Amazon is the ecommerce giant.
So much so that whilst the overall retail sector took the largest annual fall on record during the pandemic, Amazon’s profits soared by a whopping 220%. 🤯
But did you know that a huge portion of that profit is down to Amazon’s marketplace component?
Yes — it’s sellers just like you that have positioned Amazon as the world’s largest online marketplace.
And they’re raking it in as a result. Which isn’t so bad if you’re profiting too.
But with nearly 800, 000 new sellers joining worldwide each and every year, competition is only getting tougher.
So if you’re going to stand out from the crowd and get your products noticed, you’re going to want to check out these 6 top tips to boost Amazon sales. 👇
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Hold up — why am I selling on Amazon anyway?
- Amazon Seller Central: 6 secrets to selling success 🤩
What’s so great about Amazon Marketplace?
If you’re here, you likely already know why selling on Amazon is a must in 2022. But, let’s recap before we dive in:
- 63% of shoppers start their online search on Amazon — so if you’re not, you’ve instantly missed out on a tonne of potential customers.
- It’s a cheap place to start out — Amazon’s Professional Selling Account is a great place to test out your product’s market viability for under £30.
- Amazon has a pre-existing customer base of 197 million every month — organic search is tricky craft, so use Amazon’s pre-built network to start with.
- People trust Amazon — independent online retailers they’ve never heard of? Not so much.
- Amazon takes care of a lot — fulfilment (FBA), returns, customer service etc. These things take up time. Time savvy entrepreneurs just don’t have.
So whilst Amazon is often seen as a necessary evil, it really does have some rock star qualities that make life a breeze for marketplace sellers.
You just need to know how to play the game. You need insider tips to boost Amazon sales.
But, don’t worry, we have you covered. 
“If the products and the price tags are right, you can sell anything very quickly on Amazon.”
— Giuseppe Sigurtà, Founder, Miami Buys
6 ways to ace Amazon seller central and boost sales
In reality, it can take years to become a pro at selling on Amazon and mastering the art form that is Seller Central.
And that’s for a variety of reasons:
- There’s a lot of tools to get your head around and explore.
- There’s no one on hand to help (unless you’re lucky enough to secure an Account Manager).
- Seller support staff aren’t always…supportive.
- And often things just don’t work as logically or intuitively as you’d like to think.
But no one has time to spend that long mastering a marketplace.
So instead, let’s set you off with the top tips to boost Amazon sales instead.
1. Beat the Buy Box with these three components
The Buy Box is the call to action you press when you’ve finally decided on what product to purchase. Amazon’s algorithm browses all sellers listing on that product and weighs up which seller’s offer is the best for the customer. The Buy Box then automatically links to that specific offer.
With 82% of sales occurring from the Buy Box, it’s important your company wins out every time.
Whilst the Buy Box algorithm is Amazon’s biggest secret, we know these three factors have a hefty influence:
- Pricing — pretty simply, the lowest price usually wins.
Seller central secret: Amazon have bots crawling the web to check for price parity, so try and keep your on and off Amazon prices the same. Oh, and customers way prefer when P&P is built into the product price rather than being an add-on.
- Prime — if Amazon can be sure your product is going to get from A to B because they can fulfil it (FBA) or track it (SFP), you score some points.
Seller central secret: As a general rule best-sellers and fast-movers go through FBA, whilst long-tail or bulky items are best-suited to SFP.
- Reviews — the more reviews both your account and products have, the more Amazon trusts your offering is legit.
Seller central secret: You can’t incentivise reviews, but you can pop in a polite/memorable review request within your product packaging.
And if you nail all three? Well, you’re off to a flying start and on your way to increase Amazon sales.
Don’t forget about FBA Small and Light – delivery savings are huge if your products are <£9, <225g, and <33 x 25 x 5.
2. Content is still King on Amazon – don’t overlook it
A+ Content is a free service within Amazon’s Seller Central that allows you to bring your product detail pages to life and makes it easier for shoppers to get to grips with what’s on offer.
It’s also a biggy when it comes to brand awareness, telling your story and generating a trustworthy name for yourself on and off Amazon.
Seller central secret: Use Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments feature to test your brand’s listings content and discover which version of your content outperforms the other.
Seller central secret: Videos make customers 85% more likely to buy your product, so invest time creating them and making them engaging. 
3. Make your brand as available as possible
Getting your product out there is priority number one. And that means acing three areas of availability:
- Stock — it’s a no-brainer, but if you’re constantly running out of stock your sales are going to be super erratic (and Amazon won’t love you for it).
Seller central secret: simplify availability by setting replenishment alerts for every line.
- Prime — customers want things quick, tracked and cheap. And achieving that level of availability without Amazon’s network is pretty tricky.
Seller central secret: factor in lengthy delivery delays at warehouses, especially over Christmas — send stock way in advance to reduce shortfall.
Seller central secret: Prime can even make your brand available globally, with Pan-European and Amazon Global Selling programmes.
- Multi-Channel Fulfilment — going global (or even national sometimes) can incur big costs. We’ve established Amazon’s logistics can really simplify that journey, but it doesn’t just have to be solely for your Amazon sales. With Multi-Channel Fulfilment, Amazon will store, pack and deliver your off-Amazon sales too.
Seller central secret: Multi-Channel Fulfilment does come at a premium, because Amazon would prefer all sales went through them (of course they would). So take the time to do the maths first: is it cheaper to use Amazon to start and then DIY? Or do you just shell out from the start and go it alone?
4. Marketplace marketing is a must
Amazon ads is a treasure trove of marketing tools to help increase Amazon sales. And with a multitude of options, you can advertise your products both within the platform and externally via:
- Sponsored Products
- Sponsored Brands
- Sponsored Display
- Amazon DSP
- Video ads
- Audio ads
- Custom advertising solutions
Seller central secret: Create automatic targeting campaigns first, that way you can test the market and discover the search terms people are using to find your product. Then take those popular search terms and use them in your manual campaigns, to keep costs down and maintain control.
The stats speak for themselves: Sponsored Products really can help customers find (and purchase) your products.
5. Deals have an epic flywheel effect 
Amazon’s deal page is one of its biggest traffic-drivers. Especially on days like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Prime Day, with Amazon raking in more deals each year.
Sellers are often reluctant to reduce prices because of margin and quality concerns. But there are some key benefits to running deals on Amazon — internally named ‘the halo effect’. And it goes a like this:
- Reduces prices gain traffic
- Which, in turn, means more sales
- Which, in turn, means more reviews
- Which, in turn, means more traffic
…and so the cycle continues, way beyond the day of the deal.
Seller central secret: use the Amazon deals dashboard to see which products Amazon recommends. The dashboard is dynamic — as you sell more of something/you receive more reviews, it’s likely that product will appear within the dashboard as an eligible deal item — so be sure to check in regularly.
6. Branch out with B2B
The B2B market is set to reach a mind-boggling €2.8 trillion by 2024. So it’s no surprise that in the past five years Amazon has taken its relatively new B2B offering super seriously. 
Now, with over one million B2B buyers worldwide, it’s a pretty lucrative market to get into…no matter what product you’re offering.
Amazon Business is run through your existing Seller Central account, so it’s a no-brainer to offer your products:
- To an even wider audience
- At the click of a button
- With no additional cost
Seller central secret: you’ll need to provide B2B buyers with way more product info than B2B customers. Why? Because more often than not they’re bound by a super strict approval and purchasing process and every decision needs to be justified.
And there you have it — six top tips to boost Amazon sales in 2022:
- Winning the Buy Box
- Creating great content
- Making your brand as available as possible
- Exploring your marketing opportunities
- Experimenting with deals
- Expanding your B2B offering
“Life’s too short to hang out with people who aren’t resourceful.”
— Jeff Bezos
A Jeff Bezos quote, of course. But one most entrepreneurs agree with.
If you’ve taken the time to learn, digest and implement the above changes to your Amazon business, then it’s safe to say you’ve passed Jeff’s resourcefulness test. 
Because the first step in achieving your business goals is putting in the groundwork to learn how to do just that.
And if you’re up for learning even more about getting the most from your Amazon business, why not join me (and a bunch of other Amazon braniancs) at Amafest this March? Featuring over 20 ecommerce experts and networking opportunities, you will learn valuable tactics, strategies, and tips to boost Amazon sales.
For more Amazon and ecommerce knowledge, read our previous post: How did the COVID-19 pandemic change ecommerce?
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