Amazon is the largest online retailer and marketplace in Germany, with a market share of more than 50%. The platform is three larger than the number two, OTTO. 79% of Germans begin their search for products on Amazon. So if you want to gain a foothold in Germany, Amazon is also an important marketing channel for your brand. For your company, Amazon offers a significant sales opportunity. However, it is often underestimated what is involved in managing an Amazon seller account. Both in the start-up phase and afterwards, we regularly encounter problems in practice. Think before you begin!
Who buys on Amazon?
Amazon is extremely popular in Germany and attracts a diverse audience of buyers. Typical Amazon customers in Germany tend to be between 25 and 54 years old, have an above-average income, are well-educated and live in urban areas. However, Amazon is also starting to attract more and more other groups, such as people with lower incomes, the elderly and residents of rural areas. This is mainly because of the wide range of products, competitive prices, fast and reliable delivery, and excellent customer service that Amazon offers. These factors make Amazon attractive to a variety of buyers, making it the largest online retailer in Germany.
The start-up phase: how to avoid runaway?
Many companies run into all sorts of problems during the startup phase. First of all, it is imperative that someone within your company learn about what it takes to be successful on Amazon. Serious companies hire a marketplace manager to do this. If this person then works with a specialized Amazon marketing agency and uses fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), then you hold good cards for becoming successful on Amazon.
Even at startup you soon find out that Amazon wants to know everything about you, you need all kinds of documents to activate your account. It doesn't stop there. For example, if you want to use FBA for the German market, you will also need a German VAT number and an EPR/WEEE registration. And to take advantage of all marketing activities, you will need an international trademark registration. A European trademark registration can take as little as six months, so it's actually one of the first things you need to get going.
Below is a logical sequence of steps to follow:
- Delve into Amazon seller success factors (Podcasts, YouTube and Amazon seller university)
- Arrange your Benelux or European trademark registration at EUIPO (long lead time)
- Request the VAT numbers for the countries from which you will deliver via FBA
(can also be done through us) - Pay attention to all registration documents you need for Amazon (avoid problems later)
- Engage a marketing agency for product listings and Amazon ad campaigns (we're good at this)
- Gather professional images and product information that the marketing agency can work with
- Enter into a contract for Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA)
- Very important: make someone internally responsible who can resolve issues and complaints within your Amazon account within 24 hours
Getting a handle on your Amazon Account Health and the reviews
Only sellers with good Account Health are allowed to sell on Amazon. This is composed of several factors. For example, good Amazon Aaccount Health requires that your products are shipped on time, that you answer customer inquiries within the allotted time, and that problems with returned products are resolved quickly and appropriately. If you don't, Amazon may decide to block your account. Moreover, poor delivery and late customer responses will get you bad reviews. You should avoid getting bad reviews at all costs. Bad reviews will cause your organic findability and conversion rate to take a nosedive. Prevent this by providing complete/realistic product information, delivery via FBA and adequate responses to customer inquiries. Once your Amazon account is active, we recommend starting collecting positive reviews immediately. This is crucial for optimizing conversion on your Amazon product pages. When your product pages convert well, you will also find that your Amazon ads perform better.
How much ad budget do you want to start with?
Once your account is set up properly, then you can start marketing. That means you need optimal product listings with nice pictures and that all the important keywords per language are included. Organically, you only really become findable if, according to Amazon, you have proven that there is demand for your products and that you are a good seller. So you need sales and good reviews to get good positions. For this you will need to advertise. Your marketing agency will ask for your advertising budget. Then it is wise if you have set a sales forecast for yourself and can relate the budget to that. Of course, it is difficult to estimate in advance how well you will sell. Therefore, start small and, if necessary, calculate a first loss-making six months/years. Once you have experience, you can start scaling up the marketing and budgets and it's time to harvest.
Expert Tips:
"A good Return On AdSpend (ROAS) is mainly achieved by using FBA, positive reviews, detailed product information and high-quality images.", Paul Kleinherenbrink, Amazon lead at Dexport.
"Do you also want to start a webshop in Germany? With the AI and Dexport Shop Launch, it has never been easier to start in Germany." Thomas van Vulpen, CrossBorder consultant at Dexport.
