EP40. Selling Beauty Products on Amazon

Green Beauty Conversations by Formula Botanica

The thought of selling beauty products on Amazon either gets indie beauty brands excited or in a tailspin. The behemoth of e-tailing may be our go-to place to shop for everything these days, yet for all our familiarity with it as consumers, many new beauty brand entrepreneurs find Amazon an impenetrable platform and beyond their grasp.

A few years ago, the mantra used to be 'if you're not on social media, you don't exist'. However, our guest in this episode of Green Beauty Conversations would be more likely to say 'if you're not on Amazon, you don't exist'. Marc Bonn, senior account manager at Expert Edge a London-based, digital consultancy focused on Amazon retailing, generously gives us a tip-packed hour of practical advice in this episode on the whys and wherefores of selling your beauty products on Amazon.

If there is one single, valuable piece of advice to come away with from our interview with Marc, it is that it's never too early in your beauty brand's life to get selling on Amazon. If you don't stake your claim on your retail space on Amazon, the chances are that in time, middlemen will be selling your products and will probably not present them in line with your brand values and positioning.

Marc admits that Amazon has its own particular e-tailing eco-system and that brands need to adopt a totally different approach to selling there compared to dealing with regular online, or off-line stores. However, he says that the benefits of potential reach and volumes can outweigh the costs involved in that initial learning curve.

Even as we start to see Amazon selling its own brand beauty products on its platform, the opportunities are there for new brands. In many respects, Amazon presents smaller brands with a level playing field vis a vis established names, so long as indie brands learn how to work the Amazon system. Plus, beauty brands need to be on Amazon even if just for PR purposes, rather than ramping up sales.

In this episode on selling your beauty products on Amazon, you'll hear about:

• Why getting on Amazon early in your brand's retail life is ideal as you will learn the ropes and also protect your brand from erosion by middlemen reselling your products on Amazon.
• Amazon's three selling options and learn which is best for you: seller accounts, which are ideal for new entrants and where you, the merchant, fulfill deliveries; seller status but where orders are fulfilled by Amazon (FBA); and vendor status, which Amazon itself fulfills and which includes the bonus of attracting Prime customers.
• How Amazon's lowest price-match mechanism works and why it isn't something to fear as a small or indie brand.
• The key aspects of your seller's page to focus on such as quality product imagery, optimised Amazon SEO and well-honed content.

Key take-outs from our chat with Marc Bonn include:

• Details of how Amazon helps smaller, niche beauty brands on its platform with initiatives such as its 'Launchpad', and its Indie Beauty and Luxury Beauty zones.
• Why you may need expert help in listing your brand and products on Amazon successfully as even what seem like simple issues such as choosing relevant retail categories or keywords can be make or break.
• Why you need an advertising strategy and to promote branded adverts to ensure you make the most of the platform and counter the big, established names in beauty.
• Why Amazon is useful to have a presence on even if you don't have sales as a main aim; remember, consumers will often search on Amazon to read about your brand and check prices even if completing a purchase in high-street stores. Amazon may be a PR tool for you instead.

Find out more about Expert Edge consultancy and how it can help beauty brands sell on Amazon:

Expert Edge website. Expert Edge on LinkedIn. Expert Edge on Twitter.

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