Sell on Amazon

Amazon is a feature of life for most of us. You want something quick, or you want to grab something that isn’t in the store – you go to Amazon. But there’s also huge potential to be the person selling those products as a stay-at-home mom.

Let’s take a look at the top tips for selling on Amazon and how you can create business ideas as a stay-at-home mom selling there. 

Start a Home-Based Business Selling on Amazon

Can You Make Money Selling on Amazon?

When you mention selling on Amazon, people often frown and look confused. Surely only Amazon makes money from selling on Amazon, right?

Wrong! Amazon has plenty of its own stuff on there, but there are also thousands (or more) of third-party sellers. In fact, the percentage of the income coming from these 3rd party sellers has shot up in the last decade – from just 3% of sales in 1999 to 58% of sales in 2018.

Not only that, but there are various options when it comes to selling through Amazon. There’s having your own products that you physically store then sell. There are options like dropshipping and fulfillment services where you don’t have the products. Then there’s Amazon FBA or Fulfillment by Amazon. We will take a look at what this means as we go.

What Kind of Products Sell Well?

A great place to start when looking at what to sell on Amazon is to see what kind of products typically sell well. Yes, there’s more competition here, but it is a great place to help fine-tune what you want to focus on. 

According to Amazon’s figures, their top categories are:

1. Books – this includes physical books, eBooks, secondhand books, and audiobooks
2. Clothing, shoes, and jewelry – this can be very oversaturated and focused on discounting but still very popular
3. Electronics – this includes Amazon’s own products such as the Echo, as well as a wide range of electrical items
4. Toys and games – some of the best-sellers are the simple, unsophisticated items

In terms of the number of actual products sold, the top three categories are:

1. Home and kitchen – 64 million
2. Clothing, shoes, and jewelry – 33 million
3. Tools and home improvement – 11 million

Deciding What You Should Sell

Knowing what sells well can give you some inspiration on the kind of products you might want to sell. But deciding what you are going to sell takes a little more research. Because while 64 million products sold sounds great, think about how much competition there is to sell those products – how do you get your stuff seen amid that crush?

Instead, let’s look at the top tips to finding what you want to open your shop on Amazon with.

Do Some Manual Research

Always start with some manual research on Amazon itself to see what’s selling. One of the handy features is to look at best sellers and then check the ‘Customers also bought’ section. This offers similar products that people have bought that might have potential.

With this list of similar products, check something like Google Keyword Planner or an SEO tool. Doing this will allow you to see is if there’s much search volume for the primary term relating to this product. There are also dedicated apps you can check.

Use a Chrome Extension to Find a Niche Market

Armed with general product ideas, now you want to start finding a niche market. There are some great Chrome extensions (both free and paid) that let you see sales volumes on products. You aim to find products with low competition but also some sales volume. Estimated monthly sales revenue is another metric used to help choose.

Get Specific with Your Products

As you start to see a niche, you will realize you need to be specific with your product. There will be countless products for “grey jeans,” but if you are selling “skinny grey jeans low waist,” the competition is much narrower.

Alternatively, you can look at customer reviews for the niche and see what people are unhappy about. Did they think that charcoal grey jeans were too dark? So lighter grey jeans could be popular. Were the jeans not stretchy enough and uncomfortable? That means higher stretch materials could win.

Search for Best Seller Rank (BSR) Categories

Once you have some ideas of the potential products, look for categories with at least three Best Seller Rank results – that little yellow box in the top corner of the listing. These reflect both historical and recent sales, so there are items that have always done well and those that have done well recently. If there are less than three, you might want to reconsider.

What is Amazon FBA and Should You Use It?

As a stay-at-home mom looking at business ideas, you are probably not in the position to have tons of products in your house. Or rent space at a warehouse to hold the products and then dispatch them. So how do you start selling items through Amazon?

One option is to use Amazon FBA or Fulfilment by Amazon. With this system, Amazon takes care of the storage, delivery, returns, and customer service while you handle the marketing. There are optional services such as selling on other channels and using their 24/7 customer services for your customers. You can even add gift wrapping options for your customers.

This is perfect if you know what kind of products you want to sell but don’t want to have them physically in your possession. It allows you to make the most of Amazon’s different services without facing a fixed subscription fee or minimum inventory – the service is pay-per-use.

Other Ways to Sell on Amazon

Another great part of looking at business ideas for stay-at-home moms to sell on Amazon is that there are loads of options for sourcing those products. 

You can look at a traditional wholesale model if you have space. You can use Amazon FBA or work with drop shipping companies who create and ship the product to your order. You can even use Amazon Handmade to make your own unique and special products.

Whatever type of product business you want to create, there’s an option that works through Amazon. And let’s face it, we all know and use Amazon, so the potential is limitless. 

Are you a stay-at-home mom looking for business ideas? Then why not think about selling on Amazon and make money from the mega-retailer?