Before you pat yourself on the back for having made it this far, of putting up your listings on Amazon and writing awesome production descriptions, it’s time to slow down for a second. One of the neatest (or most frustrating, depending on your point of view) things about Amazon is that having a successful business means constant attention and maintenance.
If you take a couple of days or weeks off, you’ll have plenty of competitors nipping at your heels, eager to displace you from the perch you worked so hard to build. It’s a constant challenge to ensure buyers are always coming back to you, and one of the ways you can stack the odds in your favour is by using great promotions.
We here at RepricerExpress have all the tips and tricks you need to keep your merchandise moving at a steady, healthy and attractive rate. And the more your inventory moves, the better your chances of unlocking another Buy Box.
Free Delivery
When your buyers see you have an extra charge associated with delivering the product they’re looking at, it can quite possibly be a deal breaker for them, especially if one of your competitors is offering the same product, at the same price, and with free delivery. There’s really no good reason why anyone would willingly pay more money for the same product if it’s still going to get there in the same time period, as loyalty almost never extends that far. There’s no set rule that says you absolutely have to have free shipping available, but ask yourself the following questions:
- What’s the item priced at, and does it make sense to include free shipping? If you’re selling something like books or sweaters, relatively low-priced, low-weight items, then the cost of shipping probably won’t be that much and it may be a good idea to throw in free shipping. But if you’re selling higher-priced, higher-weight items, like TVs or exercise equipment, then free shipping will probably just hurt your bottom line.
- Are my competitors offering free shipping for the same, or similar, products? It’s generally not the best idea to match what your competitors are doing, action for action, but there are certain practices that are nearly universal across the board. If you find yourself the only Amazon merchant not offering free shipping for a certain product, then you’re likely going to get left behind.
- Do I have room in my bottom line to afford free shipping? Whatever tips and rules you read, you ultimately have to decide how it affects your profit margin. It’s all well and fine to offer free shipping, but if doing so means you’re not netting an income at all each month, then you’ll have to rethink your business policies (although, to be fair, if this is the case, it’s probably more than just free/paid shipping).
- How important is grabbing customers to me? Attracting more customers should always be a goal of yours, but there’s a fine line between quantity and quality. Your ideal goal is to grab enough customers to keep growing your business positively, but not so many you’re overwhelmed by the sheer numbers. Remember, the best growth is steady growth.
Bundling
When you go grocery shopping for salad ingredients, you’ll toss things lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers and salad dressing in your cart, among others. Individually, these food items add up to a certain final price, you pay, and then go home and prepare your salad.
But what if the grocery store sold their products smarter, and bundled things like salad ingredients so the total cost would be lower?
You’d be able to make your salad and save money at the same time, leaving the grocery store a happier customer than when you entered. The trade-off, of course, is that you may be limited in what items you can make in your salad, but that doesn’t have to be the case for your Amazon buyers. Give them the option of being able to knock a few dollars, pounds or euros off the final price if they bundle products together, or just outright lower the price on certain individual items for a limited time.
BOGO/Money off
Standing for “buy one, get one”, BOGO is an incredibly popular promotional tool used by merchants everywhere. For you, the Amazon seller, it’s particularly effective if you have inventory items that aren’t moving so well and you want to change that. Cross-list those slow-moving items with anything else your buyers are looking at (within reason, as you don’t want to cross-list, say, Nike sneakers with Stiffel lampshades), and use BOGO to help get it moving.
The type of BOGO you want to use is up to you, and depends on how badly you want to move those products. Usually, though, a good rule of thumb is to go with “buy one, get one half off”; if you have really slow-moving items that don’t cost very much, or you want to use those items as a bit of a loss leader, then use “buy one, get one free”. But think carefully about the last two strategies, as they may end up working in your favour a tad too well.
Using promotions to increase Amazon sales, Something you never have to worry about working too well is RepricerExpress, as our repricing software ensures it follows your rules, and your rules only. You set the prices, you decide what changes are made, and you use your years of knowledge and experience to make it work for you. And using it in tandem with the aforementioned tips is a great way of continuing to move your product line well and efficiently, so try our 15-day free trial out today.
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