Peter Tari and Adam Szalavics are young Amazon entrepreneurs. They play successfully in the U.S. market for e-trading power, with a monthly turnover of $50,000. We have recently been told about the secret of their success and their most important drivers here in hello business. Now we have asked them to summarize in 10 points what they advise those who are now entering the amazon world as entrepreneurs.
Best advice for newcomer Amazon retailers from Amazon titans!
1. First look at which Amazon market should you start your business in?
In front of amazon in the US, it’s definitely worth looking around one of the five Amazon markets in Europe. Germany is the biggest, but England, France, Spain, Italy can also be an exciting terrain for us. The great advantage of European markets is that it is logistically easier to do business, it is easier to contact distributors. Technically, things happen the same way on all Amazon, but it’s nice to know that different markets are different in terms of corporate operations.
We started our business in America because we wanted to play in the biggest playground, and the mentors we know already advise us to operate there. But what mattered in the decision was that we had a lot of faith in self-improvement, and the training we did was also about American business. Plus, we really like to speak English, and we also like the American way of life.
2. Get to know the possibilities and boundaries of your business model on Amazon before you leave
or: Is everything is determined by what kind of trade you plan to trade?!
But whether you’re in favor of a market in America or Europe also depends on what kind of trade you want to trade. It’s completely different if you already have a well-functioning webshop in The United Kingdom, and you want to sell these products elsewhere, or you’re a manufacturer, and you want to use Amazon as a sales channel. You may start amazon as a complete newcomer, without a product or production line, and adjust your trading to meet demand. For example, we specialize 100% in this direction, so much of our work is based on deeper interaction with distributors. For us, this part of the business is going well, that’s what we like to do.
3. Check if the product you want to sell is on Amazon
or: Dive deep into Amazon.
Each product exists once. For example, there are several offers on the site from the 64GB grey iPhone 6 mobile phone, but it appears on a product page. Imagine that each product has a table and has exactly as many products as are for sale with the same number of items. If you already have a product on Amazon, it’s easier for you to do, because it also means it has some demand. In this case, all you really have to do is decide that you’re going to be involved in the sale because the goods are going to go one way or the other.
4. Be the tweek champion of information if you have a new product
or: How do you start a business if you want to introduce a product?
If you want to bring a new product to Amazon, be prepared that most of your energy will go to process optimization and how you can tweek at the information. You’re going to have a big role to play in advertising, a lot depends on well-set keywords and continuous improvement. The task is very complex, with a lot of moving particles making up for one’s success – which is why if your product isn’t on Amazon, you’ll have to expect more time and longer processes to succeed.
5. Consider carefully whether logistics are worth it for you
or: Is Amazon Fulfillment worth using?
If you want to build a business and you’re not a manufacturing company, you have two options. 1. You use Amazon as an interface: your order arrives and your company handles everything. As a Hungarian company, if you are present in India and orders come in from there, logistics are likely to go smoothly. However, if you don’t have mature logistics, 2. We recommend that you leave this task to Amazon. In the Fulfillment By Amazon (Amazon FBA) system we use, everything from order arrival to delivery is handled by Amazon. In this case, you need to pay attention to two things: one, to get the product into amazon’s warehouse, the other to generate sales.
Tip: As an Australian manufacturer, covering the US market is a big challenge, the cost of transport is difficult to recover, the FBA service is definitely worth it.
6. Always pay attention to product labeling
or: Check the technical characteristics of the relevant market.
If you are not the manufacturer and you are a reseller of a product, it is worth checking to see if the same product or the manufacturer is already sending it in Hungarian: in this case, the barcode may not be the same packaging. For example, in video games, you still have to pay attention to region codes.
7. Start small
or: First test with your niche of products, if you have less or no experience of selling on Amazon
As big a company as you are, start small on Amazon. No matter how big your capital is, test it first, experience the marketplace. So before you jump big, test, validate, scale! First, you can send only 50 of each of your products to an Amazon warehouse or keep them in stock, then listen. We certainly advise you to do good tactics, that there are 10 thousand products, here you go buy. Analyze the market first with software, different practices, see which product is going to that Amazon market. It’s also a bit of guesswork, but there’s also a snowball effect on Amazon: the more you sell something in as short a time as possible, the more organic hits will start working under you. Amazon ranks higher for those who are running out of products, so you’ll be back insight, which will give you even more sales. Of course, other considerations are involved (rating, price, what extra gift you offer the customer) in order for Amazon to put your product in the best buy box.
8. Take out insurance
or: Prevent yourself from being zero for months because of a misunderstanding.
For whatever reason, if your account is suspended, the third-party insurance company – many insurers in the United States have such a package – will pay you your average income from the time you lost revenue. Fortunately, this has never happened to us before, but we’ve heard unpleasant stories.
9. Have a B-account
or: Think ahead and avoid getting lost in your well-built business.
It’s also important to have another account from the 0th day of your Amazon merchant life: with a different name, different company, different email address, i.e. everything should be different from your main profile. This is a good guarantee because if for some reason your user account is stopped, your product will not be lost. You simply send them all to a (different) warehouse and then send the products to the new company again.
10. Get traffic first, then spend your money on experts
or: Trust me, it’s not that complicated to start a business!
A lot of people think so, but we think it’s less important to have a good accountant from the first minute. We should think that first there should be revenue that can be booked. The other misconception is that it’s hard to start a company in America, but it’s not: you fill out a one-page form, you get it back in two days, and you can go to your store. Of course, if you are not at all versed in these matters, you need to find an expert.
11. Beware of certain products
or: Not everything is worth selling on Amazon!
There are products that are riskier to sell on Amazon. The clothes and shoes are fishnet because by bringing these products back many people have a lot to do with them as well. Perishable food should also be avoided. We do not recommend products that get easily damaged during transport at departure or products that are not guaranteed. Of course, everything can be sold, since there is also demand for these products, they only require more attention, especially if we do business from here in Australia. We sell nutritional supplements in the first place (vitamins, protein powders). The big advantage of this product line is that people buy it fixed every month, so the return rate is low and you don’t have to deal with the warranty.
One more tip: not only do you know the rules, but you can also play! Knowing the rules is not enough, be good at it, and don’t forget to learn from people.
If you have any more questions, look for Adam and Peter on their Instagram page and they’ll be happy to help you move on.
