In 2021, Amazon had over 40% of the US Ecommerce sales, with the next closest competitor (Walmart) at 7%. Some Ecommerce entrepreneurs might look at the 40% number as disheartening. How can they be expected to compete when all of the e-commerce is dominated by that brand? Others might look at this statistic as an opportunity because you can actually sell your products on Amazon, and you don’t necessarily have to have an amazing website right away. There’s a cost, of course, as Amazon can take up to 30% of the revenue off the top. So, how do we sort all this out? We bring on Amazon expert Ashley Kinkead.
Ashley Kinkead is the founder of Private Label Mastery and the host of the Private Label Mastery Podcast.
Today’s episode of Deal Closers is hosted by Izach Porter, brought to you by WebsiteClosers.com, and is produced by Earfluence.
What’s excellent about Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is that anybody can get started. People who start selling through FBA, in general, just want to get rid of things around the house while earning extra bucks.
According to Kinkead, she herself had no background in business. She saw FBA as a way to earn extra income, but she never had an intention of starting a business or exiting it after a certain point.
Selling on Amazon was easy back then. There was no need for a website or an alternate seller account on another platform, such as eBay. What’s more, she was even able to scale her business even with Amazon alone — it was possible even without starting her own Shopify website or SEO knowledge.
Kinkead acknowledges that her early days in Amazon FBA were filled with more mistakes than successes. While she now enjoys strong sales with her private-label bath bombs, the journey started off rocky, particularly when she received terrible reviews.
One of her early flops was a charcoal bath bomb that turned the water black — not exactly ideal for a relaxing soak. She admits to making poor product choices in the past, but with time and experience, she gradually built a solid understanding of private labels.
So, if you’re looking for ways to improve customer reviews and ratings and eventually boost Amazon sales, you need to start thinking about how your customers actually think.
Kinkead may have made tons of mistakes, but those mishaps have taught her how to increase sales on Amazon by making educated decisions based on customers’ wants and sourcing the right private-label products. Satisfying customer needs with sourcing is part of providing excellent customer service.
It’s easy to be swayed by trends, thinking that you’ll earn as much money as the seller earning top dollar. But the truth is that you should not put all your eggs in one basket. She encourages sellers to go wide instead of deep.
Among Kinkead’s missteps were choosing products in an overly saturated market and selling items with quality issues. However, she found success by testing products before fully committing. Instead of diving in headfirst, she takes a more cautious approach when launching something new.
It’s quite common for sellers to not understand the importance of sourcing, finding the best manufacturers, and choosing high-quality products. These are things that can be learned along the way.
As an Amazon seller, keeping your defect rate as low as possible helps increase sales on Amazon. Quality issues, especially with product selection, can significantly hurt your business. That’s why it’s important to rely heavily on data when making decisions. Every step in the process — from sourcing to launching — should be driven by factual insights into what’s already performing well on the platform.
In the past, one of Kinkaed’s mistakes was not basing her sourcing decisions on data. She acknowledges that relying on instinct instead of solid information leads to poor product choices. Now, she emphasizes the importance of using data to guide every decision in her Amazon business.
To succeed with private label products on Amazon, mastering how the platform’s SEO works is the way to go. According to Kinkead, it’s not just about selling an existing product but ensuring it stands out in a crowded marketplace. Much like walking down an aisle filled with nearly identical products, what sets one apart is how it’s branded and presented. When applying this concept to Amazon SEO, sellers should focus on refining their product listings by applying appropriate search terms and highlighting features within the product details to capture attention and dominate search results.
One approach Kinkead mentions is finding untapped opportunities. By being the first to offer a product or introducing a variation not yet available on Amazon, sellers can establish themselves on page one of the search results. Conducting competitive analysis (such as observing competitors’ product detail pages), reading product reviews, and addressing customer feedback can also help in crafting products that meet demand. Simple changes like offering a different size, bundling items, or creating multi-packs can differentiate products and improve visibility, eventually boosting your sales on the ecommerce platform.
Ultimately, leveraging Amazon SEO is about more than just optimizing for keywords. It’s about understanding what customers want, staying ahead of competitors, and ensuring your product has a strong presence on the platform.
Among the optimization practices that Kinkead executes is split testing on Amazon listings. She looks into what works best with keywords, titles, and photos that will affect the ranking on the search results page. She adds that even the simplest change can increase Amazon sales by three times.
Using Helium 10 is excellent for product research. It’s an excellent tool for sellers looking for opportunities to dominate.
Kinkead emphasizes the importance of tracking and analyzing data to make more informed decisions on how to boost sales on Amazon. With Helium 10, her team goes beyond focusing on products everyone else targets. One method involves tracking products for seven days to measure daily sales velocity and conversion rates. This data-driven approach ensures a comprehensive understanding of how well a product performs on Amazon. According to Kinkead, conversion rates are crucial for success on the platform, with some products achieving up to 50%.
Helium 10 remains an excellent tool for product research, but Kinkead also highlights the importance of looking at Amazon itself. She points out that simply reviewing best-seller rankings, keywords, and product reviews can reveal valuable opportunities, especially for those looking to dominate specific niches. This mix of advanced tools and intuitive insights ensures that sellers can spot trends and untapped potential quickly.
Kinkead stresses the importance of product selection as a crucial factor to boost Amazon sales. However, she emphasizes that success doesn’t come overnight. Even seasoned sellers face setbacks with products that don’t perform as expected, but the key is persistence. According to Kinkead, successful Amazon sellers are those who remain consistent. They continue to show up month after month, willing to learn from missteps and adapt to new strategies.
For Kinkead, the ability to identify the right product isn’t just about making a single perfect choice. It’s a skill that can be developed over time, and sellers who stick with it are more likely to succeed. As a seller, be open to trying new things and stay committed to looking for that product that wins customers to thrive on the platform.
Kinkead shares her two priorities when considering what to sell to increase your Amazon sales.
For existing sellers looking into how to increase sales in Amazon stores, the effort often begins with a thorough audit of the current setup. According to Kinkead, many established businesses—even those generating six or seven figures—may have overlooked issues affecting their performance.
When looking at ways on how to increase sales on Amazon marketplace, a detailed review usually reveals areas for improvement, from refining keywords and updating product photos to adjusting fulfillment settings.
One common challenge Kinkead notes is sellers relying on Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), which can limit their ability to win the Buy Box. How to boost sales in Amazon stores involves transitioning to Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to become eligible for the Buy Box and improve overall efficiency. For some sellers, it may also be necessary to refresh their Amazon product catalog, either by optimizing existing offerings or revising each product listing.
In some cases, starting from scratch with a new product—following a tested system for sourcing and supplier partnerships—can be more effective than trying to fix multiple issues at once. This structured approach, focused on boosting Amazon sales, offers sellers a clearer path to long-term success on the platform.
According to Kinkead, her team does a lot of pay-per-click advertising (sponsored products) to drive sales. She says that most of her businesses are 40 to 50% pay-per-click driven.
When preparing for an exit, boosting Amazon sales is essential to make your business more appealing to potential buyers. First, ensure you’ve been operational for at least a year—this gives you the track record needed for a solid exit strategy.
Buyers look for businesses with a well-organized structure, so having a clear organizational chart is vital. Additionally, it’s crucial to build and maintain an email list. This not only drives sales but also demonstrates customer loyalty, which can be a valuable asset during negotiations. Think of it as proving the value and future potential of your business to potential buyers.
Amazon is such a dynamic ecommerce ecosystem that it’s easy to lose against competitors if you don’t offer items at competitive prices. Some strategies you can employ in your effort to maximize sales on Amazon are the following:
Ultimately, advanced algorithms that handle product recommendations and dynamic pricing are at the core of why Amazon maximizes sales. They not only enhance customer engagement but also promote repeat purchases, driving continuous growth for sellers.
Selling on Amazon used to be so easy, according to sellers like Kinkead. Nowadays, it’s a cutthroat competition, where sellers are compelled to use strategies to get past the competition.
If you’re wondering how to maximize Amazon seller sales, below are some of the main points to solidify your presence amid the tight, competitive environment.
Kinkead has learned what her customers truly want from her experience with selling private-label products. In other words, excellent customer service also comes with constant improvements to sourcing and other processes throughout your time as a seller.
While it’s ultimately your goal to increase your Amazon sales, making your operations customer centric is equally important. Here are just some of the ways to execute this:
It’s always important to think long-term, especially if you have plans that extend beyond growing your business. Just as all things come to an end, you will eventually exit your company — it is simply inevitable.
Kinkead stresses the importance of three things:
Why are these things necessary? Firstly, you want to attract people who are passionate about your business. When you have these guiding principles, and they resonate with the right people, you end up attracting them and eventually finding the right buyer.
Once you finally want to start planning for your exit, firms such as Website Closers will help you prepare all the details to take your FBA business to market and make your business even more competitive to maximize its sale value.
Thank you for your interest. We're happy to help in your acquisition search.
Please help us by providing an honest review. We focus on those that take the time to review our company.
Leave a Review