7 Pitfalls to Avoid When Launching on Amazon (Infographic) Your brand cannot afford to not be where shoppers are.
By Tracey Wallace Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
There is no longer a distinct line between brick-and-mortar and online store, between Facebook checkout and marketplace presence.
Sure, each of these channels may boast of their prowess, but it is the customer who is speaking loud and clear -- make products easy to find and buy, absolutely anywhere. Welcome to the omnichannel reality, where commerce has no clear boundaries between sales channels. This means that your brand cannot afford to not be where shoppers are.
And one major channel many business still lack is Amazon.
Related: How Amazon's Recent Changes Could Affect Your Business
Get this: 44 percent of online product searches begin on Amazon (not Google). If you don't have a presence on Amazon, or if your products aren't optimized for Amazon's search engine, you're missing on loads of potential revenue.
Multiple retailers have already found this to be the case. The Dairy Fairy, a patent-pending nursing bra company out of L.A., doubled sales in less than a year by launching on Amazon. Kap7, a water polo company owned by two former Olympians, was able to increase profits enough to find niche markets in areas they'd never yet spent, eventually finding tons of customers in the Alaskan tundra thanks to online ads.
Related: 5 Myths About Selling on Amazon
Amazon isn't, then, just a strategy to grow individual channel profits. The profits you see coming in from Amazon can help you to expand your business and grow your brand presence, awareness and overall sales across the board.
Of course, getting started on Amazon and turning it isn't a multi-million dollar sales channel are two very different things. So, before you begin, be sure you have everything you need -- and be aware of the differences between webstore and marketplace selling.
Related: 10 Steps to Selling Your Product on Amazon (Infographic)
Use the infographic below to avoid the most common Amazon selling pitfalls even the savviest of Amazon sellers often find themselves in.
