When small eCommerce businesses start out, Amazon often seems like a Godsend, especially since it allows you to focus on the core business plans rather than figuring out the complicated web of distribution channels. However, as these businesses grow, they want to become more independent and begin selling directly to consumers as well. However, if you are an eCommerce business owner, then you might have noticed that it becomes very difficult to gain traction on your independent website, because of Amazon, which eats into a large chunk of your sales.
Amazon Sales Cannibalize Your Ecommerce Sales: What To Do?
Now, how is this a bad thing? Well, the truth is that if a majority of your sales are coming from Amazon, then there is a good chance that it means your consumers won’t actually care for your independent brand, but rather choose to buy your products solely because they feature on Amazon. So, how exactly do you ensure that Amazon sales do not cannibalize your eCommerce sales?
1️⃣ Pricing is key –
Price plays a very significant role in determining your independent sales. The reason buyers love Amazon as a platform is due to the low prices it offers, and for such a high rate of convenience too. Moreover, it has created a strong market standing for itself, so these prices, combined with a sense of brand loyalty, often end up razing your eCommerce sales. So, having a price plan in place becomes a crucial aspect of ensuring this does not happen. Do not lower your price excessively for Amazon, so much so that it eats into your profit margins. However, pushing up prices on your website is a no-go too, since it only prompts customers to choose from Amazon. What you have to do is strike a balance between the two, and ensure that customers see the same pricing on Amazon as well as your website.
2️⃣ Find your USP and communicate it –
The Amazon marketplace is quite a complicated one, flush with a plethora of retailers to choose from. As a result, customers might be seeing your brand as just one among many, and buying from your simply because you exist on Amazon, and not because they think you stand out. The key to ensuring they don’t see you as just another Amazon retailer is finding what your unique selling point is, and then making them aware of it. This can be done by creating creative product descriptions or creating unique products, which stand out from the rest, and in turn prompt customers to check out more of your products by going to your website.
3️⃣ Create engaging content on your site –
If you do convince customers to eventually check out your website directly, by curating a list of unique products, the last thing you want is for them to be unsatisfied by the content on your website. All this ends up doing is forcing them to buy your products solely from Amazon. Moreover, Amazon works on superior technical teams and offers great usability too, so you want to ensure that you can match up to its level. Make navigation easier, and go for simpler designs so that customers can easily wade through your site and in turn, fall in love with your products!
4️⃣ Monitor your Amazon sales closely –
If Amazon sales are eating into your eCommerce sales, then the solution is not to give up on Amazon entirely, since there is a good chance that your products are going to end up there eventually due to some third-party sellers. As a result, the only option left for you is to use this as an opportunity and monitor your amazon sales closely to understand the demographic that is buying from you, and what is fuelling them to do so, so that you can make subsequent improvements in your business plan.
Conclusion:
Giant eCommerce firms often have a tendency to eat up the sales of small upcoming ones, but the key to navigating this entire process is by offering a great market value and creating a niche target audience for yourself so that you can bag a demographic that likes your products for what they are, and not because they sell on Amazon.
