Amazon has many sites, and different sites have different requirements. Some sites have lower thresholds, such as Meiyuan site and Japan site, which are more suitable for novices. The threshold for some sites is relatively high, such as European sites, which are not suitable for novices.
1. North American Station
The North American Station includes the United States Station, Canadian Station and Western Mexico Station. As long as the American Station is opened, the Canadian Station and the Mexican Station are opened at the same time. They share Backend and monthly rental. The monthly rent for the US station is US$39.9, so the Mexican station and the Canadian station do not charge monthly rent. The US site is the first site that most people choose to do Amazon e-commerce. Its traffic, conversion rate, and profits are relatively high.
2. Japan Station
Japan Station is the second site chosen by novices. Amazon only started to enter Japan in 2016, so the competition is relatively not that fierce. However, the Japanese site also has external competition, such as Yahoo and Rakuten among the e-commerce platforms.
Japan’s offline purchasing experience and services are better, so it has a certain impact on online shopping. Japan has relatively high requirements for product quality and product packaging. The quality of products needs to be strictly controlled, and the packaging must be as exquisite as possible. When building a Japanese site, it is best to make product instructions in Japanese. In the past, when I was working on a Japanese site, I received negative reviews because the instructions were not in Japanese.
Precisely because the Japanese site has competition from Yahoo and Rakuten, you can get an A+ page without brand registration on the Japanese site. At the same time, because the Japanese station is relatively close to China, the cost of the first leg of FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon, Amazon Logistics) is relatively low, which reduces our costs and increases profits. At the same time, the transportation time is much shorter than in the United States. .
3. European Station
The European Station includes a total of 5 stations, namely Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. The threshold for the European station is relatively high, but because of the high threshold, its competitive environment is not very fierce. When you have a certain operational level and a certain financial strength, doing the European station will bring you better returns.
Products sold in Europe must have a VAT tax number. If you do not have a VAT tax number, your store will be closed. Therefore, before opening a store in Europe, you must apply for a VAT tax number. When building a European site, you also need to conduct a KYC audit. The YC audit is an audit that will be conducted after your store completes a certain amount of sales. Simply put, it is to verify the identity of the user’s Amazon seller.
4. Australia Station
The Australian Station only opened third-party sellers to the end of 2017. Compared to the American station, Japanese station and European station, it is not that easy. Australia is a developed country with relatively high per capita consumption and high Internet penetration. It is a high-quality site for Amazon. However, Australians’ online shopping habit is to buy on eBay, so to build Amazon in Australia, we need to wait for Australian people to slowly change their e-commerce shopping habits. At present, there are still relatively few orders from Australia. In many categories, a dozen or so orders may be enough to rank first in sales, but its trend is always rising.
5. India Station
The traffic and order situation of the Indian Station are still acceptable, but it is not suitable for individuals and small and medium-sized sellers. First of all, the consumption level in India is relatively low, and the unit price of the purchased products is relatively low. There is basically no profit, and it is only suitable for some mainstream products. Secondly, the return rate and order cancellation rate in India are particularly high. It is very likely that you will lose money on a product. Thirdly, Indian buyers particularly like to communicate with sellers. At present, they are not used to online shopping, which invisibly increases the workload of sellers. Finally, the logistics of the Indian site is relatively poor and is not suitable for novices.
6. Middle East Station
The Middle East Station covers 7 countries including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar. The language is English or Arabic. Chinese sellers do not have language disability. When setting up a Middle East station, you must do research work in the early stage. You must first understand the market environment in the Middle East, do market research, and determine whether your products have a market in the Middle East. Understand the customs and habits of the local people. Because of their religious beliefs and historical reasons, they are quite different from our country’s national conditions. The customs and culture in the Middle East are relatively complex, with many taboos. The main religions are Islam, Christianity, and Judaism.
The Middle East station also has some obvious advantages, such as the local consumption level is not low, the per capita GDP reaches 40,000 US dollars, and the competitive environment is relatively loose compared to other stations. E-commerce in the Middle East is developing rapidly, and the light industry in the Middle East is underdeveloped, so many things need to be imported in large quantities. As a Middle East website, consumer electronics products, home textile products, clothing products, and plant-related products are all better.
7. Singapore Station
Singapore now has two Southeast Asian local e-commerce platforms, one is Shopee and the other is Lazada. Both platforms are taking the low-price route, while Amazon is Taking the mid-to-high-end route, Amazon’s market share in Southeast Asia is not very large. Brazil and Turkey are currently not open to Chinese sellers, so we will not explain them here.