E-commerce is on the rise. Total sales will reach approximately $ 4.6 billion in 2021 and grow to $ 5.6 billion annually by 2025 over the next five years at an annual rate of 4.6%. Understandably, small business accounting services are wondering how they can get an e-commerce pie. The Amazon small business market is a popular option. 55% of third-party sellers sold 55% of the units sold on Amazon in the first quarter of 2021. For companies with a market capitalization of over $ 300 billion, that’s not a small change. But what are the strengths and weaknesses? Is it even worth the effort?
What exactly is the Amazon Marketplace?
Amazon Marketplace is an online marketplace where independent suppliers and sellers can offer their products. Thanks to the platform, Amazon can abandon the traditional retail model of procuring materials, manufacturing each product, and storing it until it ships. Instead, a third-party vendor post to Amazon processes the logistics, and Amazon receives a portion of the revenue.
What are the benefits of selling on Amazon as a small business?
Amazon’s popularity with small businesses is undeniable. Almost three-quarters of Amazon sellers had 1-5 employees in 2018. In addition, Amazon for Small Business has many advantages, including:
You will be able to reach a wider audience.
One of the most important benefits of selling an item on Amazon is reaching a larger audience. With over 200 million Amazon Prime members worldwide, it does not include non-Prime website visitors. This is a fairly large market for Amazon small businesses.
Amazon can free you from a lot of work.
Getting started on the Amazon Marketplace is easy. Create an account and start adding products to your catalogue. Sign up for Amazon FBA or Fulfill by Amazon to access Amazon’s warehousing, packing, shipping, and customer support.
Amazon offers tools to help you sell.
In addition to sponsored ads, Amazon SMEs have access to their keyword research tool, Merchant Words. This makes Amazon the third-largest digital marketer after Google and Facebook. Use real Amazon data to help you optimize product titles, descriptions, and ads.
Amazon provides technical support.
The support team for the Amazon Small Business Platform is Amazon Seller Central. Most providers make requests and wait for callbacks, but they are available 24 hours a day. Still, most sellers receive a timely response and are happy with the service they receive.
What are the disadvantages of selling on Amazon as a small business?
Isn’t Amazon Marketplace a great idea? It’s for many small businesses. However, there are some drawbacks to be aware of.
It can be expensive.
Sales costs on Amazon can quickly increase due to sales commissions, agency commissions, and Amazon sales tax. Sellers who do not subscribe to the monthly plan will be charged 99 cents for each item sold, while sellers who subscribe to the professional plan will be charged $ 39.99 per month. Choosing additional services like Fulfillment by Amazon is expected to cost more.
It may take some time.
Setting up an Amazon Marketplace accounting and tax services is easy. However, it can take some time to find a way to succeed. It takes time to learn how to use Amazon tools and optimize your products. You will also need to learn Amazon bookkeeping and bookkeeping inventory management and other skills.
There is a lot of competition.
In the United States alone, there were 1.1 million active Amazon Marketplace providers in 2019. Some Chinese retailers offer factory prices and are also very popular on the Amazon Marketplace. Amazon’s brand is also a competitor. There are many false reviews on the platform, and competitors are using bots to send thousands of five-star reviews at once.
With FinBridge, you can dig deeper into your books and make informed decisions about whether to sell them on the Amazon Marketplace. However, success at Amazon for small businesses depends more on your ability to understand what works for you than on the nature of business bookkeeping services. If you are already a seller, we can help keep your book in place to focus on selling. Companies with strong rates of return that can afford to provide a portion of their profits to Amazon can thrive.