What makes a Top Amazon UK Seller in 2024? We talk to Channel X (links included…)
Did you catch Venture Forge’s very own CEO Andy Banks talking to Chris Dawson at Channel X earlier this month?
In November, we partnered with Channel X on their Annual Amazon Sellers Report – a must-read for anyone in the Amazon space – with Andy adding his thoughts to the many fantastic insights it contains (including the opportunity to see who’s succeeding and how!).
To follow up, Andy and Chris got together to discuss what makes a top Amazon UK Seller in 2024.
And this is relevant to all brands of all shapes and sizes – because, as Andy and Chris agree, having a strong and strategic Amazon presence is becoming more and more crucial by the day.
Why?
Over to Andy…
“(In retail), what we talked about 5 years ago was omnichannel,” says Andy.
“At that time it meant selling in your own store, selling on your own website, maybe with a mobile app.
I think what some brands are missing today is that omnichannel really has developed to be not “sell in all of my channels” – it’s “sell wherever my customer is”.
And in the UK today, Amazon has the largest market share across almost every product category we’ve analysed.
So to see D2C brands today that aren’t yet taking Amazon seriously and deploying a strategy for Amazon success… the consumer is already on Amazon buying what you sell, but from one of your competitors.”
Too true!
What else did Andy and Chris cover in this value-packed 20 minutes?
Topics included:
- What are the prerequisites for success on Amazon in 2024?
- What’s the one thing every brand needs in place?
- What first steps should a B2C brand take to get into the top 1,000 Amazon Sellers?
- How do you choose the right selling model?
- What are the top international markets for expansion right now?
If you missed it, don’t worry!
- You can watch on YouTube here.
- And for those who haven’t got round to reading the UK Amazon Sellers Report 2023, you can grab your copy here.
Amazon takes aim at Shein, Temu and TikTok Store
The marketplace makes moves to aid the expansion of the “Made in China, sold on Amazon” trend…
In its first major strikes at the trio of Chinese “Amazon Challengers” (Shein, Temu and TikTok Store), Amazon is making several strategic manoeuvres that will make selling on the platform easier for Chinese Sellers.
New Chinese Centres
During December’s Amazon Global Selling (AGS) Seller Conference in Shenzhen, the retail giants unveiled their five key business strategies for the Asia-Pacific region in 2024, including physical expansion with five regional centres across China and an Innovation Centre in Qianhai that will give Amazon a foothold in China’s Silicon Valley.
With a remit to help Chinese Sellers “build brands, promote products and digitalise operations”, the centre will act as a hub for AGS organisations, service providers, supply chain experts and suppliers, helping sellers come to market faster and more efficiently.
What else? New shipping and new tools
Hot on the heels of Shein and Temu, Amazon also announced that it’s adding Brazil to its shipping destinations for Chinese sellers.
And, to facilitate that, Supply Chain by Amazon (the marketplace’s automated suite of solutions) will also be accessible to Chinese Sellers, as well as a range of new tools and enhanced seller services.
Should UK Sellers be concerned about Chinese competition?
You might, when looking at the increasing flood of Chinese-made products onto Amazon, be wondering if this is something your brand should be worrying about…
We know it’s topical, because this came up as an audience question in our recent webinar, “How to Supercharge your Brand’s presence on Amazon in 2024”.
So what did our panel of Amazon experts think?
Our own Becca Woollin (Account Director extraordinaire), e-Comas Head of Advertising Nella Argenziano and Vendor Rocket Founder Ant Finch all agree…
It comes down to quality.
Yes, there are more Chinese manufacturers coming straight to market than ever before.
But the key to competing with them is to focus on the quality of your own products, your own consumer relationships, your own content and listings.
“Consumers are savvy,” explained Ant, to much agreement.
“There’s always someone who can do your product cheaper, so it comes back to quality and the implementation of your own brand”.
Want us to cast our expert eyes over your strategy, listings, ads – or anything else Amazon? Get in touch with the team today.
Amazon Prime Ads are coming – but who’s most likely to buy?
It’s begun – Amazon Prime subscribers across the UK will start seeing adverts on streaming Prime Video from the 5 February and, even if they pay to remove them, they’ll still be shown on live event (i.e. Sports) and Freevee streams.
But who’s most likely to buy?
It’s a generational thing
Last year, Amazon published a report which dug into the stats of ads on streaming services.
Their findings, which accompanied the retail giant’s announcement of its own ads tier, surveyed 2,000 people across age groups, and showed a clear generational divide.
Just over a third of Gen-Z and Millennial adults (34%) said they would be likely to make a purchase if they saw something they liked in an automatic standard ad played during streaming TV content.
And of course, they’re the ones who are streaming the most – 93% of consumers between the ages of 18-39 streaming for more than an hour every day.
For those whose products are aimed purely at an older market, the figures aren’t quite as promising.
Just 10% of the over 55s said they were likely to buy something they saw advertised in their streaming service.
But all is not lost…
Quality content shines through
You see, the figures shift for quality and relevance – and that shift goes both ways.
Of the entire 2,000 survey pool, a whopping 89% said they are “receptive to ads that are interesting, relevant or help keep subscription costs down”.
Meanwhile, boring or poorly targeted ads look set to be punished equally across the age groups – 40% saying they’d skip if not interested, 38% if ads were too long and 36% if ads were irrelevant.
So the answer is…
As always, the answer lies in engaging content and great targeting.
And, with the possibility of shoppable ads in the periphery (Amazon, after all, being the ones who can facilitate them), we think it will pay to explore this exciting new Amazon Ads opportunity from the start.
Love to explore how Amazon Prime Ads could enhance your strategy? Get in touch with our Ads experts now
How to Supercharge your Brand’s presence on Amazon in 2024
We debuted a new format for our Amazon Experts webinars this month, bringing some of our favourite marketplace specialists together for an hour-long masterclass packed with the tips you need to succeed this year.
Missed out? Fear not!
We’ve popped an on-demand link below – but we thought we’d give a little taster here of the hot topics on the table so you know what to expect.
Introducing our expert panel
First, let’s make some introductions.
From Venture Forge, our CEO and panel chair Andy Banks was joined by our brilliant Account Director Becca Woollin and our multi-Marketplace Awards winning Senior Account Manager, Ananda Etges.
And we also welcomed two fantastic guest speakers from different Agencies – e-Comas Head of Advertising Antonella (Nella) Argenziano and Ant Finch, Founder at Vendor Rocket.
What did we cover?
Drilling down into the latest trends and the most effective strategies for the year ahead, our panel shared unmissable tips, tricks and best practices to guide you to better visibility and sales success on the marketplace – including:
- Key takeaways and action points from 2023
- What does Amazon success look like in 2024?
- Is this the year of Hybrid on Amazon (and if it is, how can brands do it well?)
- How can brands stand out against increasingly fierce competition this year?
- What’s coming for Amazon Ads, and how will strategies change?
- 20 quickfire tips for 2024 – 5 from each expert!
And it didn’t even end there, because then we went into a live Q&A session – albeit a short one given the limited time left after all that value!
Enough of the preamble… time to watch?
And if you’d like to speak to any of our expert panel, just click here!
Looking to maximise any of these opportunities for your marketplace business?
