Five Reasons Your Amazon Products Are Not Selling
Selling products on Amazon is comparable to investing in the stock market; some succeed while others fail. The only difference between the two is that it is much more challenging to be a successful trader than it is to be an Amazon seller because stocks are far more unpredictable due to their volatility. However, to increase product sales and deter your Amazon products from not selling, one must simply follow a set of guidelines rigorously. But first, you must understand why your Amazon products are not selling.
Your Amazon products are not selling because they have one or a combination of the following: unsatisfactory product review, inadequate product pricing, inferior product detail page, poor product exposure, or undesirable delivery time. This article addresses five primary reasons why your Amazon products are not selling and offers five alternative recommendations to increase product sales, among other benefits.
- Unsatisfactory Product Reviews
- Inadequate Product Pricing
- Inferior Product Detail Page
- Undesirable Delivery Time
- Poor Product Exposure
- One More Tip to Guarantee Product Sales
- Conclusion
Do you know the famous saying by the educational writer William Edward Hickson? “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again,” well, it applies to selling products on Amazon as well. There are several things you can do to ensure a prosperous eCommerce business, which the forthcoming sections will explain in further detail.
Unsatisfactory Product Reviews
One of the main reasons your Amazon products are not selling is because the product listing has or is associated with unsatisfactory product reviews. A study conducted by Statista that interviewed 1,200 online shoppers found that approximately 70 percent of consumers read around one to six reviews before deciding whether or not to buy a product.
However, it is not the end of the world to receive a bad review. Instead, it is a chance at redemption. If a customer leaves a negative product review, as a concerned seller, your job is to show existing and prospective customers that you are receptive to constructive criticism and are willing to offer a solution to rectify the problem. Responding to poor reviews with proper feedback can turn a negative experience into a positive one.
Essentially good product reviews have several benefits, such as increasing consumer trust, ranking higher on the search results page, and optimizing conversion rates. A proactive approach to prevent negative reviews is to regularly send out customer satisfaction surveys to gauge customer feedback and to give shoppers the opportunity to share their reviews in a private forum.
To encourage positive product reviews, deter the likelihood of negative ones, and subsequently increase product sales on Amazon, you can include product inserts into your packages. However, it is important to do so with caution as Amazon has a strict insert card policy and codes of conduct associated with the content that goes into product inserts. Nevertheless, when done correctly, product inserts can increase brand reputation, enhance brand awareness, cultivate customer loyalty, as well as solicit positive feedback and reviews.
Inadequate Product Pricing
It is likely that your Amazon product is not selling because of inadequate pricing. Pricing is perhaps one of the most fundamental things on Amazon. For example, a Statista study that surveyed 1,053 Americans (ages 18+) found that 70 percent of respondents claimed that price was the most important factor influencing them to shop with one particular retailer over another. Therefore, in order to become that go-to retailer for online shoppers, which inevitably translates to an increase in product sales on Amazon, you should deploy a dynamic pricing strategy.
A dynamic Amazon pricing strategy refers to the process of varying product prices depending on particular circumstances. To craft a dynamic pricing strategy, you should ensure that you have set a minimum price for your product; however, you should not be the cheapest seller on the market. Next, make use of periodic discounts or promotions and then gradually perform subsequent price raises.
Lastly, and perhaps the most crucial step in creating an effective dynamic pricing strategy, is to set up pricing alerts. Setting up pricing alerts allows you to effortlessly monitor your competitors so that you can make smarter business decisions based on their market modifications. Amazon product alerting tools enable you to create customizable alerts that you can receive periodically based on rules or triggers related to changes in any product on Amazon.
Inferior Product Detail Page
Have you ever heard the saying “don’t judge a book by its cover”? Well, unfortunately, Amazon shoppers almost always do just that, judge a product by its cover photo. Bad images, titles, and descriptions can lead to false expectations, which is why an inferior product detail page is one of the five main reasons Amazon products do not sell.
Ten core elements comprise an Amazon product detail page: title, description, bullet points, product variations, product images, price, brand store, category rating, shipping information, and reviews. If any or a combination of these elements are not to a shopper’s liking, the product will not sell well. The good news is that there are a plethora of things one can do to optimize Amazon product listings. By following the forthcoming recommendations and suggestions, you can have a superior product detail page.
Title: product titles should be concise and accurate, be between 50 and 75 characters, and use relevant keywords.
Description: product descriptions should include three to ten main features and should be at least 150 words.
Bullet points: product bullet points should include five main points, use proper capitalization, and explain the product’s key features.
Product images: product images and videos need to be high-quality (1,000 pixels), preferably with a white background, fill 80-100 percent of the image frame and should demonstrate the value/use of the product.
Compelling product titles and descriptions arise from extensive keyword research. Conducting keyword research before deciding on a product’s title and description can help you discover relevant keywords shoppers use to search for your product. The significance of keyword research rests in its proven ability to reveal crucial information to help grow your eCommerce business by increasing your organic search visibility, rankings, and organic traffic.
There are, however, easy ways to optimize your product listing while simultaneously taking into consideration keyword research. DataHawk’s Listing Optimization tool for Amazon is designed to help you measure performance and create the most effective product listings.
The tool allows you to quickly analyze your listings, view historical changes you have made to see which ones worked best, and ensure your listings are compliant with Amazon’s guidelines. It also generates a listing quality score to give you a better idea of how you can improve it.
Undesirable Delivery Time
Undesirable delivery time is yet another reason why your Amazon products are not selling. A Statista study surveyed 18,000 online shoppers to understand why consumers do not follow through with online orders. Nearly 50 percent of respondents said that they do not finalize online purchases because the estimated delivery time was too long or because the product would not arrive on time.
There are two straightforward ways to ensure speedy Amazon delivery: joining Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) or the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program. Amazon SFP is a program that allows Amazon merchants to use their own inventory management systems if they abide by the Prime programs 1-2 shipping speed.
Another way to satisfy customers’ expectations of fast delivery time is to enroll in Amazon’s FBA program, which is a service that helps Amazon merchants succeed by providing them access to Amazon’s logistics networks. However, if you are not satisfied with Amazon’s SFP and FBA programs or do not meet their eligibility requirements, you can always use 3PL (third-party logistics). These three fulfillment services help ensure desirable delivery time and reduce the probability of shoppers seeking out similar products from other sellers.
Poor Product Exposure
A lack of product exposure can correlate to a shortage in product sales. Fortunately, there are several things you can do to improve product exposure and sales on Amazon. For example, you can adopt a multi-channel retail strategy to promote your product outside of Amazon, use product bundling techniques, invest in Amazon Sponsored ads, and leverage Amazon’s frequently bought together tool.
Multi-channel retailing or omnichannel marketing strategies are a great way to increase product exposure and reach new customers as it is a strategy used to offer products on multiple storefronts. The frequently bought together feature is particularly effective in increasing product exposure. Essentially, Amazon’s frequently bought together feature is a recommendation algorithm designed to maximize per order value by introducing relevant products to new and existing shoppers.
Additionally, leveraging Amazon’s Sponsored ad campaigns is also another strategy worth investing in to boost product exposure and grow product sales at large. Recent Amazon advertising studies have indicated that Sponsored Product ad campaigns are one of the most effective ad types when it comes to encouraging product discoverability.Sponsored Product ads are given prime real estate on Amazon and appear both on search results and related product pages. These ads’ growing popularity is attributed to their low cost of entry and undeniable influence on product discovery.
One More Tip to Guarantee Product Sales
In addition to implementing the recommendations listed above to remedy or prevent unsuccessful Amazon products, creating an eCommerce buyer persona is also strongly advised if your business does not already have one or some in place. According to SharpSpring, a marketing automation platform, 82% of companies utilizing buyer persons improved their value proposition. In other words, buyer personas can help you enhance consumers’ shopping experience and cultivate brand loyalty.
An eCommerce buyer persona is a detailed representation of your ideal online customer. Developing one before launching a new product on Amazon has the utmost potential to ensure the success of your product as they make it undeniably easier for eCommerce businesses to market their products in a way that is most receptive to shoppers.
Conclusion
This article covered the five main reasons why your Amazon product listings are not selling and offered five practical recommendations designed to increase product sales on Amazon. Unfortunately, the hard truth of being an eCommerce brand or seller is that a product listing is not a one-and-done thing. Instead, product listings need to be updated, monitored, and cross-checked with direct competitors to ensure profitability.
Nevertheless, it is a rewarding journey. What’s more, implementing the aforementioned recommendations also increases your chances of winning the Amazon Buy Box, which equates to winning the golden ticket to receive a tour of Charlies Chocolate Factory. Therefore, with Amazon seller software and the right tips derived from data-driven insights, there is no reason you cannot prevent or fix failing Amazon products or win the Amazon Buy Box of that matter.
