With over $178 billion in revenue for 2017, Amazon is the world’s largest retailer. How would you like a slice of those sales? If you’re looking for the perfect opportunity to earn an online income, it's time you partnered with Amazon and their FBA program.

Why You Need to Use the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) Program

The typical model for selling online involves creating a website complete with landing pages and e-commerce functionality. After building the site, you’ll need to optimize it for search and promote it through a comprehensive marketing strategy. All of these tasks involved with creating a retail start-up could end up costing you thousands of dollars.

After you’ve invested in your site and started your marketing campaign, you’ll need to differentiate yourself from your competitors and drive traffic to your site. On top of the time and money spent in development, it may still be months before you receive any traction from your marketing efforts.

FBA is a way to circumvent these start-up costs and start a profitable business leveraging the Amazon marketplace, sound interesting?

Why You Should Sell On Amazon

In H1 2018, Amazon accounted for more than 50% of all online retail sales. People trust the company’s reputation to deliver what they ordered, on time. In fact, Amazon is now the second-largest search engine after Google, and even if you search products on Google, you’re sure to see a few Amazon listings in the top 10 results.

Why sell on your website and spend thousands trying to drive traffic when you can leverage the traffic of the world’s largest retailer? As the old saying goes: ‘’If you can’t beat them, join them’’. All you need to sell on Amazon is an FBA seller account. This platform allows you to set up a store-front and promote it using onboard SEO strategies.

In essence, Amazon drives the traffic to your store for you, all you need to do is convert. In return for providing you with the customers and the platform, Amazon charges a commission on all sales. This commission covers the cost of storing your inventory, picking, packaging, shipping, and customer returns.

With this model, Amazon empowers anyone with an internet connection and entrepreneurial drive by giving them a platform to earn income. The best part about FBA is that the concept is entirely scalable, allowing you to create as many store-fronts as you like.

Go Prime with FBA

The most significant benefit that FBA offers aspiring online retailers is access to Amazon Prime buyers. All FBA merchandise is Prime-approved, and this is a big deal. Amazon spends millions every year promoting its Prime program.

Prime members pay a $99 fee for unlimited free shipping. Analysis of their shopping habits shows that, in the overwhelming majority of sales, Prime members chose to purchase Prime-approved products only due to the free shipping. In the digital age, people value convenience and fast-shipping over price.

Therefore, it's crucial to note that Amazon is actively training its traffic to purchase from Prime-approved merchants and sellers. As an FBA seller, you have immediate access to the market that Amazon merchants covet so dearly.

Tips for Scaling and Maintaining Your FBA Business

Pursue your passion with your first Amazon store-front. While setting up and FBA seller account is straightforward, the challenge comes in finding the right products to promote. If you start with something you enjoy, you’ll find it easier to navigate the systems until you have an excellent understanding of how the FBA program works.

Setting up your second FBA store will be a snap. You’ll be able to use the system you built to chase other more profitable products and retail strategies. Remember to research any products you want to sell. Analyze keywords in your niche and ensure they feature in all of your product descriptions.

FBA sellers are eligible for reimbursement. Amazon ships over 2 billion products a year from its fulfillment centers. Unfortunately, sometimes employees damage your inventory during the sorting and shipping process. An automated tool can help you find eligible reimbursements on any of your stock that’s damaged or returned by customers.

Diversify your product offerings. Don’t be dependent on one product line for your sales, branching out into different niches will ensure your business doesn’t take a hit if a trending market fails.

Work on improving your BSR. The Best Sellers Rank is a crucial metric for the success of your Amazon FBA business. Every entrepreneur starts a company with the intention of selling it in the future at a profit. Potential buyers of your business will need to see steady growth in your BSR over time.

Is FBA Right for You?

Who wouldn’t want to own a scalable business where you don’t have to worry about inventory, marketing, and customer support? If you’ve always dreamed about making a fortune online, but don’t know where to start, FBA is a viable business opportunity that could jump-start your online career.