1. Understand the Amazon platform.
Amazon Inc. (Amazon for short) is the largest online e-commerce company in the United States, located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1995, Amazon started out as an online book sales business, but now has expanded to a wide range of other products, becoming the world’s largest online retailer and the world’s second largest Internet company. Amazon’s full-year net income in 2017 was $3 billion, and its full-year revenue was $177.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31%.
2. Sellers on the Amazon platform.
Amazon is the world’s largest online retailer, allowing third-party sellers to sell products through the platform. Currently, sales from third-party sellers account for 50% of Amazon’s total sales. In 2017, the number of sellers on Amazon reached 391,905, with an average of 2,996 sellers per day. According to data from Amazon’s European market, Chinese sellers account for about 25% of the Amazon market share, or even higher. More and more cross-border sellers on the Amazon market are in China.
3. Buyers on the Amazon platform.
The consumers on the Amazon platform are mainly high-quality middle-class customers in developed countries who are not sensitive to prices, so the product profit margin is guaranteed. If you are a strong manufacturer with experience in OEM for well-known foreign brands and have established standards for product quality control, then opening a store on Amazon Global is definitely a sales channel that cannot be missed. If you have your own brand and patent, you can also register your trademark on the platform to prevent other sellers from copying and infringing on your rights.
4. The threshold of the Amazon platform.
Amazon has a certain threshold. Not only are the procedures for opening a store complicated, but it is also relatively difficult to get started. At the same time, you must prevent problems such as account association. If you accidentally violate its rules, you will be warned at best, and your store will be directly closed. After the store is closed, the same set of information cannot be used to apply for a new store on the Amazon platform. You must replace it with a completely new set of information. Since the second half of 2016, Amazon has continuously strengthened its review of Chinese sellers. New sellers who have not received cross-border e-commerce training will encounter greater resistance than ever before, whether they are registering or operating.