When should I hire an Amazon agency for sellers?
Are you stuck in a rut on Amazon, with question marks and exclamation marks hovering over your head, wondering why you’re not selling as much as the “other” guy?
When was the last time you hit your projected sales target, let alone exceed it?
Selling on Amazon and, more importantly, growing a successful business on Amazon, is becoming a tougher proposition with each passing day.
Whether you’re a one-man band or have a small in-house team helping you sell on Amazon, at some point, you may have wondered: “Is it time to hire an Amazon agency for sellers and are they truly worth it?”
There are many things an Amazon seller agency or consultancy can help you with and at a level of control or involvement that you get to define: they could help you with just listings optimisation and product descriptions, should you require, or they could offer full-fledged support on everything from account management and issue management to competitor analysis, risk mitigation, policy compliance, and more.
Is it really time to start working with an Amazon agency? Let’s find out:
Your sales are less than impressive or you’ve hit a plateau
Even if you sold well at one point, where things really couldn’t be better, it’s only a matter of time before Amazon updates their algorithm or another seller in the same or similar category comes up with a better value proposition. It happens.
Many sellers, despite their best efforts, go through the frustrating ordeal of seeing their sales stagnate. Given the increasing sophistication of Amazon’s marketplace, this is now become a more widespread dilemma.
If you believe your sales have plateaued or aren’t sure whether they are performing as well as they should, check your Amazon seller metrics – key metrics like units sold, sales revenue, and conversion rate over time can tell you what’s going on.
If these metrics have remained flat for the most part or started to decline in the last few weeks or months, it’s time to make a change, because optimising listings on your own can only accomplish so much.
This is often a sign that you need a fresh perspective on things, an external one at that, to help understand the root cause(s) of the sales plateauing and to develop strategies accordingly.
An experienced Amazon agency can help you tap into new growth opportunities, be it expanding into new markets, exploring new product lines, or optimising listings in a way to improve visibility – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
You can’t seem to stand out from your competitors
Each day, more and more sellers flood the Amazon marketplace, so naturally, it’s becoming increasingly challenging for existing sellers to stand out or even remain relevant.
Now, you may have a fantastic product on your hands, but unless you’re able to distinctly stand out from the competition, you’ll soon find yourself fighting in a losing battle.
What’s mind-bending though is the fact that, in many cases, it doesn’t even require a full-fledge rebranding effort on your part, but rather just a few important changes to one of your listings. Imagine that!
An Amazon agency knows all the tricks in the books when it comes to helping you craft unique listings which instantly attract attention to your brand identity, and show everybody how you stand apart or how you’re the “go-to” guy for a specific product.
An Amazon agency with decades of experience across multiple product categories can not only help you develop some really compelling product listings, but also devise targeted advertising campaigns for you – or even leverage the power of social media and other marketing channels to build a more loyal consumer base around your product.
Your knowhow is no longer cutting it – you require specialist expertise
Amazon’s marketplace will only get more competitive with time. And, as it does, the skills and strategies which were previously allowing you to have a taste of success, will either become obsolete or niche-specific. You will, ultimately, have to have the knowhow to cast a wider net to attract as many customers as you can, and more often across more categories than one.
If you ever feel that you don’t have the expertise to continue to be competitive or you don’t have access to in-house specialists who can help, it’s time to consult an Amazon agency as they can be an invaluable source of information.
Let’s say you need bespoke or tailored advice with SEO, listing optimisation, or product photos and videos (or all of these), an agency will already have the skills, tools, and experience to help you succeed in the above areas, and will do so with unrivalled mastery before you can even blink. Yes, they are that good!
That’s expertise you can only access through an Amazon agency which has years of experience and a clear and demonstrable success track record of helping sellers dominate the marketplace.
Working with an agency which specialises in your niche can help you tap into a world of experience and expertise which can be either difficult or downright impossible to acquire on your own. Moreover, by outsourcing specific tasks to an agency (such as market research and competitor analysis or SEO and PPC), you will have more time and energy to grow your business.
Your inventory management is not looking good
Did you know that bad or poor inventory management is often referred to as one of the ‘silent killers’ of e-commerce?
Effective inventory management is an essential for online selling success; in fact, it’s one of the most pivotal aspects of selling successfully on Amazon but also very challenging at the same time.
Are you frequently running low on stock? Is there excess inventory taking up storage space which can be otherwise put to better use? Are you struggling to accurately forecast demand? In each case, an Amazon agency can offer the right level of assistance, tools/systems, and tailored guidance to help you get a handle on your inventory management.
A proven and reputable Amazon agency will also help you come up with a robust inventory management system which always takes into account things like sales velocity, seasonality, and lead times – all of these are crucial to keep inventory management issues at bay and to ensure that you have just enough to continue selling and not exhaust your resources unnecessarily. There are even AI-based automated solutions which an Amazon agency can help you take advantage of, so that you have more time to focus on other aspects of selling, such as after sales, responding to reviews, or any other aspect which you deem very important.
We know – inventory management isn’t the sexiest aspect of Amazon selling, but if you take it lightly, you will likely never reach the full growth potential of your brand or product.
Your Amazon PPC is really draining your budget or proving ineffective
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising on Amazon is one of the hallmarks of successful selling. It is a mighty powerful tool that can help you drive sales and growth.
However, it can also be a source of major frustration, if you don’t keep up with the changes and updates, or if you don’t know how to leverage it to your advantage.
Amazon PPC has not only changed a lot in the last few years but it is also in a constant state of change, so to speak. The PPC ad strategies that used to work for everyday sellers are a thing of the past, with new PPC strategies requiring a unique set of skills and knowhow.
If your PPC campaigns are proving to be ineffective or not helping you achieve the level of profitability you desire, it’s time to reach out to an Amazon agency.
An agency that possesses deep and nuanced PPC expertise can help you devise targeted ad campaigns, for example, which can help you reach the right customers at precisely the right time. Not only that, but they can help you with everything from optimising bids and ad placements to maximising ROI – to providing continued management and analysis so that your campaigns run smoothly and continue to yield the targeted outcomes.
You can’t seem to set aside enough time
As your Amazon business grows, so will the number of hours you must put in. At one point, you may even find yourself investing a ridiculous number of hours just responding to customer enquiries, managing inventory, or educating yourself on Amazon’s evolving requirements and policies.
It can all prove to be too much with burnout just around the corner. We haven’t even factored in the demands or obligations and responsibilities of your personal life.
Eventually, you may not find enough hours in the day to manage it all yourself.
An Amazon agency can truly be a lifesaver – outsource select tasks or everything to the agency, and you’ll always have more time and energy to focus on specific areas of your Amazon business, and your personal life.
Chris Turton’s E-Commerce Intelligence is a highly valuable resource for sellers who want to gain an edge and stay on top of their game. Call us now to learn how we can help: 01743 816191.