How retailers can put Amazon to work for them

[HTMLBasicTutor]

If you are a retailer who thinks you don't have a chance running up against Amazon have a read of this article:

...Amazon has a well-deserved reputation for disrupting (and obliterating) brick-and-mortar retailing. But offline retailers can learn to get along with Amazon and even generate more sales working with them...

How retailers can put Amazon to work for them

Are you inspired?

I think the key to this is to offer something unique that no one else has.

[imadam]

some of the advice is sound, but perhaps only really good for small niches with products that are hard to understand what is valuable and what's not. the pokemon cards example being one that only a specialist would know the value of each card, amazon unlikely unable to hire someone specifically to know this for instance. if however amazon can sell the stuff you're selling, i'm not sure just joining amazon is a good idea. you will create a market for them to watch the sales and then when they want, go into that market and undercut you and bam you're done over night.

[vaguar]

According to a PowerReviews study released last year, 38 percent of shoppers start their search on Amazon versus only 35 percent for Google, and other studies have pegged the percentage of shoppers searching first at Amazon as high as 55 percent.

This is a very important stat. If the purpose of a search query is to ultimately buy a product, why not go to the marketplace directly? Google just adds one more step to the process. In the future this 35-55% might as well become 80-90%.

So while businesses should have their own website as a hygiene factor, they absolutely need to be on all the major e-commerce platforms (There are quite a few here in India - backed by local, American and Chinese Venture funds). The wider you spread your net, the more your sales will be. And then it won't matter whether and how many sales you're able to make from a standalone website.

[lucas1596]

Really great tips. Especially about offering something your customers cannot find elsewhere.
He basically placed amazon on the front lines, offered limited products and made his offline store take the stage once customers started looking for more.

However, I can't help but think that this is only applicable to those who have unique products like pokemon cards compared to ones selling common products like apparels, equipments, etc.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Originally Posted by lucas1596

However, I can't help but think that this is only applicable to those who have unique products like pokemon cards compared to ones selling common products like apparels, equipments, etc.

Maybe this would work: Amazon SEO: A guide to improving your rankings on Amazon

[lucas1596]

Originally Posted by HTMLBasicTutor

Maybe this would work: Amazon SEO: A guide to improving your rankings on Amazon

Thanks, i'll give it a read.

[qwerty113]

I've seen stores that have an amazon portion to their brick and morter biz. Seems to be a good way to do things. Plus you have all of the Amazon affiliates too.