In the good old days, sellers could launch a brand and start selling products on Amazon successfully. It was possible to launch on Amazon with minimal SEO, decent listing optimization, and maybe a little bit of advertisement and get lots of traffic to your product.
You could then get those initial product reviews and feedback, go back to iterate your product, and sell even more.
Right now…not so much.
The idea of using Amazon as the first place to launch your product or your brand has changed quite significantly.
“Amazon has become a platform where you can no longer come out of nowhere, launch a new brand, and expect to have any success whatsoever.” Jason Boyce
Amazon has been inundated with billions of products, and now it’s a matter of getting found through SEO and advertising. This can’t happen with a new product launch that no one knows about and no one is searching in the Amazon search bar.
Today, you need to get everything dialed in before you can even think of selling on Amazon.
You’ve got to first build an engaged customer audience, build brand awareness, and get your initial product reviews before selling on Amazon.
In this episode, Shannon and I discuss when it’s best to launch your product or brand on Amazon and the criteria that need to be in place to ensure a successful launch.
When can you Launch on Amazon?
You can still successfully launch a product on Amazon in a few cases. If you are a specialty retailer with a significant market share and are not already selling on Amazon, you could launch a product there, and people would find you.
If you are running a DRTV ad campaign (remember episode 17 with DRTV guru Rick Cesari) and have the budget to sustain it, you can absolutely launch on Amazon.
If you have an enormous social following or a big social media influencer with a sizeable audience likes your product, then you can launch on Amazon.
But very few sellers fit into any of these categories. The moat is a defensible product, building a brand, getting a following, building a community, and then potentially coming to Amazon.
“If you don’t come to the table with a defensible product, either IP patented or a unique use case, you cannot compete on price on Amazon anymore. You’ve got China factories and AmazonBasics who have about a 45% price advantage over you, if not more.” Jason Boyce
That’s the name of the game today.
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