When considering starting your venture on the Amazon platform, the absolute bottom line is choosing the right product to sell. The question you may ask yourself is what products to choose to sell on Amazon in order to be successful on the platform? This is the question I will try to answer today and in a few points show you what to look for when choosing a product.

High quality and originality of the product is essential

In the first place, as a person interested in selling, you should already have a few product items selected. A successful sale on Amazon should be based on reliable and proven products.

Any fakes or products that may infringe on the intellectual rights of other product brands are out of the question! Do some good research first and make sure that your product does not violate Amazon’s intellectual property policy. Amazon, for the sake of its customers and their safety, may in many cases ask you for certificates or proof of originality of the product in the form of purchase invoices, certificates of registration, product composition, and the like. 

The product you choose to sell on Amazon is the most important and it will be your showpiece. The price sensitivity of Amazon customers is not as important as the “perceived value”, i.e. the value the customer expects (high) versus the actual value of the product. It is better to follow the principle “undepromiss – overdeliver” i.e. promise a lot but deliver even more.

If you do not own a brand, but your business will be based on distribution, we advise you to focus on manufacturers whose product can be described as premium. 

More or less – that is the question

Once you have selected your products, you should check whether the item in question is already on the Amazon platform. You can find it by the EAN code, or the name of the brand manufacturer and keywords describing the product and its use. 

If the product is not yet on Amazon – the way to list it is open. On the other hand, if the product is already on Amazon and you are going to be its next seller, you don’t have to create a new product listing. You just need to link to existing products. 

A common question our customers ask us is how many products from their listing should be on Amazon to begin with. There is no definitive answer here, but you should follow the guidelines below: 

• don’t just focus on your current top rotating products. Their sales in your current sales channel may differ strongly from how they will sell on Amazon;
• more products, more data. Data doesn’t lie. The more products we seed for sale, the more knowledge we gain about their popularity, sales and the category as a whole; 
• if you are unsure about a product (stability of quality, continuity of supply, formal requirements), don’t list it on Amazon; 
• if the margin after Amazon costs is less than 10% it is not enough. Unexpected costs related to stocking time, returns, campaigning can fluctuate +/-10%. The ideal margin buffer after Amazon costs (refferel Fee, FBA Fees Logistics) is 50%. 

Your offer at the beginning should be a collection of proven, high-quality and high-margin products. Not sure about any of the products? Don’t risk it!

You must know what you are selling!

Knowing your product, the category you want to sell in and your sector is essential. It seems trivial, but do you really know all the answers? 

Often it is this knowledge that can determine your subsequent sales or avoid listing errors, as well as have an impact on clarifying various sales complexities with Amazon more quickly.

Often customers themselves verify your product knowledge, and this is done even before the purchase. Questions about various details of the merchandise, warranty, application, guarantee, delivery, personalisation options, product composition, instructions for use, etc. are possible. You must be ready for any questions even before you start selling. It’s worth preparing yourself a ready-made compendium of questions and answers to potential customer queries. Handling sales on Amazon requires that you know your products.

From order to customer

Amazon is extremely attentive to lead times and order quality. If you’re wondering what this has to do with choosing a product to sell, read on.

When shipping goods via Amazon, you need to be 100% sure that the goods are not only properly protected, but also: 

• its dimensions will not be too expensive to ship, 
• your carrier has no objections to the contents of the shipment, 
• there is no need to secure them in an appropriate manner.

Everyone wants to get a package that is well secured and, above all, to receive it safely and quickly. The same needs to be ensured for Amazon customers and this needs to be “caught up” at the listing stage under Amazon. Don’t leave it for later.

This is a very important point, also in the context of a later possible sale of the goods in the FBA model or establishing a partnership with Amazon under Amazon Vendor Central.

In summary, the most important product selection considerations are: 

• choosing an original, tested product, 
• doing a reaserch on Amazon in the context of the selected items,
• checking that you know absolutely everything about the product – that no customer question will surprise you,
• making sure you can deliver your product efficiently, safely and on time, and all of this at a reasonable cost.

If your offer meets the above conditions, then you’re ready to get started in the Amazon World. 

This article is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to product selection. If you have other questions, want to share your insights, we at Go2Market share our knowledge and encourage everyone to do the same – add a question or post below. 

Happy Product Research, 

Bartosz Kazimierczyk

Head of Technology