Up until now, we’ve been writing posts that detail the finer points in running a successful ecommerce business, whether that’s through Amazon, eBay, Rakuten’s Play.com, or your own store. But sometimes we forget that not everyone is a seasoned professional, and needs some guidance in getting off the ground. We know there are countless of merchants out there who can do an ace job if only given the chance, and how difficult it is to formulate a solid game plan. After all, every successful merchant had to start somewhere, so in honour of our beginners, here’s what you need to know to get started with Amazon.
1. Set up an Amazon European Marketplaces Account
Before you can encounter the day when your business is a viable, single source of income for you, you have to start at square one: setting up an Amazon European Marketplaces Seller Central account. By doing this, you’ll have access to UK, French, German, Italian and Spanish marketplaces where you can list and sell your products. It’s a lot easier than going at it one by one, as now you’ll have one unified account from which you’ll be doing all your business. Once you do this, you’ll be able to see information about your orders in one spot, speeding things up considerably for you.
2. Set up a Bank Account
The whole idea of listing products is to give them to people in exchange for money, but you need a resting spot for those funds. What can seem tricky about this is getting paid in different currencies, like Euros and pounds sterling, and being able to use it in your home country. Luckily, Amazon has an answer for this, too. They have a feature called the Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers (ACCS), which operates much like PayPal — receive money from your buyers in the currency they use, and then have Amazon convert it for you into your single bank account. The advantage of this is you don’t have to worry about disbursing payments to your account; the downside is you may not be quite happy with Amazon’s currency conversion rates. But while you’re still in the beginning stages of starting up, it may be worth it to let Amazon handle this for you until you comfortably settle into your role as a merchant, and then explore different bank accounts that let you maximise conversion between different currencies.
3. Learn How to Communicate with Buyers around the World
There’s no doubt English is the dominant language of business around the world, but that still doesn’t guarantee everyone you come across will speak it fluently. This doesn’t automatically mean you should go out and learn the languages of every Amazon European marketplace, but it does mean you’ll have a hurdle to overcome anyhow. Not being able to communicate with your shoppers isn’t just a recipe for Saturday Night Live-style jokes; it’s one of the quickest ways to ensure your customers turn to someone who will be able to understand them. Other than learning each language you’ll be doing business in — which, averaging a couple of years per language, isn’t really a practical option — you have two choices: hire people who are proficient in the languages that proliferate Amazon’s marketplaces, or take advantage of Amazon’s Seller Central Language Switcher. One thing you definitely don’t want to do is rely on Google translate, as it’s far from reliable.
4. Become Acquainted with the Amazon Selling Coach
No matter what anyone ventures into — athletics, finances, food and beverage — it’s pretty rare to go it alone. What is the norm, though, is having a professional show you the ropes until you’re seasoned enough to handle things on your own, and Amazon’s Selling Coach should be your mentor. It offers recommendations to guide you in the following ways:
- 1. Low Prices
- 2. Fulfillment
- 3. Products
- 4. Inventory
- 5. Cross-listing (Europe only)
Lastly, our unofficial sixth point of how to navigate Amazon successfully from the get-go is to use a really good repricing solution so your customers always get the best, most current prices from you. It’s a way to put time back in your hands so you can focus on building solid fundamentals, and really shape your future positively. Try RepricerExpress’s 15-day free trial today.
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