Ever since Amazon.com opened its platform for cross border sellers, the number of products and sellers increased significantly.

As a  business in India, you too can sell your products on Amazon USA

You may already be exporting your products to USA or may be selling your products in India – offline or on Amazon.in. Or you may be an absolutely new business with its sole aim to sell on Amazon.com USA

Whatever be the case, it is very much possible for you to sell your products on Amazon.com as well as many other Amazon sites worldwide including Middle East, UK, Australia and Canada

Points to remember:

1. Platforms like Amazon.com are marketplaces. They only provide sellers with an easy way to list and sell their products. Amazon does not actually assist any specific seller directly. You, as a seller, have to take steps to sell

2. Selling is not easy. While Amazon has several marketing and promotion tools, they all require knowledge and a good understanding to be used effectively

3. Selling is not cheap. Cost of customer acquisition in countries like USA can range from US$ 50 to US$ 150 **. It may be cheaper on Amazon (to be tested by you for your products) but you still need to make investments

4. Small marketing budgets get you little or no results. Selling on Amazon requires you to plan your marketing investments. Be ready to spend money consistently over a period of 6 to 12 months and be ready for investments that may at times be equal to the sales value of products sold. That is to say, initially you may invest US$ 50000 and get sales of US$ 50000. Don’t be disappointed. It will take you some time for your products to get visibility and come up the ranking and listing

5. Be ready for product returns. Ecommerce provides consumer convenience and product returns of 20% or more are very common. Factor this into your business plan

6. Manage your reputation. Selling is one thing. Getting bad product or seller reviews is another. If you get bad reviews, your account can be blocked and in some cases can be closed. And that is not good for your business specially since you have already sent over the inventory into Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) USA for sale

7. Provide high levels of customer service. Online selling means that the customer is remote and has never met the seller. The buyer (consumer) needs to get high levels of customer service. This could be for product installation, usage or general troubleshooting. Even if the service is after a month or more of buying the product, the customer still has a choice to go in to Amazon and give a bad review if they don’t get good after sales service. So, if your products require after sales service, this is something that you need to watch out for.

8. Get a team. Experience counts and helps. Get a good team to lead the project before you start. It’s not an easy task and needs a lot of focus.

9. Find a good outsourcing and selling partner. There are specialist service providers like ND commerce – Ecommerce Solution Provider(ndcommerce.in) that provide services in the cross border ecommerce area. They can assist you with several of the processes relating to outbound cross border ecommerce out of India.

Summary:

Cross border ecommerce presents a significant opportunity for any business. However, it also requires deep thought, high focus and significant investments.

Some topics not covered include brand and trade mark registration, supply chain management, logistics and fulfilment, destination warehousing, duties and taxes, product pricing and more.

To know more about how ND commerce can assist your brands  to be sold on Amazon USA, write to mukund@ndcommerce.in

Founded in 1994, Amazon is an ecommerce company which is the largest Internet-based retailer in the world. Amazon has separate retail websites for each country in which it has spread out. International shipping gets easier with Amazon. It acquires most of the sales from third-party sellers who sell on Amazon. Based on the reports, as of 2007 around 1.3 million sellers benefited by selling products through Amazon.

Why Sell on Amazon?

• Selling becomes easier with Amazon.com.
• One can start selling their product without creating a website.
• Reaching more customers in short span of time
• Amazon is the top in the Online ecommerce stores

How to sell on Amazon

There are certain very basic criteria that have to befulfilled to be eligible to register as a seller to sell products on Amazon.

• Products should be genuine
• PAN card is mandatory
• VAT is Mandatory for all the sellers. However, for those who sell VAT exempted products it is not mandatory.
• Proper Address and Identity proof needs to be submitted.
• Valid Current Account with know your customer should be available.

If the above criteria are met, a seller can register in amazon with their company details, Contact details, and Basic information about the business. After registration one can list the products for selling. Customer purchases the product by choosing it from the listing. Request for shipment notification is received by the seller. Product is delivered from Seller through direct shipment or Amazon FBA.Amazon deducts its fee and deposits the fund into your bank account.

Advantages of Selling on Amazon

• More Exposure as millions of existing customers get to see your product
• Shipping process is fast and stress free. Amazon can fulfill the shipment if requested.
• There is no fixed fee. We can pay only when we sell a product
• Ship Internationally through Amazon and grow globally
• Payments are secure and on time
• Helping to sell on amazon with professional help

Selling on amazon comes with certain advantages.

• Since Amazon has an existing customer base and wide reach, these websites allow sellers to grow their online presence.
• Marketing costs are lower as Amazon takes efforts to market its website and a seller gets marketing benefits that increase the exposure of their products.
• Selling the products across the globe and gets easier and one can test the market value of their product in different countries without major risk and strategize Sales.
• No setup for back end including payment is required to be made as excellent setup is available with the website already.
• Selling your products through Amazon is easier as there are millions of users trust their credibility.
• Amazon recommends your product over other seller based on the keyword search made by customer.

Also, there are few downsides of Selling on amazon.

• Need to compete with a lot of sellers
• Amazon charges its fee on percentage basis on every sale, different for each category
• Branding space is very less
• Policies favors customers causing unfavorable state for sellers at times
• Maintaining inventory is a challenge as we can’t predict the purchase expectations.
• There are chances for the products to get counterfeited

Selling on Amazon helps to get an understanding of the market. If you want to compete on price, Selling on Amazonis the best option

Benefits of outsourcing to ND commerce:

• Provides end-to-end ecommerce services.
• ND commerce is genuine customized, transparent and follows a smooth flow process.
• Technical expertise works at different e-commerce aspects such as website designing, product uploading, order processing, market places listing etc.
• Web store set up, catalogue, content creation and management.
• Payment gateway integration, traffic generation, payment collection, invoicing, logistics and delivery, customer service and customer retention.
• Presently we are providing complete client servicing to the brands like Crocs, Lenovo, Forest essentials, htc and many more.

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]There are several ways of looking at the term ‘assisted e commerce’. The typical model involves an ecommerce site assisting the customer through an offline channel. For example, the customer can walk into the physical store, check out the product specimen, and place an order for the same online with the help of the storekeeper. This works particularly when the ecommerce site wishes to expand its reach among consumers who do not have access to the internet.
The other manner in which we see assisted ecommerce making its presence felt is helping online retailers increase sales through the medium of the internet itself. This is accomplished through several customer relationship e commerce management techniques,  that are mainly conducted to increase sales and retain customers. A study has even proved that repeat customers prove to be more valuable to online retail sites as far as increased sales numbers are concerned.

According to this finding, if the shopper has returned to a particular online store for at least the third time they are more likely to spend five times the amount spent by a new customer. This should be reason enough to begin employing the following strategies as part of the assisted global ecommerce solution.
Email marketing
Yes, these work, but when done correctly at different points in the product purchase process.

• Pre-purchase emailer: The Major Purchase Shopper Study 2013, conducted annually by GE Capital Retail Bank, USA, found that nearly 81 per cent customers spend a minimum of 79 days researching and gathering information about a particular product before buying it. This only means that sending an email once a week about the latest collections or promotions on the e-store will help make the customer aware and aid them in making their informed choice better.
• Cart abandonment emailer: A consolidated figure based on 34 different studies pertaining to online cart abandonment by users has shown that 68.81 per cent users abandon their shopping carts. While the reason for this may be many, sending out cart abandonment emailers no less than two hours after the cart has been kept aside is a profitable way of making sales and retaining customers. The key is to give the mail a personal touch (mention the user’s name, the specific product abandoned, etc.) and to create a sense of urgency so as to close the deal as soon as possible. The following image serves as a good example.

• Post-purchase emailer: It is necessary to keep the conversation going with the customer if you want to increase the number of repeat customers your e-store has. Making use of segmented email marketing, mails can be sent to customers based on the product purchased and their demographic. It is all about pushing for the second sale and a month after the purchase has been made is a good time to send out these mailers. Repeat customers can also be engaged to join larger online campaigns run by the store via the post-purchase emails.
• Milestone emailer: And by this we mean personalised birthday or anniversary greeting emailer. A study conducted found that personalised mails resulted in five times greater a transaction rate than the standard bulk mails.

• Targeted emailers: As part of the assisted ecommerce retention of customers’ process, it is imperative to maintain a relationship with the consumer throughout their lifecycle. And thus, targeted emailers are sent out after categorising the different consumers to engage them and push for increased sales. For example, privileged offer mails to loyal consumers, reengaging dormant consumers with a ‘we miss you’ email, etc.

Live calls & online chats
Live calls and online chats were introduced to build on the need to interact among online consumers. Through live calls, queries can be answered while the transaction is taking place, saving up on time and quickening the decision-making process of the individual. Online chats are a highly convenient and effective way of providing support to the customer during the purchase of goods online. Not only does it help dissipate a buyer’s concerns with regards to a given product, but also acts as an efficient sales channels, convincing the customer and sealing deals in a matter of a few minutes. And there are quite a few statistics to prove the same:

• A study conducted by an American independent technology and market research company found that nearly 44 per cent of consumers who shop online market place say that answering questions during the purchase process is an important feature that e commerce websites should provide.
• Approximately 90 per cent of respondents in a the ATG Global Consumer Trends study stated that live chats are extremely helpful during online purchase and transaction.
• According to a survey on emarketer.com, 62 per cent consumers were likely to revisit those e commerce websites that provided this live chat feature, while 38 per cent said that they actually finalized their deals during the online chat with the customer executive.

The key though is to not make the live call/chat seem robotic. This feature is popular among consumers due to the personal touch that is provided to virtual shopping and a monotonous, rehearsed conversation is not going to help the company close deals.
SMS marketing
Yes, you do not want your phone inbox to be filled with spam ie one too many promotional message. But SMS marketing is a highly influential tool in the assisted e commerce kit. SMS marketing has a high open rate, almost 90 per cent, and this figure easily beats that of email marketing. Also, a series of Neilsen Mobile studies have proven that 98 per cent of customers read an SMS within three minutes of receiving it. This means that you have a 3-minute window within which you need to compel the customer to visit your site. Make an offer the consumer can’t refuse in the first line of the message itself and you will have increased your sales figures.
Whatsapp marketing
Just a few years ago mentioning this term would cause many to raise an eyebrow. Today, with more than 700 million active users and a 70 per cent engagement rate that is higher than Facebook, marketers are continuously looking to see how this medium can be best utilised to drive sales. This becomes trickier due to the fact that WhatsApp is a personal messaging platform and consumers wouldn’t want to marketing spam messages. What do you do then? You build a fun persona of the brand that the consumers can connect with and provide speedy customer service through it. The conversion rate of consumers on the Reliance Brands’ whatsapp list was as high as 80 per cent. This included posting queries about products to be purchased and getting to know about product innovations through promotional images and videos.
Referral marketing : It is a tried and tested formula that numbers say works wonders for the brand. Matthew Stinchcomb, founder, Etsy, said 90% of their growth came from word-of-mouth alone. The New York Times is reported to have said that referrals generate nearly 65 per cent new business. A Nielsen survey back this claim by stating that 92 per cent of their study respondents claimed that they were four times more likely to buy a product if it was referred to them by a friend. As part of the assisted e commerce process, online stores must create a win-win situation for both parties—the current consumer and their referrals. For example, provide an offer to the consumer for referring their friends, who will in turn be rewarded too.

Online retailers need strong players to manage their assisted online b2b marketplace and ND Commerce is one such company that has several years of experience in this field. Their skilled team of experts can manage these and several other assisted e commerce aspects such  as setup online store of business exceedingly well in order to help drive sales home for the parent online store.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

Welcome to the ND Commerce guide that is intended to help online retailers further grow their business by providing informative insights on the working of this dynamic economic sphere. And going by the numbers, the online retail sphere is only going to expand further. Here are some numbers to kick off this guide with: 80% of the population online has purchased products via the Internet, with 50% being repeat customers, and India’s ecommerce market grew by 88 percent in 2013 to USD $16 billion.

How can I grow my sales through an online marketplace?

The customer, today, is spoilt for choice when it comes to online retailing. Here’s two golden rules to follow at the onset to garner more customers and sales:

1. Make your product image to look as glamorous as possible with a detailed description accompanying it, as this is what the customer bases his final purchase call on.
2. Quick dispatches with proper packaging makes for a very happy customer

PRODUCT STRATEGY

Who is your customer?

The success of a product depends on its customers. So the first thing you need to do is zero down on your target market i.e. who you wish to sell your product to. Know your customers closely and not just their age, profession, location and gender. These questions could help narrow your customer base for you and help you serve their needs better:

• What are their interests?
• What is their spending habit like?
• What places do they frequent?

What do your customers want?

After you have decided the customer base you want to cater to, you need to figure out the wants of your customers and how your product can specifically solve this issue. Some of the major product categories customers gravitate to are:

Draft the design brief

Now that you know what purpose your product will be serving, write out the design brief to get a better overall picture of your business and so that all the specifics are in one place. Questions you need to answer at this stage are:

• What might the intended product be?
• Where and how will it be used?
• What would I need to create it?
• What time frame do I have to create the product?
• Does it require packaging, legal requirements, health & safety, etc.?

RESEARCH

Researching about the competition should be the next step as you need to know the standard you need to beat and maintain.

• What products/businesses will you be going up against?
• Why do people buy those existing products?
• What could you do to improve them?
• What can you do differently than your competitors?
• Why isn’t it being done already?

Competitive research is followed by Market Research. Gaining an idea from your customer base on the product idea you are developing – suggestions and criticisms – will help you refine your design brief and get more specific in being the number one choice for your customers.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT SUMMARY

You will need to submit different identifiers depending on the type of product you submit and the country you target. The three recommended attributes to use to boost ad performance and make it search-friendly for users is: ‘GTIN’ (Global Trade Item Number), ‘brand’, and ‘MPN'(Manufacturer Part number). You won’t be required to submit a ‘gtin’ for store brand items and for products where you are the sole seller. Specific types of products call for different set of attributes to be submitted.

Compatible products: If you sell a product that is meant to be used with another, but not necessarily from the same brand, submit the GTIN and brand from the manufacturer who actually built the compatible product.

Multipacks: A merchant-defined pack of several individually packed identical items sold as a unit. Use the unique product identifiers that relate to the multipack, and not the items contained within.

Bundles: A merchant-defined bundle is a customized group of different products defined by the merchant and sold together for a single price. Along with the unique product identifier of the main item in the bundle, include the ‘is bundle’ attribute in your data too.

Customizations:If you offer customization, engraving, or other product personalization, submit the GTIN and use the ‘is bundle’ attribute.

LISTINGS
The launch of Product Listing Ads by Google in India means a richer product information can be provided – product image, price, merchant name – without needing additional keywords or ad text.
Above is an example of Product Listing Ads

PRODUCT SELECTION

Your site needs to make the problem-solving decision of the consumer purchase process as simple and straight-to-the-point as possible. You need to be able to show your customer the right product at the best price they would purchase it at. Your product selection goals for customers thus should include:

• Helping your customers select the best product for them
• Providing a price that meets their budget
• Convincing them that they have made the right decision

Here are some methods to help you achieve these goals:

1. Listing products and sort order

This is the most basic method where the products and their features are listed. Customers can compare different products and their elements to find what best suits their needs. You can improve on this aspect by choosing which product information is most relevant and control the sorting order by creating one based on some particular product characteristic. Providing options within the sort order to suit the customer’s needs, such switching from lowest to highest price points, viewing the latest products first enables them to make the purchase decision quicker. Further on, we will also look at tools such as categorization, filters, search, etc. that will make the product sorting process even more specific.

Specific product recommendations

Recommending certain products to customers, based on sales numbers or page views, generates great interest among those visiting your site and helps in the purchase decision-making process. Specific product recommendations are of great help when the product range contains a large number of product as it narrows down the best options for the customer.

2. The fold and “call to action”

Category pages are special pages that help your customers select from just a specific set of products. Category pages are most effective when they use all three tools of selection support: product listing, narrowing down options, and specific product recommendations. You can also design your category pages to resemble separate home pages or landing pages in order to make it more interesting and attractive for your customer.

COMPETING ON MARKETPLACES

Competition on the online retail marketplace has grown bigger than ever! According to Google India, there were 35 million online shoppers in India in 2014 Q1. This number is expected to cross the 100 million mark by end of 2016.Small sellers with a low budget stop themselves from selling on these marketplaces, afraid that they will be eaten up by the competition.

Key Performance Metrics
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) provide internal and external clients with actionable metrics in easily accessible, customizable formats to increase the effectiveness of their operations. What differentiates KPIs from the wealth of metrics that can be generated from any business is that key leading and lagging indicators can be used to reflect the strategic performance of the organization here.Critical questions to consider when developing your KPIs include:

1. How does this measure contribute to the strategic goals?
2. Is it quantifiable?
3. Is the data currently available?
4. Can current performance, benchmarks, and target values be defined?
5. How will it be used as a management tool?
6. What is the high level plan for the establishment of reporting?
7. Is there an outline for how continuous improvement activities will be implemented?
8. Has a cascading plan to all levels of the organization been developed?

Pricing strategy on marketplaces

Low prices are generally encouraged from the marketplace seller point of view since there is no cost of goods, postage, packaging or warehousing to pay for. And profits can thus be guaranteed even at low price points. This also helps pull in more customers who are more likely to add more items to their cart due to the low price point.

This poses a challenge for the sellers, however, since competition can be fierce and margins can be quickly consumed by under-cutting from other sellers. Repricing software from third party vendors alerts sellers about competition that has entered with low prices. In many cases, one can automatically adjust the pricing to remain competitive.

PRODUCT PROMOTION
About 75 percent of online Indian shoppers are 35 years old or younger.Ecommerce is a super competitive industry and ecommerce companies need to pull in huge efforts to sustain their customer base. While digital marketing is the most essential tool to promote your online products, it is also necessary to run and maximize digital marketing campaigns. The few promotional tools you can make use of include:

• Social media:Platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest, etc. are very effective ways to engage your existing audience/customers and expand your consumer set.
• Target Advertising:Target advertising can be carried out in the form of Google Adwords, Facebook Ads, and Pinterest.
• Ratings, Reviews and Testimonials:Ratings and reviews are a major source to direct traffic to your website. Testimonials act as facilitators for future sales as positive reviews encourage other consumers to buy from your site without any worry.
• Offers and Competitions:Gaining new customers is more likely to place by holding competition and offering discounts.

Do’s and don’ts

DO max out your email allowance if they are available on your marketplace of choice.
DO use short-term discounting to encourage your products to appear in the automated promotion slots.
DO use your inventory template to set up browsing associations for your products.
DO find out your short URL on each marketplace and use this to promote your store front.
DO NOT be tempted to market to customers products outside of the marketplace or inside the order packaging.

SELLING INTERNATIONALLY
The weak Rupee position and low labour costs can be maximized internationally only when the domestic sales have been solidified. There are quite a few reasons that you might decide to start selling abroad; it could be to sell seasonal stock that you’ve bought for a domestic event or sell the excess stock from Diwali for the Christmas collection showcased internationally. Selling internationally also helps a company increase its margin by avoiding the price wars at home.

Where to start selling abroad
Identify the target market internationally for whom you will select the product without too much hassle, and get paid quickly.

Export Shipments

Shipping products internationally depends on several factors. If you ship the items individually, you will have to concern yourselves with how you will process refunds. ‘Bad buyers’ may claim that the product received doesn’t match the description and you will have to ship another product. Time and cost are two major risk factors here.

Customs and Taxes|
You need to obtain a Business Identification Number(BIN) from the Directorate General of Foreign Trade prior to filing of shipping bill for clearance of export goods. You have to get the authorized foreign exchange dealer code (through which export proceeds are expected to be realized) and open a current account in the designated bank for credit of any drawback incentive. Exports are also exempt from consumption tax.

For more information regarding this matter, visit: Indian Customs and Excise Gateway (ICEGATE) and Central Board of Excise and Customs.

AVAILABLE SUPPORT

Social media, press releases, advertisements, etc. are a few ways in which an online retailer can establish contact with potential clients. A few specific options include:

Marketplaces:It is here that the business gets noticed, clients are attracted and a regular flow of orders begin. The digital boom in India has made it necessary for businesses to go online and sell on amazon, flipkart, snapdeal etc.

Service providers: You may consider employing online service providers if you cannot manage listings and order data across multiple sales channels.

Industry communities and blogs: This helps in getting in touch with customers and finding out how the product has fared, their reaction, and most importantly, are they happy with the end result.

Industry organizations:Organizations like ND Commerce offer support for your online selling success. ND Commerce provides help with setting up new products on amazon, flipkart, snapdeal using GTINs, and will you keep up-to-date with industry standards and developments.

HOW ND COMMERCE CAN HELP FURTHER

If you have any questions about the content in this guide, you can contact the ND Commerce service team. Please note, however, that each marketplace has different rules and expectations in terms of how merchants should operate.It would thus be best to approach the specific marketplace directly.

Mukund Malagi
Director
E : mukund@ndslindia.com
M : +91 9324808080

Online Marketplaces have been taking on sales risks by carrying inventory through quasi FDI compliant partners. You will find that some of the big marketplaces have one or two major sellers whose names keep appearing across several major categories. Even for the ‘Marketplace Exclusive’ deals, the seller is the same again and again. It is highly unlikely that these sellers are profitable as the selling price could often be lower than the procurement price. Yet these ‘Sellers’ have ongoing relationships with the marketplaces. This will come to an end soon as marketplaces need to become profitable and also become true marketplaces with natural competition.

Also as the cash burnout increases and the cost of acquiring customers also keeps increasing, marketplaces will be forced to change their business model and start making revenue from advertising and preferred listing status.

This poses a challenge to brands that hitherto have largely delegated the marketplace sales to the general retail trade or have appointed specific distributors to sell on these marketplaces.

As the marketplace operators increase (we already have Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Paytm and soon to be launched several other marketplaces), the task of selling on marketplaces will become highly complicated and also constantly evolve based on the business models being adopted by marketplaces

Can brands handle this complexity themselves? Yes they can. But at a huge internal cost and with the need to set up a significant business unit within the company that will handle all marketplace sales

Can brands leave it up to multiple distributors to sell on marketplaces. Yes, the only reason they would do that is because the distributors carry the inventory risk and are responsible to absorb all returns.

But are distributors the right choice for the future. NO. Unless they too come up to speed with the requirements and have teams that have the right skill sets and capabilities. A tough calling when resources are being taken into the mainstream ecommerce industry in droves.

So how should a brand go about its online marketplace sales?

Online marketplace sales requires the following skills and capabilities

1. Deal making with the online marketplaces
2. Merchandising – deciding what to sell, when to sell, where to sell – strategically and tactically
3. Promotions – working with the marketplaces in a way that does not create major channel conflicts with the regular trade
4. Stocking, warehousing and inventory management
5. Content Management in the formats and as per processes defined by marketplaces
6. Order processing and customer service
7. Seller rating management
8. Analytics and reporting
9. Ongoing strategic planning
10. Marketplace relationship management

In future, as marketplaces move to get advertising revenues and preferred merchant and search word listing will be the norm, the brand has to build the additional costs into its media plans. Which means that the partners who are selling on marketplaces have to be able to advertise and get preferred listings. These are new skills and ongoing capabilities that they would need to invest in.

In Summary

While brands have evolved from a position of ignoring ecommerce to embracing ecommerce, they have to do a lot more in future if they would like to grow this channel. It is best to partner with a echannel company like ND Commerce that brings its unique combination of skills and trained teams to work with brands at a strategic and tactical level to sell products on major marketplaces as the brands exclusive marketplace partner.

To know more about how ND Commerce can partner with your brand please contact mukund@ndcommerce.in or call + 91 9324 808080