Hi - we sell soft furnishings online and up until recently 65% of our sales came through our website, with c.35% coming through Amazon Marketplace. This has steadily increased so that now 50% of our sales are coming through Amazon and 50% coming through our website. We are now pondering internally what our long term strategy should be using Amazon.
We want to try to build the brand but unsure how or if we should do this through Amazon. Should we differentiate our product offering on Amazon or try to use Amazon to build our brand traffic and awareness?
I'm reading a lot about how multichannel retailers should try to create a seamless experience regardless of where customers shop, but does this include other sales channels like Amazon? Has anyone got any good case studies of medium sized retailers / brands successfully using Amazon marketplace? It's just a bit expensive! :)
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks! Karen
Christian Galvin
Marketing at Teikametrics
19 December 2011 17:15pm
Hi Karen,
I'm not sure how you're defining building your brand, but if you're looking to do it in the traditional sense, i.e. marketing exposure, Amazon is probably not the best fit. While Amazon does offer some clear benefits (gigantic marketplace, protection and credibility for buyers and sellers, etc.), developing customer awareness via branding is not one of them. Basically Amazon owns the customer and you're not able to promote directly to them with future offers.
Problems with the checkout process are still the biggest single source of revenue loss for most e-commerce businesses. This report identifies 70 awesome recommendations and includes lots of practical insight to help you reduce your checkout abandonment rates.
14 December 2011 16:33pm
Hi - we sell soft furnishings online and up until recently 65% of our sales came through our website, with c.35% coming through Amazon Marketplace. This has steadily increased so that now 50% of our sales are coming through Amazon and 50% coming through our website. We are now pondering internally what our long term strategy should be using Amazon.
We want to try to build the brand but unsure how or if we should do this through Amazon. Should we differentiate our product offering on Amazon or try to use Amazon to build our brand traffic and awareness?
I'm reading a lot about how multichannel retailers should try to create a seamless experience regardless of where customers shop, but does this include other sales channels like Amazon? Has anyone got any good case studies of medium sized retailers / brands successfully using Amazon marketplace? It's just a bit expensive! :)
Any advice would be helpful. Thanks! Karen
Marketing at Teikametrics
19 December 2011 17:15pm
Hi Karen,
I'm not sure how you're defining building your brand, but if you're looking to do it in the traditional sense, i.e. marketing exposure, Amazon is probably not the best fit. While Amazon does offer some clear benefits (gigantic marketplace, protection and credibility for buyers and sellers, etc.), developing customer awareness via branding is not one of them. Basically Amazon owns the customer and you're not able to promote directly to them with future offers.
Best of luck,
Christian
Teikametrics