A Step-by-Step Guide to Becoming an Online Seller.

Discover the essential steps for starting a successful online selling venture.

Start selling on Amazon e-commerce marketplace is highly lucrative business opportunity in today’s market, but it also operates within a rapidly evolving landscape. With market trends, customer preferences, and product styles changing swiftly, speed is one of the crucial factors in achieving success in the e-commerce industry. As a result, being agile and proactive becomes rather essential for thriving in this dynamic domain of Amazon market place

Start selling on Amazon. It is only fair to wonder how to become an online seller or how to sell online effectively in this fast paced industry. Start selling on Amazon but are you someone who already has a product category in mind that you believe can appeal to the masses for potential profits? Well then, you may already be halfway to becoming an online entrepreneur.

But as we mentioned above, the pace at which you launch your business and start scaling it may directly affect the growth of your venture even in the long term. So if you plan on starting an e-commerce business of your own, then here’s a piece of advice you may consider-

There is no better time to start than right now!

Undoubtedly, launching your own e-commerce business can pose various challenges. It may involve juggling multiple aspects like analyzing data, shipping, customer service, etc, and fulfilling several other tasks to ensure smooth operations. However, despite the extensive process of starting and running a business, setting up an online store has become relatively straightforward, thanks to technological advancements and the presence of online platforms, websites, and resources.

So, the main idea here is that although growing a business requires significant effort, starting an online store shouldn’t necessarily be a daunting task. To illustrate this, we have listed a few steps you may follow to help kickstart your online business and become a seller in just a few hours.

|Step 1 : Identifying Your Business to Start selling on Amazon

Step 2 : Set up a Website or Register on Amazon to
Start Selling on Amazon Marketplace

You have the option to establish your online business by either building your own website or selecting a marketplace. Building your own website offers you independence in terms of design, colours, and other elements of the page. However, this approach can be time-consuming and may involve expenses for setup. On the other hand, marketplaces enable you to quickly set up your store, providing you with the necessary requirements, resources, and valuable tools that can potentially accelerate the success of your business.

Registering as a user on a marketplace is generally free, thereby eliminating the need to incur expenses solely for the purpose of setting up your shop and becoming a seller. Now it’s time to make a decision. If you choose the marketplace route, you may consider to select options with a substantial user base and a strong industry reputation.

Seller Registration Process to Start Selling on Amazon.

1. Register as a seller in Amazon Seller Central (Registration Link). In order to register, one has to have E-mail address, GST and phone number. The contact number and e-mail address should be fresh. It shouldn’t be used earlier , even on customer app or any other platform related to amazon. Additionally , one must have a bank account ( both savings and current account would work.

    Follow Steps for Registration to Start Selling on Amazon

1. 1. 1. Go to the Amazon Seller Central and click on Register now to Start selling on Amazon now you have to fill up the basic details, i.e name, e-mail address, phone etc.
      2. On the second page, fill up your FIRM NAME ( company name) , GST address and Shipping address ( where would you deliver from)
      3. Next, you have to select your product category, one can select multiple product category that you may want to sell on amazon.
      4. After selecting product category you have to apply for the category approval in which category you want to sell on Amazon like, clothing, Grocery,
         

         Do Product Listing to Start selling on Amazon.

         Once, you are registered, either you can have your registered brand on amazon or if you don’t have a trademark, you could simply take GTIN EXEMPTION. Further, if your GTIN is done and product approval id done, you have to title the brand name on the product and you have to start listing.
         1. As far as listing is concerned either you can add all the products at once or could add them one by one.
         2. Multiple products could be added through FLAT FILE (an excel file which contain all the requisite information i.e the description depending on the particular product type).
         3. Then, once all the requisite information is filled up , you can upload the file.
         4. Once your listing is done, you can update the price accordingly. All the images are also updated through FLAT FILE, USING GOOGLE DRIVE LINKS. Once, all set your product Is live and is available ON AMAZON to be purchased and start selling on Amazon process is done.
            

            Start Selling on Amazon.

            • . Once the product is live, you can start selling through MFN (ME

            RCHANT FULFILLMENT NETWORK) wherein, once the orders are placed, you have to prepare the order , schedule the order and pack the order.

            • • The pickup is done by EASYSHIP, i.e Amazon pick up . However, one also has an option of self-ship, whereby you can arrange courier (DTDC , India post, etc) service by yourself. Once you enter the number given to you, the order is confirmed.

1. ALTERNATIVE SALE METHOD

1. 1. There is also an alternative mode available, if you don’t want to sell through former. It is through FULFILLMENT CENTER and the programme is termed as FBA (Fulfilled by Amazon).
      • Under this FBA, you can store your products in a fulfillment center and by creating shipment from your seller central itself.
      • Prior to this, you have to apply for FBA PROGRAMME, whereby your account is white listed for a particular Fulfillment Centre (FC).
      • Once it is whitelisted, then you can send your product to that fulfillment center using shipment creation from your SELLER CENTERAL ACCOUNT.
      • Once the FC receives the product, the inbound the products. Post inbounding, you will see your products are live with a PRIME TAG and a FBA TAG. PRIME, here, refers to, the act of delivery of products across the nation within 2 days. The product is available within 2 days to the customer along with the prime tag.

      • ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

        FOR REGISTRATION AND LISTING

        1. 1. • GTIN EXEMPTION: One has to take GTIN EXEMPTION for different categories. Eg: It is different for furniture and differs in apparels as well.
        • •        PRICING: Amazon deducts an amount and then pays you the final sum.

        There are 3 kinds of fees

        1. 1. • Refferal fee: The amount that amazon charges,
        • • • Closing fee: It is the sum charged by the bank.
        • • • Shipment: When the product is shipped, amazon charges shipment fee.

        Note: 

        1. All the categories have different referral fee PROVIDED, you have to list your product in the right category. It also varies category and sub-category wise.

        Example: 

        1. Grocery-:4%
        1. Apparel :17%
        1. 1. However, one can calculate this fee using FEE CALCULATOR on services.amazon.in.

           Go to HOW TO SEGMENT > CALCULATE FEES AND PROFIT.

           1. 1. 1. POST-LISTING GUIDELINES:
           1. 1. 1. FOR IMAGE / PHOTOSHOOT: There are certain steps to following while shooting the image. The following includes:
           1. 1. 1. 1. • The image should have a white background
                       • The product must occupy 85% of its canvas.
                       • File size should be less than 1 mb, etc
                       • There are many variations in imagery too. There are table top products or when the model itself wears the apparel for presentation, etc.
                       • One should have a complete information regarding the same.
                       • Once the product is live on prime, then each product has got a product rank, which is available under product information on Amazon page.
           1. 1. 1. 1. • PRODUCT OPTIMISATION: In order to optimize your product, you can have a creative image, see if the title is according to the SOP or not, bullet points and description should be good enough and relevant.
                       • PRODUCT VISIBILITY can be improved by REVIEW AND RATINGS. Once the customers start buying your product, the product ranking itself starts improving.
           1. 1. • Foe even better visibility, one can start running the sponsored adds that has a monetary aspect into it.
                 • There is a fees for ad, when a customer clicks on the add, seller has to bear its cost.
                 • You can also invite people to buy your product, review it and give their feed backs for initial promotions.
                 • Add some special discounts and special coupons to sell them initially. NOTE: A PRODUCT WITH ZERO RAITING IS DIFFICULT T TO SELL.
                 • Run social media adds, for further promotion.
                   1. • Improved product rating and ranking makes it much easier both in terms of sale and visibility. Once, you have initial rating, you are advised to run an initial add, so that people come to your page and buy the product.
                   • • CONTENT MARKETING: One could also write FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions and Answers on the product page) , answer to the customer’s query regarding usage and other things, ” IT IS A MUST”.
                   • • SPONSERED ADDS: These are of many types like manual and automatic. Within the 2, there are multiple strategies and sponsored ads. You can take maximum benefit out of it.
                   • Keep on monitoring how your add is performing and have a look on keyword in which product is indexed and vice versa.