How to survive on Amazon: challenges and coping strategies for small and medium-sized sellers

Amazon is one of the world’s largest online retailers, with millions of sellers. However, as the platform grows and competition intensifies, small and medium-sized sellers are facing increasing pressure and challenges. This article will explore the current situation of small and medium-sized sellers on Amazon and how to deal with these challenges.

Competitive pressure and price war

Competitive pressure continues to intensify on the Amazon platform, especially for small and medium-sized sellers. The lack of sufficient resources and market share puts them under greater pressure. In order to stand out among many competitors, small and medium-sized sellers need to provide high-quality goods and services to win the trust and loyalty of consumers. In addition, price wars have become a common phenomenon on Amazon. Many sellers try to attract consumers by lowering prices, which often significantly compresses profit margins and puts economic pressure on small and medium-sized sellers.

The impact of new policies on follow-up sales

Amazon’s recently implemented new policy that seller information pages will display company names and addresses makes it more difficult to follow sales. This policy helps to increase the transparency of competition, but it also increases the risk of vicious competition. Sellers can deal with the problem of false information through the complaint mechanism, but this cannot fundamentally solve the problem of malicious competition. This mechanism forces sellers to consider building their own brands rather than relying on follow-up sales.

Coping strategies

In order to survive and succeed on the Amazon platform, small and medium-sized sellers can adopt a variety of strategies:

1. Product differentiation and uniqueness:
   Small sellers should look for the uniqueness of their products to attract customers through differences in design, quality or functionality, which will help build their brand image in the fierce competition.

2. Customer experience and service:
   Providing an excellent customer experience and high-quality service is the key to earning customer trust. Small sellers should actively respond to customer needs and feedback and improve satisfaction to drive repeat purchases and word-of-mouth.

3. Reasonable pricing and profit management:
   Pricing strategies should be based on market research and competitor analysis to ensure a balance between profit and attractiveness, while avoiding being involved in endless price wars.

4. Brand Protection and Intellectual Property:
   Register trademarks and patents, actively cooperate with Amazon to protect brands and intellectual property rights, and avoid unnecessary losses caused by infringements by other sellers.

5. Inventory Management and Supply Chain Optimization:
   Effective inventory management can avoid out-of-stocks or overstocks, while optimizing the supply chain can improve delivery efficiency and enhance customer experience.

6. Continuous learning and adapting to change:
   The Amazon market and competitive environment are constantly changing. Small sellers should maintain a learning attitude, obtain the latest developments through training courses and industry discussions, and improve their operational capabilities.

Conclusion

By implementing a variety of strategies to cope with competitive pressures and changes in Amazon platform rules, small and medium-sized sellers can still survive and succeed in this challenging market. Brand building and customer experience improvement are the foundation for long-term development.