It's the big question any new ecommerce website owners have to face. You've spent all this time building your website, should you now work towards also selling your products on Amazon and Ebay's platforms?
When asking the question: "Should I sell on Amazon?", a lot of people find themselves unsure of the pros and cons of doing so. The briefest, most accurate answer to whether you should use these platforms is that it depends on what your particular business is, and where it is currently in terms of its lifespan.
As with everything this decision is contextual but there are several things to bear in mind when making your choice. Here at SmartShyp, we've combed through the pros and cons of Amazon and eBay integration, so you don't have to!
Before you're even able to ask this question, the first part of the process is to build your ecommerce website. SmartShyp has already written several blog posts on this, including 7 essential steps in designing your ecommerce website.
Ecommerce sales are projected to reach $6.54 trillion by 2022. It's therefore advisable for any business to look into setting up an ecommerce platform to snag a piece of this humongous pie.
This remains true even though the current COVID-19 pandemic has caused some concerns for the immediate future of ecommerce sales. Right now online shopping is being promoted by the government in the US, which has, in fact, had a positive effect on ecommerce. Though it remains to be seen how the coronavirus continues to impact the sector in the future.
A major advantage of selling products on your own website is that its owned by you. You have considerably greater control over the design and details of your website than you do on rented platforms like Amazon. Once you've created and fully optimized your website, you can begin to look into Amazon and eBay.
To properly answer this question you will need to compare your website alongside these rented platforms. Your website will be better for certain things, whereas Amazon or eBay will be superior in their own ways, especially when you are starting out.
The first comparison point is in the size of the user base. This means how many customers typically come to the website on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Unless you get exceptionally lucky, your website is never going to attract the kind of user base traffic that Amazon and eBay do. This is because they have been established names for years and sell almost every product type you could conceive of, whereas your website is likely highly specific.
In this respect, it can be a good decision to take advantage of the larger user base on Amazon or eBay. This is particularly true when you're a new business and looking to attract customers. No matter how much you spend on marketing your website, you will almost always get more eyes on your product by listing them on one of these platforms.
You can use Amazon and eBay to gain early customers whilst working on the SEO of your website.
However, as aforementioned, these platforms sacrifice flexibility. You can't change much on an Amazon page because they like to keep a consistent graphic design throughout their whole website.
Amazon, in particular, is also extremely strict when it comes to advertising your business on its platform. If you were hoping to filter customers from Amazon to your website then forget it, this isn't allowed.
Whilst eBay is slightly less stringent on this, they also limit your flexibility in advertising your products. This doesn't just become an issue in terms of advertising, but in the availability of your products at any given time on Amazon if they are kept at certain warehouses.
It is also worth taking into account that the success you will have on each platform can depend on the type of products you sell. On eBay, home decor, fashion, and technology perform much better than food products, whilst Amazon is better known for finding books and cameras than eBay.
A final and ever-important comparison point is the cost of using these platforms. This is a complicated matter. In terms of commission, you will lose more money from Amazon and eBay than selling directly from your website. This is because they take a percentage of the sale fee.
However, this needs to be weighed against any marketing fees you spend optimizing your website. This fee could be much smaller than the total amount you spend on gaining traffic to your website in the early stages. This yet again makes it a particularly viable option for companies just starting to sell their products online.
Finally, a factor we feel we have the most thorough understanding of is the shipping.
With SmartShyp, you're able to integrate all of your orders into one space. That means we can help you to see every order from your website as well as Amazon and eBay. We combine all this information for you, making the process of shipping so much easier.
Many people are concerned that operating all three platforms can make their shipping duties three times more confusing. With SmartShyp, that isn't the case. "Should I sell on Amazon?" is a much easier question to answer when you can track all of your accounts in one place.
With our integration, you'll never lose track of any orders. Our system also works to ensure you save up to 20 hours every week which would normally be spent on shipping. Not only can SmartShyp save you time, it can also save you money.
To find out how SmartShyp can answer the question of whether or not to sell on Amazon and eBay as well as your own website (the answer is almost always yes with our support!), you can create a free account today.