Essential holiday hacks for Amazon sellers
Another holiday season is coming, and Amazon sellers aiming to reap the rewards of Black Friday and Cyber Monday must plan carefully to manage their profitability during the annual shopping frenzy.
Why?
Because no matter how much customers love your product, everyone expects a deal and your cost per click (CPC) for advertising goes up by at least 30%.
You have to be really smart about it, whether you’re already selling and shipping on Amazon or you’re new to the platform. So here’s our top holiday season hacks for Amazon sellers as you head into the most wonderful — and hopefully profitable — time of the year.
If you’re already selling on Amazon…
Ship as much as possible, as quickly as possible.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, the focus should be on getting product out the door NOW.
Get your stock to Amazon by Oct. 15 (this is two weeks earlier than in previous years, at Amazon’s direction.) You want to have plenty of stock in place at Amazon fulfillment centers to avoid shipping delays.
Be strategic with your inventory
Take a critical look at your inventory.
Do you have too much stock for some products?
Do you have products where their expirations are within the next 6 to 8 months?
Do you want to exit certain categories that aren’t working?
Consider discount strategies to move more of those products through the system.
Also consider products with higher margins to offset the higher PPC costs of the holiday season. Now’s a good time to set up the appropriate deals, because so many eyeballs are coming you can move through a lot of stock.
Get help with Amazon product management strategy.
Use Amazon ad tools to engage more prospects
This is a great time of year to use various advertising tools on Amazon to boost your sales.
But again, CPC will increase at least 30% during this period, so take extra care to ensure that bidding stays within a range that will allow you to stay profitable with your sales.
Take advantage of the 10% brand referral bonus
If you’re selling in the United States, one way to offset higher CPC is to use other platforms like TikTok, Instagram and Facebook to drive traffic to your Amazon store. Use the Amazon Attribution tool to create a special digital tag on your non-Amazon advertising that allows Amazon to track customers who arrive from other sites to buy your product. Do this, and Amazon will pay you a 10% bonus each sale.
Think omni-channel: get the word out
Let your followers know about your deals on Amazon via your social channels and email lists.
Keep track of shipping documentation!
As Amazon ramps up for the season with new employees for receiving, shipping, picking and packing, one of the things you need to be aware of is that they can and do lose inventory.
If they lose your product, they are responsible.
So keep track of all your paperwork that shows when you’ve shipped them product, how much, and that they’ve received it.
That way, if later on Amazon loses some or all of it, Amazon will pay you for the units they lost. It might take a few months, but you will get your money back.
Get in touch if you need help with this.
If you’re a new Amazon seller…
We recommend a different strategy if you’re new to selling on Amazon when the holiday season hits in November.
For new(ish) Amazon sellers, particularly if you haven’t yet shipped product to Amazon by early November, the focus should be on laying the foundation for a profitable New Year by lining up reviews and getting systems ready to hit the ground running in January. Here’s how:
Plan for a strong start to Amazon sales in the New Year
While launching a new product in time for Christmas is exciting, it’s better to plan for a strong start to 2025 rather than pin your hopes on a holiday sales bonanza during the most expensive time of the year for PPC advertising.
Instead, get your inventory ready and shipped to fulfillment centers. Make sure all supporting content (product pages, ads, landing page copy etc.) is ready to go.
Enroll in Amazon Vine to generate reviews
Amazon Vine is a tool that allows you to recruit trusted reviewers to review your product. It’s an excellent source of social proof that allows potential customers to understand how your product works and whether it meets their needs. Make sure you have at least 15 great reviews for your product before you invest in PPC advertising.
Hit the ground running in January
You’ve done the homework, developed a product that customers are liking through the Vine program, so now the fun begins. Millions of people are looking to spend those Amazon gift cards they received during the holidays.
All that money starts to flood into the system during the first week of January. And PPC ad costs drop compared to November/December.
And, depending on your category, there will be lots more great opportunities to make money in the following weeks and months with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day … then before you know it, it’s summer. Plan out your marketing well in advance to take advantage of all these selling opportunities — they’ll be here before you know it.
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