Finding the best platform to run your business online can be tricky. Most companies migrate several times before finding the one that works best because there can be many issues ranging from the platform being understaffed, to problems with software integration and so on.
Arguably, Amazon has been at the forefront of this digital ecommerce charge for the last few years, thanks to various benefits of the platform such as ease of use, fast delivery time, simple-to-use website, brand awareness, and popular brand image. One area they’ve excelled in is their Amazon Seller Central program, which enables anyone to start up their own online business effortlessly.
Starting up your own ecommerce company has never been easier thanks to Amazon; its system allows you to create an account and start selling your wares on the Amazon Marketplace in no time at all. There are no limitations as anyone can sign up to become an Amazon seller, all you need is a credit card, phone number, and bank account details.
Since its wider inception in early 2000, Amazon has played a crucial part for small businesses and individuals seeking to start their own companies. With 20 different product categories open to sellers in their basic program and an extra 10 for professionals making it their sole source of income, there’s a vast untapped market of potential growth and sales just waiting to be claimed.
At least 40% of all of Amazon's sales come from small-time business owners and with the slow shift to online over brick and mortar stores by the average consumer, that number is only going to increase. If you’re looking for a prime example of how to run an ecommerce platform, Amazon is one worth considering.
When you sign up with Amazon, you will be presented with two different options: the first choice is their ‘Individual’ program, with this you get access to their basic program, and it’s the standard choice for business owners that are selling 35 items a month or less. With this option, you pay no monthly subscription fee, but you do have to cover a small fee on sales along with other selling fees. It’s the cheaper of the two options, which is a deal for small businesses that might not have the biggest budget to throw around when they first start out as an Amazon seller.
The other option is their ‘Professional’ program, and although it comes with a $39.99 subscription fee per month, it allows you to sell more than 40 items per month. There are also extra benefits like the ability to customize shipping rates on items, use bulk listing and reporting tools, control where you sell products, and offer special promotions on your items. When weighed against the additional cost of a subscription fee, this option is worth considering if you’re looking to optimize your e-commerce revenue.
There are many benefits to selling on Amazon. First, there’s a range of different product categories that are available to you, so even if your product fits a small niche market, there’s still potentially an audience that you can sell to. Plus, in their seller program, you can add new product categories if you need to. Although, adding a new product requires Amazon’s direct approval which takes around three working days.
You also get access to Amazon’s customer service system, which means issues with your sales can be fixed quickly and painlessly without you having to deal with the problems directly, freeing you up to focus on increasing your revenue or optimizing your marketing strategy.
You also get access to Amazon Seller Central’s e-commerce tools and applications, and Amazon FBA.
Their FBA system is perhaps one of the biggest selling points to becoming an Amazon Seller as it expedites the posting, packing, and shipping process of your items. All you need to do is simply send your item to a nearby Amazon fulfillment centre, and they’ll package it and send it off to the customer when they eventually buy them. This cuts down on time you spend trying to ship your items to clients who may live in areas that require a specific type of shipping, plus it guarantees the items will be delivered, so there’s no chance that it’ll get lost in transit. Anyone using their FBA system also won't have to worry about covering any expensive shipping or postage costs as that’s also covered by Amazon and is instead charged to the customer.
A significant feature of this service is that you also get access to the Amazon Prime free delivery service. Although that may not sound like much, simply having the Amazon Prime badge on your seller's page will drastically increase your chances of potential sales. What it does is places the Amazon Prime badge on your page, and any ‘Prime Buyers’ that filter out sellers without this badge will be able to see you, which in turn maximizes your chances of landing a sale.
Amazon’s FBA is also ideal for small-time business owners as it offers a pay-per-use system instead of a subscription fee, which means anyone that isn’t pulling in as much revenue per month have one less thing that they must pay for. These extra savings on sales, coupled with the no monthly subscription fee for individual sellers, make Amazon ideal for anyone that’s just starting out or is looking for a platform that allows them to work with a smaller budget.
There are a lot of significant advantages waiting for you when you become an Amazon Seller; there is no downside to signing up. If you have a product to sell, then Amazon is packed full of incentives and perks that will help you get your ecommerce business off the ground.
Although Amazon has a lot of excellent selling points, it can be tricky to keep track of all the sites you’re selling on. But at Shopping Cart Elite, our ecommerce software can handle all your needs by providing an inventory management system that you can readily use to create the ultimate online e-commerce business.
Shopping Cart Elite is not only compatible with Amazon, but it works perfectly with other online retail websites such as eBay, Sears, Etsy, Groupon, Walmart, and Rakuten Shopping. Plus, it’s also compatible with personal websites outside of the more widely-known e-commerce sites on the market. Regardless of the platform you use, Shopping Cart Elite has you covered.
There are some other excellent perks to using Shopping Cart Elite.
For example, there’s a simple and easy-to-use system that you can use to quickly set up an automated listing service on your website to show off thousands of your products to potential buyers. You can also easily manage multiple online marketplaces at once, so if you’re selling on Amazon, eBay or Etsy, you can watch all of them without having to jump between multiple tabs, which makes keeping track of what items you’re selling and where almost issue-free.
You can also customize the pricing on each channel if you see fit. So, if you’re trying to increase your sales of one particular item on one of your platforms, such as Amazon, that might be selling more on eBay, you can slowly alter the price to incentivize potential buyers to switch websites.
At Shopping Cart Elite, you can even create bundle options for your brands for consumers that are ordering their items in bulk, keeping their sale in a single, straightforward order. For anyone that may be operating their business out of multiple warehouses, there’s also an inventory system that allows you to track your items in real-time through one single platform, which is ideal for anyone that might be interested in expanding their business to additional locations but has shipping concerns.
With powerful backend software, never again will you need to use multiple CRMs to maintain and handle your inventory as it’s all handled through one backend office that also comes with everything being saved in a cloud-hosted data centre to keep your details as secure as possible. Plus, using a new type of compression software called Hypersonic CDN, your website will run much faster than Amazon or Yahoo, which could potentially lead to more sales from customers who may not have time to sit and watch sites load slowly.
So, if you’re starting out in the e-commerce marketplace as a beginner or you’re an experienced vendor looking to increase your revenue by increasing your website’s impact, Shopping Cart Elite is worth checking out. With so many great perks and features that allow you to manage your items across multiple platforms, it’s the ultimate application that guarantees to bring in plenty of business for your company.