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How Selling On Amazon benefitted sellers during the pandemic

30/09/2021

As the pandemic hit the nation hard, Amazon.in stepped forward to help the sellers keep their businesses running. Read how the Amazon sellers benefitted from various services and relaxations offered, to grow their business during the tough time.

sell on amazon representation of products sold online

Are you a seller whose business was impacted by the pandemic?
What if you get to know that the Amazon sellers actually made a profit during the lockdown?

How?

By having the Amazon Edge. At Amazon, sellers’ growth is always at the priority, so when the pandemic hit the nation, Amazon took several initiatives to keep their businesses afloat and provide ease of doing business. Amazon sellers had an upper edge to bounce back by reaching a wider audience and providing the essentials.

Let’s look at the Amazon advantage our sellers made most of.

Online shopping boom

As the complete lockdown was announced, everybody shifted to online shopping. This opened up a much bigger market for online sellers. As Amazon is one of the leading eCommerce platforms in India, it became one of the preferred places for sellers to grow their business and expand their listings to include in-demand products.

Eased SOA fees

To further support the sellers, Amazon.in waived off Sell On Amazon fee and storage fees to offer some relaxation. The step reduced sellers’ operational burden and provided Fulfillment Centres to store their inventory. It gave existing sellers hope to continue their businesses and encouraged new sellers to join the online selling world.

Exclusive Amazon benefits

Prime badge

During lockdown, getting essential products was an urgent need for people. Hence, sellers who delivered products on time increased their chances of gaining loyal customer base. Prime badge made it possible for sellers to offer unlimited free one-day and two-day delivery to customers which really helped them in delivering orders at the earliest.

FBA

Joining Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) allowed sellers to enjoy hassle-free business operations. FBA takes care of packaging, shipping, delivering the orders, and customer service. It was really helpful in the times of lockdown and social distancing to manage manpower and smooth operation.

Local Shops on Amazon

The Local Shop on Amazon program made online selling accessible to local sellers by enabling them to register their shops on Amazon.in. This program allowed thousands of offline sellers to continue running their businesses and deliver orders to more pin codes than just serving in their localities.

Amazon STEP

To help sellers bounce back from the economic disruptions, Amazon initiated a program called STEP. It’s a performance-based benefits program to help sellers accelerate their growth on Amazon. Through STEP, seller performance is constantly evaluated and upgraded, offering benefits at each stage.

Here are some figures from the 2020 Amazon SMB Impact Report.

The statistics show that even the worst situation can be turned into an opportunity if you can learn and adapt. Here are some of the learnings from the pandemic that can help you navigate through tough times.

Top learnings from 2020-2021

1. Find your niche

Commoditized products are essential, in-demand products that everybody needs. While these products were quite popular during 2020-2021, selling just commoditized products won’t help achieve success in the long run. What you need is to find a niche category and sell unique and exciting products. Offering such products will attract more customers eventually, helping you build a brand.

2. Offer problem-solving products

Pandemic taught us that products that solve problems work better and will always be in demand, especially in times of crisis. Your product doesn’t necessarily need to be a huge, complicated one, instead, a simpler and more effective one works better. So, look for products that people can use in daily life to solve a problem.

3. Look for opportunities

Do not limit yourself to a single product or platform. Take inspiration from anything and everything for new business opportunities. Part of being a business person is always pushing your imagination. Which product gets more customer attention? Where does your interest lie? Is that a profitable product? Don’t stop yourself from asking such questions and exploring.

4. Feasibility is the key

Big fragile products that are expensive and may have expiry dates can end up creating backstock in the warehouse, impacting your sales. Hence, to keep a continuous flow of order deliveries, you need products that are evergreen, require lesser storage space, and are simple to fulfill.

Let’s look at what existing sellers have to say about their experience during the pandemic.

Seller testimonials

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