My friends at Helium 10 challenged me to share my story as an Amazon seller, and here it is! My journey was filled with challenges, triumphs, and valuable learnings that helped me become an expert in Amazon Selling and eCommerce at large.
A Brief Introduction
I am Sorabh Kumar, the founder of Amazing Marketer! I started selling on Amazon in 2016 and let me tell you a secret! Amazon wasn’t always sunshine and profits for me. In fact, it started with a lot of confusion, huge losses and a complete pain! So much so, that I for once stopped selling on Amazon.
So today, I am going to share how things changed, how I got to where I am today, and why I am so passionate about Selling on Amazon!
Early Struggles
Back in 2015, I was a digital marketing whiz, helping businesses thrive online and become a brand! I was doing great heading a digital marketing team at a reputed institute.
I came from a business background but with no interest of joining the family business. By the year 2016, with the booming ecommerce, the offline sales had started dwindling. So finally I decided to venture into ecommerce by selling our products on Amazon.
I thought, I am an expert in digital marketing, how difficult would it be to sell on Amazon? But I was wrong! Despite my digital marketing expertise, I found it confusing understanding the intricacies of the Amazon marketplace.
Trials & Errors
With Limited resources back then, finding the right solutions and understanding the policies became a daily struggle. Right from listing and running ads, to packaging and handling customer service, I was learning everything through trials and errors.
Test of Patience & Lost Hopes
Three long months crawled by without a single order. And the first order that I finally received after 3 months, got returned. It was a pure loss and I had no clue how people were getting orders. What was I doing wrong.
Btw, if you are not aware, in those times you did not get the Amazon Buy Box by default just by listing your product. You had to build some credibility and wait patiently for months to win the buy box. So getting reviews to get sales was not the only challenge. Getting the Buy Box was the first one!
I was losing hopes!
Demonetization Impact:
Just as I was about to give up, demonetization struck. And just like other businesses, it had a major impact on our already dwindling business! This is when I it became clear – Amazon was not just an option anymore, it was a lifeline. I had to make it work somehow!
Building Resilience
In 2017, I relaunched my Amazon business and this time with a renewed determination.
Still needing figure out the technicalities of Amazon, I searched and searched and searched for resources. I tried to find sources for tips and tutorials, or at least some guidance. But to no avail!
Learning from Mistakes
I embraced the challenges. Analysing every step and learning along the way, I kept moving forward! And boy! Did I make mistakes? Loads of mistakes and huge losses! But I learnt from my mistakes and the operations kept getting smoother!
Desperation fueled a fire in me. I spent nights trying to understand everything I could find, piecing together the puzzle of Amazon success. It wasn’t easy. There were countless setbacks, like the time I fumbled through the complexities of GST and lost a chunk of our profits. But with every mistake, a new lesson emerged.
Building a Community
I understood the pain of sellers first hand. While looking for solutions to my problems, I often came across questions by other sellers who were struggling just like me. And I became an active contributor in the Amazon Seller Community. I started answering to fellow sellers queries and trying to help with what I had already figured out.
Birth of Amazing Marketer
By the year 2018, I had gained enough experience and knowledge and realized the need for authentic information out in the public.
Blatant Spread of Misinformation
By then, many people had started sharing information about Amazon openly but there was a catch! Most of it was incorrect and misleading.
So, all in all, we were back to the same scenario. Sellers were facing losses earlier also, and there were making losses even now. In fact, it was worse now! On one hand, there was incorrect information all around and on the other, Amazon was getting stricter with its policies!
From 0 to a community of 55K+ Subscribers
Witnessing the spread of misinformation among sellers, I felt compelled to share my knowledge. In 2018, I launched the Amazing Marketer YouTube channel to provide reliable information and guidance.
My motto was to reply to each and every query I came across and I did. I replied to all queries I received in comments or inbox of social handles, as well as emails. Eventually, I started replying on Quora.
It wasn’t about me anymore, it was about creating a space where every seller, regardless of experience, could thrive.
Challenges of Scaling Up
Managing the channel and replying to queries along with a hectic full time job and my own business to look after, was a big challenge. I slogged the nights!
By 2020, Amazing Marketer had grown to an extent that I couldn’t sustain it alone. I ultimately assembled a team to meet the increasing needs of sellers. And upon requests from sellers, eventually started paid services like One-on-one Consultations, Complete Amazon Seller Trainings, and Amazon Account Handling!
And finally, I quit my job to focus full-time on my business and Amazing Marketer!
My core value remains empowering sellers through education and training.
Why I love Amazon
There are many nuances of Selling on Amazon. But I still love it! I tried selling on other eCommerce platforms as well, but had a very poor experience and thus focused all my energy on Amazon.
The Benefits of Selling on Amazon
Amazon has always been a customer centric platform which has helped it grow its customer base many folds over the years. People trust Amazon, which I believe is the most important thing to be able to sell to a someone.
Here’s a glimpse of the benefits of selling on Amazon:
- Access to huge customer base
- Secure payment collection and fulfilment
- Speed of fulfilment
- Easier handling of Customer Service, and managing of returns & replacements
- Easier global expansion
Mistakes I Made while Growing my Amazon Business
When I started, there were not as many resources available and neither were there good tools for the Indian Marketplace. So, I had to figure out everything on my own. In the process, I ended up making a lot of mistakes and these are the same mistakes that most sellers are still making!
- Not optimizing the listings the right way
- Not investing in Product Photography, Videos, & Creatives for Amazon Listings
- Trying to do it all myself
- Running PPC campaigns without complete understanding and burning budgets in the process
- Not enough competitor analysis
- Trying to do it all myself
The Biggest Mistake
The biggest mistake that I made and that majority of the sellers make is not investing enough. Not investing in the right resources and tools, even when they were available!
I had become so used to relying on manual research, that for a very long time I was still skeptical about using tools. Moreover, the best of the tools were super expensive. So, at best, I relied on the free tools.
Luckily, owing to my digital marketing background, I was good at crunching numbers and doing manual research and analysis. So, I was still able to pull off my Amazon account without tools.
But had I used the tools earlier, it would have saved me a lot of time and effort and probably helped me scale even faster.
Then & Now – How Amazon Landscape has Changed
The eCommerce or Amazon landscape has evolved significantly since I began. There are some good parts and some bad! There are increased conveniences as well as growing challenges!
The Challenges
- The ever growing competition
- Increased importance of PPC campaigns for getting visibility
- Fast changing trends
- Increased Amazon commissions
The Helpful Advancements
- Easy and open access to information including policies, tips, walkthroughs & tried and tested strategies
- Huge audience owing to wider acceptance of online shopping
- Advancements in AI tools making even tasks like copywriting easier
- Extensive reports from Amazon and highly sophisticated tools to analyse those reports
- Tools with a lot more advance features
- Heavily discounted Prices on the some of the most powerful Tools!
Importance of Tools for Selling on Amazon
So why am I emphasising so much on the tools?
Because today, time has become crucial. Competition is fierce. Every day counts and every single decision matters. The tactics that worked yesterday might not work tomorrow. That’s why tools like Helium 10 are a game-changer.
- Tools help you research and analyse data in seconds and take decisions accordingly.
- It can also generate insights about your competitors that can help you do better.
- I can help you crunch your numbers easily and quickly, saving you a lot of time and also empower you with enough data to base your decisions on.
- They can even automate so many processes like re-pricing, review requests and so much more.
They take the guesswork out of research, saving precious time and resources. Imagine the freedom of knowing exactly what products to sell, how to price them, and how to optimize your listings for success.
A Word of Caution
I highly recommend using a good tool if you are serious about selling on Amazon. However, never under-estimate the power of manual research. There is no better tool than your brain.
Couple your research from the tools with manual verification and research before taking the final decisions. That will give you even more benefits!
My Favourite Tool – Helium 10
Here’s why I love Helium 10 – It covers almost everything you can think of! And it is worth the price!
Bonus: It has a great community and are themselves super active in giving out tips and strategies for growing your Amazon account! And did I mention they give great discounts?
What you can do with Helium 10?
Helium 10 is the ultimate all-in-one software solution for Amazon sellers! Here is a glimpse of what you can do with Helium 10:
- Perform extensive product research and identify profitable products
- Discover new and most effective keywords to target, track your keywords, lookup keywords of your competitors (Reverse ASIN)
- Analyse, create, and optimize listings using there new AI integrated tools!
- Streamline daily operations like management of inventory, refunds, review requests, identify fraudulent coupon stackers, and more
- Track your keyword performance, profits, as well as market share using amazing analytic tools!
- Run and manage PPC campaigns using their amazing tool – Adtomic
- And loads of other Free Tools & Chrome Extension!
Helium 10 is a great tool and being one of the oldest, it has a huge data set which makes their estimates quite realistic!
EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNT FOR INDIA, UAE & Pakistan – FLAT 60% OFF
Sometime back I had raised the concern of high exchange rate for India which makes it impractical for Indian Sellers to purchase Helium 10. Luckily, they have been kind enough to offer Flat 60% OFF on Yearly Platinum and Diamond plans!
You can avail the offer through links below:
Looking Ahead
My journey with Amazon has been a rollercoaster – filled with frustration, triumph, and a whole lot of learning. But most importantly, it’s been a journey of freedom. The freedom to build a business on my own terms, to help others achieve their dreams, and to live a life I never thought possible.
I am committed to sharing my knowledge and helping fellow sellers navigate the ever-changing world of Amazon.
Stay Updated
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