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6 Amazon Seller Resolutions to Make in 2019 (and How to Keep Them!)
It’s the start of a fresh new year of selling on Amazon! Are you ready to set goals to achieve even higher Amazon sales in the year to come?
There’s no better time to review your past sales year and look ahead to new opportunities for 2019. To make sure 2019 is your most profitable year ever, we’ve rounded up some of the best ways to get the most out of your Amazon seller account.
These are the resolutions you’ll want to make (and keep!) for your Amazon seller account in 2019. Give your sales a boost by making these 6 Amazon seller resolutions.
Resolution #1: Find New Amazon Marketplaces for Your Amazon Products
In 2019, it’s time to ask yourself… Why keep all the good stuff for US customers? If you’re not already selling on Amazon marketplaces in foreign countries, there’s no better time than the start of the new year to set a big, ambitious goal to go global.
For many Amazon sellers, going to new countries is the next logical step in expanding their business. It’s not without challenges. Like learning the ins and outs of different tax systems. The European VAT and the Canadian GST system work in completely different ways from the US tax system, which is based on taxing sales at the time of purchase.
There are also huge rewards to going global. The US exported more than $340 billion to Canada alone, according to the United States Trade Representative. Canada was also America’s largest goods export market in 2017.
Many American sellers find it easier to market to Amazon audiences in other countries over the United States due to decreased competition. Starting with English-speaking Amazon markets like Amazon Canada and Amazon UK can help decrease the complications of dealing with a new country, at least the foreign language aspects.
Resolution #2: Explore New Products to Sell on Amazon
If opening your products up to new markets doesn’t whet your appetite for growing sales, maybe it’s time to fine tune your product offering. Researching new Amazon products can be one of the best ways to spark growth for your business in 2019.
The quality of your research will be key to finding winning new products. According to Milos Culafic from product research tool AMZScout, “Scaling your Amazon business can be done more rapidly than with a standard business model.”
Milos points to three major strategies for keyword research:
- Add a variation to an existing product – If you’ve already got a strong product and want to double down, try adding a variation in color, print, or size. The advantage to this strategy is that you’ll be able to leverage your existing keywords and ads.
- Create a new product in your broader niche or department – If you’re already successfully selling a micro-niche product, this strategy is about pulling back and looking at the bigger picture. By identifying broader products in your category, you have the potential to increase sales.
- Or go in an entirely new direction – If you’re not enthusiastic about your current lineup of products, then it may be time to head in an entirely new direction. If you have no experience with a new product, the quality of your research will be even more crucial. Look for Amazon research tools that have a solid track record and are already widely used by the Amazon seller community.
Resolution #3: Beef Up Manpower for Your Amazon Business
Got an idea for a Facebook ad campaign, but not sure where to start? Maybe a lack of web development skills been holding up your new website? If you want to build your sales, but you’re lacking certain skills… consider whether it’s time to hire someone.
Whether you lack a certain set of skills or you just plain don’t have any hours left in the day between your other responsibilities of running an e-commerce business, you’ve got options for finding the help you need. Even if it’s not possible to hire a full-time employee, the gig economy has created amazing new opportunities for hiring the skillset you need to bring your business to higher levels of success. All without having to search for and hire full-time employees.
The first step is determining what skillsets you need most. Setting priorities is key. Amazon service specialist Sermondo offers this advice, “Assigning certain tasks to professionals will help you achieve higher sales. Find out which tasks take most of your time and ones require skills you don’t have (yet). The process will help you save time and money — resources you can use to build your business.”
Experts like Sermondo have access to a wide range of or try a more general freelancer site like Upwork. You can get more help finding the perfect Amazon service provider for your business here.
Resolution #4: Get Serious About Increasing Traffic & Reviews for your Amazon Store
With Amazon, all you have to do is set up shop and wait for people to start buying things, right? If only! It’s easy to think of Amazon as a platform that hand delivers droves of people ready to buy things. As Amazon gets more and more competitive, it’s not enough to wait for the sales to roll in. Many top Amazon sellers are building sales funnels to drive more business to their stores and products.
Many sellers also need to grow their brand to increase sales for their Amazon business. You can also build an email list and cultivate customers in ways not allowed by Amazon’s Terms of Service. Additionally, building a brand boosts your Amazon presence too by making it easier to get reviews. According to Thomas Pruchinski of Landing Cube, an Amazon landing page building software company, “External traffic helps you build and grow a brand that lasts, fill up your email list and earn more reviews.”
Bonus tip: We love this step-by-step guide from Landing Cube on how to write emails that get you more Amazon reviews.
Resolution #5: Get Ready for the Holidays — All of them!
The holidays, again? We just finished with the holiday season you say? Not even close! Yes, Black Friday to Christmas is the biggest shopping season of the year for most e-commerce sellers and traditional retailers in the US. No, it’s not all about Santa.
Did you know that back-to-school is the second-biggest shopping event in the US? The back-to-school season represents 17% of American retail sales for the entire year. And don’t even get us started on Valentine’s Day. More than 55% of Americans will celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, according to statistics from the National Retail Federation (NRF). NRF also suggests selling to people who aren’t celebrating Valentine’s Day by coming up with creative “anti-Valentine” promotions. There’s also Easter and July 4th, not to mention less widely celebrated holidays like Chinese New Year, which are still very important to certain groups of Americans.
In 2019, resolve to find opportunities for holiday buying throughout the entire year. Get creative about catering to customers for many holidays – all year long!
Resolution #6: Raise Profits With The Right Global Currency Account
As an Amazon seller, there are a lot of fees you just plain have no choice but to pay. You’ve got referral fees and FBA fees, and other Amazon seller account fees. Unfortunately, there’s no way to avoid paying those. It’s all part of what Amazon expects in return for providing a ready-made audience of customers to potentially purchase your products.
With the right global currency account, you can lower your foreign currency exchange rate to 1% or even less, depending on the amount of currency you’re exchanging. Unlike the average currency exchange platform, PingPong specializes in helping e-commerce sellers get the best rates on Amazon and other selling platforms. Send PingPong a recent foreign currency transaction to compare rates.
