If you’re like most e-commerce entrepreneurs, you know the things that got you where you are with your Amazon business today won’t be the same things that take you where you want to go tomorrow.
The game is changing all the time. Once you’ve achieved a dominant position in your niche, it’s time to move from hacks to real growth strategies that work in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
Whether you’re looking to scale up to an exit, or go from a seven- to eight-figure business, even the most successful Amazon sellers can always refine their strategies.
1. Expand Your Product Selection
In the early days, you could win the Buy Box just by moving a thousand units per day — but that was then.
Success on Amazon in the 2020s requires an agile strategy focused not solely on sales, but all things growth. Product line expansion is one of the best ways to make that happen.
By growing your product portfolio, you not only grow your sales volume.
You also put yourself in a prime position to capture other important types of growth, including:
- Share growth: Offering products that attract customers away from your competitors, expanding your customer base.
- Market growth: Introducing products that attract new customers to your industry or category, driving overall market growth.
- Price growth: Implementing price increases to boost revenue and profit margins.
- Quantity growth: Selling higher quantities of your products, whether through larger orders or increased demand.
- Cost-cutting: Identifying opportunities to lower production costs and optimize your profitability.
If you’re using a product research tool like Cerebro, Black Box, or Xray to generate product ideas, try filtering for products with less than three variations to see where there might be new gaps or opportunities in your category.
By broadening your focus from one or two bestsellers to a portfolio of products that can be strategically adjusted, you can achieve growth through multiple avenues as the business evolves.
For example, if you’re already launching the latest iPad cover in black, you could look into new colors or patterns based on what’s trending in the fashion world. When the demand for cases designed for older iPads begins to wane, you can discontinue every color except black and offer shoppers the option to purchase used cases. This will help reduce costs and avoid dead stock, while keeping your store in a prime position on Amazon.
Bonus Tip: Make sure your current product listings are in tip-top shape.
Before you start adding a whole new line of products to your portfolio, take time to make sure all listings for your existing Amazon products are fully optimized. Check that your product titles are aligned with the latest search engine optimization (SEO) best practices and backed up by plenty of positive reviews. For a complete primer on optimizing your Amazon product listings, our 7 Steps to Retail-Ready Listings guide has you covered.
2. Take Advantage of Strategic Product Bundling
With a wider range of products, you’re ready to tap into the power of product bundling and targeted cross-selling. Done right, this can be a powerful way to increase your average order value (AOV) and repeat purchases.
To start, review your data over the last year to see which products Amazon customers frequently purchase together. Once you’ve got your bundles ready, adjust your promotions inside Seller Central to maximize your upselling and cross selling opportunities.
Here are some steps to get started:
- Leverage catalog and targeted cross promotions
- Use your images to visually communicate other products in the catalog
- Make sure your store’s URL is visible
- Take advantage of Amazon Virtual Bundles
The beauty of Amazon’s Virtual Product Bundle tool is that you don’t need a unique Universal Product Code (UPC) for the bundle. You can create virtual bundles of 2 to 5 Amazon Standard Identification Numbers (ASINs) and immediately launch attractive offers that stand out.
With the right blend of products and promotions, you can accelerate the success of new or slow-moving products by letting them “piggyback” off your existing bestsellers.
Note that, as always, the rules are changing all the time. Before you launch your next bundle or cross promotion, take time to read and review Amazon’s latest guidelines on promotions and pricing.
Bonus Tip: Align your selling strategy with your inventory strategy.
For Amazon FBA sellers of every shape and size, going out of stock can be devastating. As you add product categories, items, and bundles, it becomes even more important to make sure your marketing, pay-per-click (PPC) and promotion strategies are aligned with your available inventory levels. If it looks like you’re running out of stock faster than you can get new shipments into your Amazon fulfillment centers, adjust your promotion and marketing strategies to slow the pace of sales.
3. Add A+ Content (Especially Video)
Amazon A+ Content can lead to an average conversion rate increase of 5.6% and even increase your sales by up to 20%. For eligible Brand Registered sellers, you’ll see a notification in your Amazon Seller account letting you know whether you’ve been approved for this feature.
There are currently two types of A+ Content, Basic and Premium. Both offer up to five content modules per ASIN, with customizable layouts and formats for your product detail pages. Brands also get access to enhanced images, detailed product descriptions, comparison charts, technical specifications charts, and bullet points.
It also offers additional space to cross-sell and link to your Amazon Storefront, which is yet another way to increase repeat purchases and sales of bundled products.
Here are some tips for succeeding with Amazon A+ Content:
- Focus on your unique strengths: Utilize A+ Content and Brand Story to communicate your mission, values, and what makes you stand out from competitors.
- Be descriptive about your products: Use text and images to provide comprehensive product information to increase customer satisfaction while minimizing returns and negative customer reviews.
- Use high-quality visuals: Showcase your products with professional, high-resolution photos and graphics.
- A/B test your A+ content: Take advantage of Amazon’s Manage Your Experiments A/B testing tool to determine which images, text, and elements drive the best results. Make necessary adjustments to optimize your conversion rates.
- Regularly monitor and update: Keep your A+ Content current with the latest product details, features, and customer feedback to ensure its effectiveness over time.
One of the most exciting things about Amazon A+ content is the ability to integrate video into your product pages.
For example, in addition to dozens of high-quality images featuring its hero product in different settings, CROSSNET’s store also includes a professionally shot video highlighting its products in action. Considering that 64% of customers make purchases after viewing a brand’s videos, this is one area of your A+ Content strategy you definitely don’t want to overlook.
Bonus Tip: Send your social media traffic to your Amazon store.
If you’ve already got a great social media following, experiment with ways to drive that traffic to your Amazon store. This is a great way to increase brand loyalty, without taking on the extra work of building out a DTC site.
4. Start Selling Globally
You already know the US is Amazon’s #1 market, but what many sellers still don’t realize is that you can make just as much sales in other markets as you can on Amazon US. This could involve taking on any number of new markets, including Canada, Mexico, Europe (especially Germany and the UK), Brazil, and more.
The beauty of using Amazon’s ecosystem to expand internationally is that you don’t have to go through the process of developing new products or learning a whole new channel.
The algorithm is the same. The fulfillment is the same. To some extent, you can copy/paste what already works on Amazon US and nearly double your sales simply by embracing a new market.
Here are some ways to start growing your revenue by selling internationally:
- Conduct research to identify promising international markets with high demand for your products
- Test the waters using your existing Amazon sales and fulfillment strategy
- Replicate the same strategies that worked in the US to dominate in your new market
Expanding internationally isn’t easy, but with the right approach, you can take advantage of your position as a big fish in a smaller pond.
Bonus Tip: Localize your listings.
To effectively attract potential customers in other markets, you’ve got to go above and beyond translations. Start by conducting keyword research specific to the market, updating your Amazon SEO strategy to incorporate country or region-specific search terms, and using images that resonate with local users.
Build the Selling Strategies that Work for You
Sponsored display ads and customer reviews might be good enough for dropshipping entrepreneurs and Amazon beginners, but as you grow your market share, you’ll need new selling strategies to break through to the next level.
Whether your next move involves launching a new product or entering an entirely new market, it’s important to know why and how you’ll execute your strategy. With the right plan and the right resources to bring it to life, you’ll have everything you need to keep winning on Amazon and beyond.
Need more inspiration on all things Amazon? Our Resource Hub has you covered. Access free guides and resources designed specifically for fast-growing sellers.
