Why Amazon Isn’t Building Your Brand
Amazon, everyone wants to be on it, but why? Is it because 197 million people are using it each month or because it sells more than 12 million products? With the eCommerce platform taking up 49% of the market share, you see why everyone wants to have their products on Amazon to see the action. So, where is the bad in this?
- The Fees
- Customers Are Not Yours
- Customer Servies is Awful
- Not all Sales Happen On Amazon
The Fees
The first problem with amazon is the number of fees they take from your store. 15% fee if you are lucky enough to get it. Now I understand each account is different, and charges apply in other ways, but all those little fees start to add up.
For this example, I screenshot the payment report.
The image is a ten-day period since as I’m writing this, it is July 31, 2020,
- Total sales for this period are $5,236.60
- Total amazon expenses are -$1,427.56
- Which leaves a total of $3,809.04
With 20% of referral fees at 5236.6 comes to $1047.2. So Amazon fees are just under 20% in this case. Total costs for everything is 27.26%
As you can see, there aren’t any fees for running ads on amazon in this example. That would be an additional marketing expense. Just ask yourself what you could do with $1,427.56 in marketing instead of fees.
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The customer buying process for amazon
Customer on Amazon —> picks product —> Brands—> Picks Your brand —> buys product —> Amazon Send them an Email —> Amazon Ships product —> customer only see Amazon —> Amazon Remarkets to Customer – people ask where did you get that from, they reply amazon, not your brand
The buying process for your website
The customer comes to website —> pick product —>buys product —> You send the package with your branding; You capture all their info for remarketing. —> customer waits for their package form your brand.—- The box gets there—> they are excited and say my package form ( your store ) is here. —-> People ask where did you get that from, they say ( your store ). You send a reminder for a review and remarket to that customer.
I can tell you this if you are focusing on trying to build your brand on amazon you aren’t building your brand. You are building Amazon’s brand.
Customer service
Have you ever tried to call Amazon for customer service? They are just about as good as a Walmart greeter. They excuse themselves from the situations and refer you to the 3rd party store. Now that store isn’t even in the USA. Your store is, though, and the customer gets a hold of you, but you didn’t make a bunch on the deal since you already paid 27% in commissions, so you’re not as inclined to help because there isn’t room for anything unless you do it out of good faith.
Either you decided to help and lose more profits on the situation to make a customer happy that didn’t even buy from you.
Now, when the customer buys from your store and calls for service, they get the help they need. You can work with them because there is room for the price to work with, whether it be free returns or replacing the item. After all, you haven’t given your product away.
Your eagerness to help the customer makes them loyal customers for life and helps build your brand even more. You are disserving your customers and your self when focusing on just selling on Amazon.
People buy more products on Amazon.
That might be true, but I’m here to show you that people will buy your product over buying it on amazon.
In the last 30 days, Amazon generated only $1739.84 ($1,270.08 after fees), but on their online store, they sold over $138,799.48. What does that say for amazon? You don’t need Amazon to grow your business. Would you be better off having all your customers buy directly from you? Yes, 100 % you would be. Even if you were okay with the 27% Amazon takes, it would be far better to pass those savings on to your customers. They will thank you for it.
You Don’t Need Amazon
The main point I’m getting at is you don’t need Amazon; Amazon needs people like you. They have become the new Walmart. Where customers can shop in one spot comparing prices to other products and buy based on the lowest price. You don’t want those customers. They will only be a nightmare to deal with and will always go for the cheapest item. You have a superior product and pricing that matches it. You need to attract the customer that are looking for those products while willing to pay a premium.
Here’s one last thing to think about. With 29% in fees, what could you do with marketing to drive those sales to your online store and build your brand?
Amazon is not the place you should be to build your brand. Have an amazon storefront but focus your marketing efforts on building your brand and website. The benefits are long term. If you say something on social media that people don’t agree with, you won’t have to worry about getting kicked out of amazon because you have your customer base and spent the time building your foundations for a long term successful business.
Want To Get A Full Stacked Marketing Agency Without The Up Front Cost?
A new High-value approach To getting the marketing you want without paying for anything out of your pocket upfront, increasing your revenue and profit while everyone else goes with agencies that take money upfront and produce no tangible results!
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About the Author
Caleb Grant
Caleb Grant is the founder of Blanc Ideas, a digital marketing firm founded in 2015. For the past 5 years, he has been deeply involved with the business owners and is shifting the way his clients think about their online presence as not only a cost-effective platform to reach their audience but also a system engineered to drive measurable business-oriented results.