Are You Ready to Launch a Product on Amazon?

By Ray Petrick, Vice President of Sales, Boiron USA 

Amazon customers buy roughly 7,400 products per minute from U.S. sellers. It is a monster platform — with hundreds of millions of worldwide customers and more than 200 million paid Prime members worldwide. A properly executed sales strategy will allow you to win big. Conversely you could just as easily lose big by not adapting to Amazon’s business model. 

Before you begin, make sure you understand and don’t underestimate the effect of the “Amazon flywheel.” One of the primary strategies for success on Amazon is creating momentum to continuously spin the flywheel, and then spin it faster. Amazon has been very intentional with feeding the specific areas of its business that it believes is essential to the flywheel strategy. Below is the Amazon flywheel business model: 

The Amazon flywheel components that help a company grow flow from customer experience to low prices to Prime membership to customer service to more sales to extra subscriptions. Investment and nurturing any of these areas will positively impact the whole flywheel. 

Key Strategies for a Product Launch on Amazon 

For those new to the Amazon platform, key strategies to help increase your chances of success include: 

• Drive your brand’s visibility to everyone. Whether it’s new item e-blasts, ads on Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) or Amazon Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program, or social media, the more impressions you generate, the better the long-term growth will be for your products. 
• Increase reviews by offering incentives. Positive reviews can help build trust and credibility for your product. 
• Make sure your Amazon new item forms are 100 percent accurate and complete. Don’t haphazardly launch with intentions to update or correct it later. 
• Focus on high performance keyword research before the launch of a new product. Keywords on the product and detail page itself make the biggest difference in terms of conversion. 
• Stand out from the competition by differentiating your product. 
• Launch Amazon Vine Programs to grab Amazon Reviews from official reviewers for your products. 
• Increase positive review count in line with Amazon’s Terms of Service through listing optimization, influencer outreach, and ad campaign strategies. 
• Enhanced content imagery and video content is crucial. This allows Amazon to rate your products higher at the organic level. According to research, 66 percent of consumers prefer to watch a video about a brand or product as part of their research. 
• Don’t be afraid to run promos, coupons, and other deals. This can help retain your buy box control. 
• Design an engageable, clean Brand Store on Amazon. While this may only attribute to 15–25 percent of your total sales, having a Brand Store on Amazon engages shoppers in a pleasant experience with your products, which may convert new customers to loyal customers. 
• Partner with relevant influencers in your product niche who can endorse and promote your product to their followers. Recommendations from relevant influences can drive traffic and conversions. 
• Enroll your product in the Amazon Prime program, which offers benefits like free two-day shipping. Your product being eligible for Prime discounts can increase its visibility and appeal to a broader audience. 
• Monitor your product's performance using analytics tools provided by Amazon. Continuously optimize your listing, pricing, and advertising strategies based on customer feedback and data analysis. 
• Maintain healthy inventory levels. Nothing can kill your business quicker and stop the flywheel then not being able to fulfill orders. 

Amazon is about adaptability; it is always changing. It is more of a marketing platform than it is a sales platform. Amazon allows sellers to spend efficiently by focusing on customer acquisition through ad products, organic traffic, and shopper experience. Successful product launches require a combination of thorough preparation, effective marketing strategies, and continuous improvement based on customer feedback. Last, if you don't have in-house experience or talent, there are several quality Amazon marketing/consulting companies that can help you get started.

Good luck on your exciting journey!