You are all set to use Amazon as your trading platform for your online business. But how do you choose the products you want to sell through its FBA service? You come across thousands of products every day which you may or may not need. How do you decide which products to pick and which ones to pass on as a consumer?
Obviously, not all those items are worthy of making the cut and ending up in your shopping cart. Some items are obvious to buy whereas some are just not worth your time. They do not have a resale value. And some products are rather confusing – should you buy it or not?
Today we will reflect on how to source your inventory to sell on Amazon and how you can make it most profitable. This article will help you with some tips on choosing the right products for selling on Amazon:
When you do a retail arbitrage, you should always use a tool to scan and sort your products into the below categories to make a better decision:
- Sales rank
- Pricing
- Additional Fees
- Profit margin
- Number of competitors
- Historical ranking and pricing
Some sellers prefer to use only the Amazon Seller app for doing RA, however, Apps like Scouting can help you with such decisions and end-to-end information. It is always better to have more information when making sourcing decision. This app comes bundled with the listing software Inventory Lab and can be used on your smartphone as well.
Whether you are doing RA, OA, wholesale purchasing, or any other type of sourcing, the below method will work for you:
You should start with these 4 main questions when making a sourcing decision:
- What is the ROI?
When you enter a business, it is obvious that you are there to make money. And to make money, your products should have a good ROI or return on investment. When you first start out on Amazon FBA, it is good to find products that have a 100% ROI. If you have a higher percentage of ROI, you have a lot more room to afford few initial mistakes and make required changes in prices. Later of course, with some experience in the field, you can begin sourcing items with a lower ROI.
- Am I authorized to sell the product?
Some product categories are restricted to certain sellers, and some brands are allowed by registered sellers only. It is a good thing to check the authorization of the product and whether you have the necessary approval to sell that product or not. If you can’t sell it, there’s no point in considering that product for your business. Here again, you can use Scoutify to show you whether you are restricted to the item.
- What is the sales rank?
The sales rank of an item shows whether the item will sell quickly on Amazon or not. Amazon gives the current sales rank of every item in their catalog, and you can see this information on the sourcing app when you scan the item. Make sure you check the average sales rank of an item than just considering the current sales rank.
- What is the competition?
Unless your product is so unique that no one else is selling that item, you will have competition if you sell that product. There are two main competitors in the market to consider: Amazon and other third-party sellers.
I do not recommend competing with Amazon. Unless your price is significantly lower than Amazon, do not enter that zone. Make sure there’s a low number of sellers so that you get time in the buy box. The higher the sales rank, the more competition will be there. It is always safe to play with more number of competitors with lower sales rank.
Conclusion:
Those are the four main deciding factors when you want to source products to make a profit on Amazon FBA. As with anything, there are always some exceptions that apply. The more experience you gain in this field, the more comfortable you become at making these decisions.
However, other less important factors to consider are also there, such as the number of reviews and how many of them are positive. When you are not in a hurry to buy the inventory, check for other smaller factors before making the decision.
If you are still not sure about how to effectively use the above tips, contact WebBee Global to get detailed consultation on how to use FBA services profitably for your online business. The experts have in-depth knowledge about FBA and how it works for small as well as large enterprises.
You can get their undivided attention and quality service with dedicated subject matter experts to grow your business and establish for the long run.
