealed that 84% of marketers plan on executing at least one influencer marketing campaign during the next 12 months.

Social media influencers can generate large amounts of income endorsing products. This happens through their Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat or YouTube accounts.

And now Amazon, with its recently released Amazon Influencer Program, gets in on the act.

This Week in AMZ #13: Amazon Targeting Influencers, Introduces Amazon Cash, and the Case for More Verified Sellers

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

Amazon Tests Its Own Social Media Influencer Program

Social media influencers often promote products they like to their network. It’s a powerful symbiotic relationship that has been expanded by platforms such as FameBit.

Now Amazon aims to get in on this. Last week, Amazon initiated a beta test of its own influencer program. It will offer influencers commission on products, but it’s not open to the public. This separates it from Amazon Affiliates — its exclusivity.

Anyone can submit an application to be an Amazon Influencer. But only influencers with large followers will be accepted according to Amazon’s program page.

Product selection seems to be entirely up to the influencers. As TechCrunch describes:

This Week in AMZ #12: Buyers Can Now Opt Out of Communication & More

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

Undoubtedly, the biggest news for Amazon sellers this week was that buyers can now opt out of seller feedback. Hence we have dedicated a post specifically to that. Check it out here.

…and in Other News

BREAKING NEWS: Amazon Updates Buyer-Seller Messaging System

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 1 comment

Sellers are aware of the difficulties of getting feedback and reviews. Especially since last fall, when Amazon banned incentivized reviews.

Recently, Amazon made yet another change. Buyers can now opt out of seller feedback.

This could affect sellers looking to generate reviews by sending out messages to buyers after they purchase.

More and more sellers have been receiving emails like this from Amazon. See below:

Top 3 Seller Events to Attend in April (& Ticket Discounts!)

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Are you a seller on Amazon and could benefit from meeting people to help catapult your business to the next level?

Could connections with manufacturers or product sourcers help you improve your business?

Then you want to be sure to attend at least one of the 3 top seller Amazon events happening this April.

In our last post about the Canton Fair, we emphasized preparation. To help you maximize your trip we’ve listed only the best Amazon seller events happening this April!

This is the perfect opportunity to learn from successful sellers and industry experts. People who have already navigated the seller’s process can give you helpful tips and advice. Here, you can see what’s working and what isn’t in today’s Amazon Selling World.

Not to mention the extensive networking and opportunities to share ideas you’ll have during these events.

Here are the top 3 events you should consider attending during your Hong Kong and China visit.

This Week in AMZ #11: Amazon Acquires Souq, But Holds Off on SE Asia

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: TechCrunch

Amazon Acquires Middle East Ecommerce Giant Souq for $650 Million

Amazon continues to conquer the globe. Now, it appears to be setting its sights on the Middle East. TechCrunch reports that the company is about to acquire Souq.

The price-tag for the biggest regional ecommerce player? $650 million.

Amazon has never had business operations in the Middle East. This acquisition could allow it to hit the ground running in a market valued at $4.9 billion.

How this affects potential opportunities in the region is too early to tell. But it can open potential options for sellers looking to expand to Australia, Singapore, and now the Middle East down the road.

Branding: How to Make Your Products Stand Out With Private Labeling

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

“Wherever you go, there are three icons that everyone knows: Jesus Christ, Pele and Coca-Cola.”
— Pele

How did Coca-Cola reach such a status to be compared to Jesus Christ, a religious figure? (Or Pele, for that matter.)

The taste?

Maybe.

But most would agree it’s more than that. It’s the brand. It’s what Coca-Cola represents.

At its core, a BRAND reflects how the consumer feels when they discover, use or think about your product. This includes names, logos and packaging. Brands represent promises, perceptions and expectations.

According to eCommerceFuel’s 2017 State of the Merchant Report:

*”Companies that sell their own products (labeled below as “Private Label” or “Manufacturing”) are growing about 50% faster than those that don’t.”*

While sellers all approach their businesses differently — deciding what to sell, sourcing suppliers, manufacturing and product launches, — many get stuck when it comes to private labeling and creating a brand.

Yet, as we can see, clear branding is becoming more important in order to succeed at selling on Amazon in today’s tough market.

In this article, we have created a basic guide to branding your company and products as a private label seller.

This Week in AMZ #10: Air Freight for Chinese Sellers & Amazon Prime Now Includes Alcohol

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

Amazon Plans to Launch Air Freight Service for Chinese Sellers

Amazon already helps sellers handle shipments by land and sea. Soon it will add air to that list. It’s planning to offer sellers in China the ability to fly their goods internationally as air cargo.

For Chinese sellers, this will smoothen the process. It will also increase competition for international based sellers.

The Definitive Canton Fair Survival Guide

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

The AMZ Tracker team recently made a big move. A move to the heart of the action — Shenzhen, also known as the Silicon Valley of Hardware.

With our new home base, we’ll be able to give sellers unique insights and connections for doing business in China.

We’ll be bringing you content from experts here in ground as well updates and news from all things Amazon. Our first post will spotlight the upcoming Canton Fair in Guangzhou.

This Week in AMZ #8: Prime Launches in Mexico and Jack Ma’s Take on Counterfeiters

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Jack Ma Calls for Stricter Penalties For Counterfeiters

http://www.businessinsider.com/alibaba-founder-jack-ma-calls-for-stricter-penalties-for-fake-items-2017-3

Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, recently called for stricter penalties for people selling counterfeit goods. Ma encouraged the Chinese government to imprison counterfeiters one week per every fake item they sell.

According to Business Insider, He blames soft penalties and lax law enforcement for the surge in fake items across China. This is a 180° from his previous position that counterfeits are often better quality than genuine items.

In the short term, this won’t affect sellers. But if this becomes a growing sentiment, it might make counterfeiting more difficult and help protect brands in the future.

Amazon Copywriting Tips to Increase Conversions

By AMZ Tracker last updated on August 18, 2017 0 comments

If you want to succeed on Amazon, you must have a listing that squeezes every possible conversion out of the traffic Amazon sends your way. This is why Amazon copywriting is so important.

Fortunately for you, many Amazon sellers neglect copywriting, giving you a major advantage if you follow the simple steps outlined in this article. Here is a run down of some copywriting tactics which will increase conversions and boost profits.

This Week in AMZ 8: New Amazon Commissions, Development in the war on Scammers, & More

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Amazon Announces Changes to Associates Program

http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/28/14755276/amazon-affiliate-rate-changes-associate-network-fees

Photo credit: Images_of_Money via Visualhunt.com / CC BY

After weeks of rumors, Amazon finally announced big changes to its affiliate program that will significantly cut compensation for high-volume affiliates.

The new fee structure offers different flat-rate commissions based on product category but does away with the former variable rate structure that tied commission rates to sales, which previously allowed high-volume sellers to make upwards of 8% in most categories.

Small-scale members of the associates program may make a few dollars more with the new rates, but total payouts from Amazon are certain to decline.

Affiliates have long been used as a reliable help to bolster traffic for Amazon. It will be interesting to see whether the fee structure will have an impact on Amazon’s traffic and growth, since affiliates are less incentivized to push Amazon’s products. Sellers who rely on affiliates may need to pay more as a result.

The new rates can be found here: https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/help/operating/compare

How to Plan Your Diversification Strategy Outside of Amazon

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: UnitedSoybeanBoard via Visual hunt / CC BY

You know how people tell you not to put all your eggs in one basket?

Learning to diversify your FBA business outside of Amazon is a hot trend at the moment. With Amazon’s recent TOS changes and even more recent commission changes — smart sellers are looking to build redundancy into their biz.

In eCommerceFuel’s recent State of the Merchant survey – 70% of respondents listed their storefront as their biggest sales channel.

For that group, Amazon made up only 6.2% of their total revenue.

And 20% of respondents claimed that Amazon made up 76% of their revenue.

For most sellers, Amazon is a great source of revenue — but there’s something to be said about safeguarding your business by making sure you don’t rely on a single sales platform.

This Week in AMZ #7: Walmart vs Amazon, Adapting Your Listing For Online, the Top 10 Common Seller Pitfalls & More

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: JeepersMedia via Visualhunt / CC BY

Walmart Continues to Grow, and Amazon Responds

http://www.seattletimes.com/business/wal-mart-pushing-back-against-amazon-with-online-sales-surge/

Walmart has made no secret about its efforts to catch up to Amazon in the e-commerce space, and its recent financial reports suggest that these moves are paying off.

Coming off the heels of two consecutive quarters of double-digit growth, Walmart’s online sales grew 29% in Q4 last year. And after its recent announcement of free two-day shipping on most orders of at least $35, the company is hoping they’ll make even more headway in 2017.

In case you didn’t think Amazon was paying attention, they’re now matching Walmaart by offering free shipping on orders of at least $35. This is a step lower than their old minimum of $49, but free two-day shipping will still only be available for Prime members..

Consumers are the obvious beneficiaries of this competition, but will third-party sellers start getting any perks? It’ll be interesting to see if Walmart will start making an effort to attract more sellers (although a bigger market share is a nice start!).

This Week in AMZ #6

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: MarkGregory007 via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-SA

Amazon Estimated to Have 65 Million Prime Users

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-gives-clue-number-of-prime-users-2017-2

Amazon has historically shared as few details as possible regarding the size of its Prime member base, but numbers released in a recent financial report have shed some light on how massive the program has become.

Based on the metrics in the report, an analyst from Morgan Stanley estimates the total number of Prime members worldwide to be 65 million.

Morgan Stanley has also recently estimated that 40% of Prime members spend $1000+ a year on Amazon and spend on average 4.6x more than non-Prime users. These numbers spell out a pretty clear benefit to making your products Prime-eligible!

How to Price Your Product Higher Without Sacrificing Sales

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: Allspire via VisualHunt / CC BY-SA

On its surface, setting a price for your Amazon product seems like a relatively straightforward decision. Just look up your competitors’ prices, undercut them by a few cents, and you’re all set, right?

But once you start seeking out advanced pricing strategies, you’ll find a near-endless list of tactics that promise to help you find the one “perfect price” to dominate your competition.

This advice can range from the overly-complicated (“combine this statistical regression with these Excel pivot tables to calculate optimal price as a function of expected sales!”) to the trivial (“research shows that prices that end in .97 convert 2% better than prices that end in .99!”) to the downright scammy (“put in an MSRP that’s much higher than the actual price of your product. Customers will think they’re getting a massive deal!”)

But at AMZ Tracker, we advocate playing the long game over trying to optimize for short-term sales. You don’t want the success of your business to hinge on how long a tactic works before other people catch on — you want to build a business with a strong foundation that will weather the ups and downs of selling on FBA.

And the most sustainable and effective way to maintain long-term success is to set a high price for your product and do everything in your control to justify the premium.

With that in mind, here are some strategies to help you down this path:

This Week In AMZ #5

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: Dano via Visual Hunt / CC BY

FedEx Launches New Fulfillment Service

http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/07/technology/fedex-fulfillment-amazon/index.html

The big news in the seller world this week is the launch of a new fulfillment service by FedEx that aims to compete with Amazon FBA to provide logistical support for small and mid-sized businesses. Of course, the big draw of FBA is access to Amazon’s gigantic marketplace, but FedEx Fulfillment could present an attractive alternative for certain cross-sections of sellers.

According to the article: “FedEx’s solution appears to make the most sense for businesses that already have a robust online presence and don’t need to rely on another marketplace, such as Amazon’s, to find an audience.”

We’ll continue to update you as we hear more about how the program works, how much it costs, and what sort of benefits it offers compared to Amazon.

This can be a real game changer for more advanced sellers looking to expand beyond Amazon.

A Quick Guide to Protecting Your Amazon Listing From Hijackers

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Do you feel truly confident that your listing is secure on Amazon from unauthorized sellers of your product?

Amazon is a fantastic marketplace for sellers to move product. So fantastic, in fact, that competition is tightening between merchants, and sellers are becoming increasingly ruthless.

If you’ve been in the game long enough, chances are you’ve found yourself fighting off unauthorized sellers trying to sell knock-off version of your well-crafted product.

Unfortunately, there’s no single foolproof solution to stop this from happening. But, you’re not powerless. There are measures you can take to prevent this — and ways to combat it if it’s already happened.

So, fear not. We’ve got your back. This article will show you a proven 5-step formula to protect your listing from false resellers — and 4 steps you can take if you’ve already been hijacked.

This Week In AMZ #4

By AMZ Tracker last updated on June 20, 2017 0 comments

Photo credit: JeepersMedia via Visual Hunt / CC BY

Walmart Now Offers Free 2-Day Shipping to Rival Amazon Prime

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2017/01/31/walmart-aims-amazon-free-two-day-shipping-offer/97260166/

Good news for those sellers who are looking to diversify their business outside of Amazon. Another Ecommerce player is making its way onto the field

Walmart just made a big move in its bid to catch up to Amazon in the ecommerce space by finally shutting down its competition service to Amazon Prime (the $50/year Shipping Pass program).

Instead the retail giant is introducing free two-day shipping to ALL customers on purchases over $35.

The two-day shipping option won’t be available for every product, but according to the CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce, “There won’t be too many products that you’ll want that won’t be available for two-day shipping.” More details can be found here:

https://www.walmart.com/cp/free-shipping/1088989

It’ll be interesting to see if this move creates waves for Amazon Prime, and gives Walmart the successful splash it hopes for. Keep an ear to the ground to see if this will eventually attract more third-party sellers to sell on Walmart’s platform. READ MORE…