You’re probably pretty proud of the fact that you made the jump from not being at all involved in the world e-commerce to selling on Amazon. And, in honesty, you should.
Amazon is, without question, one of the most influential e-commerce platforms on the planet, and it has such a significant audience that it becomes impossible not to recognize Amazon in everyday life.
So, let’s pretend for a moment that you want to use Amazon as a bench, a way to expand your current e-commerce abilities, by moving forward into the exciting world of opening up your own website store. How do you do it? Well, let’s take a look.
1. Consistent branding across all platforms
The first step to being a fully functional and fully-fledged e-commerce website to develop your brand. Your brand is what sets you apart from other companies in the industry, as a well-developed and well thought out brand will result in a popular and successful e-commerce store.
Your branding is what defines you as a company. It tells customers and other companies who you are, what values you have, what matters to you. Developing your brand is something that takes time, but it is a vital part of getting ahead.
Your branding has to be consistent across all of the social media channels that you have, your Amazon seller profile, and also your e-commerce store. This makes it easier to take advantage of existing relationships that you have with potential customers.
Branding is one of the most vital assets that you have available to you. It will help you to get the most out of what you’re doing, so it’s important to take a look at all of the different options when it comes to branding at the early stages.
2. Web design
Okay, so. Now, you’ve sorted out your branding. You’re ready for that. The next job that you’ve got is to design your website. Web design is a bit of a tricky thing if you’re not used to it, so you need to make sure that if you’re not 100% confident in what you’re doing, you had it over to a professional.
Launching your own e-commerce website outside as Amazon is definitely a scary prospect, but it is going to be alright if you just take a breath and work out what you need to do. Now you can make the website yourself, or pass it along to a designer, who can use a custom CMS to build a store for you.
You’ve also got the option to build your website quickly with a host platform, something like Shopify, for example. These are online stores integrate well with platforms like Amazon, which means they’re very easy to use. However, if you do run a successful blog or business website already, then you may find there is an e-commerce add-on available in your CMS.
3. Marketing your sales avenues
Now that you’ve got a website built and you’re ready to start selling, you need to tap into some of the customers that you already have. This means that you’re going to need to look into some marketing techniques.
It’s no secret that Amazon has a vested interest in making sure that you get as many sales as possible, because they get a cut on the commission. This means that you can use all of the competitive experiences that you’ve learnt from Amazon in your own store.
Take a look at all of the sellers that you have been competing against. Use their strengths and weaknesses for your own website. Learn what not to do, what to do, and how to best model your products to match the website that you’ve built closely.
It is important to use this knowledge if you’re going to integrate an e-commerce website into your business successfully. All of the knowledge and experience that you’ve gained from your time on Amazon can be useful here; you just have to learn how to apply it. You can also use marketing specialists and advice from the experts such as Nuanced Media.
So, in conclusion, there is a lot of different things that you should be thinking about when it comes to your e-commerce website and getting started. You can start this type of business if you want, but it’s important to realize that you’ve got some skills now. You’ve learnt from your time on Amazon, so if you use that to your advantage, then you’re definitely going to see a vast improvement in things.
About Author
Ryan Flannagan is the Founder & CEO of NuancedMedia, an international eCommerce marketing agency specializing in Amazon. Nuanced has sold $100s of Millions online and Ryan has built a client base representing a total revenue of over 1.5 billion dollars. Ryan is a published author and has been quoted by a number of media sources such as BuzzFeed and Modern Retail. To connect with Ryan, check out @Ryanflannagan on Twitter or via Linkedin
