Amazon sees an influx of around 75,000 new products each day and boasts annual sales of over $89 billion. Working with this retail giant offers some obvious benefits to inventors, but many sellers are still missing out. Here’s how to get started selling an invention on Amazon to reach new customers and leverage the power of Amazon’s incredible networks and markets.
Benefits of Selling Your Invention on Amazon
Some inventors feel intimidated by the process of marketing and selling their goods on a large scale, but Amazon offers tons of support. The company provides infrastructure for everything from inventory tracking to credit card processing and beyond, making it easier for inventors to focus on what they do best: creating new and innovative products.
Inventors stand to make a lot of money on Amazon. Once they’ve set up their accounts, sellers can reach hundreds of millions of potential online customers with very little extra work. Amazon has a customer base that can’t be matched by any other eCommerce site.
Amazon sellers can also save time and money by taking advantage of the company’s Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) program, which handles everything from storage to packing and shipping. Using FBA allows sellers to focus on more hands-on aspects of providing customer service.
How to Get Started
The hardest part about selling inventions on Amazon is getting everything set up. Don’t get overwhelmed. Plenty of people take excellent ideas and turn them into profitable products using the Amazon’s seller platform every year. It just takes some work.
Look into Legalities
Before even setting up a seller account, inventors need to do their due diligence. They should make sure their inventions are patentable and unique. Try searching Amazon for similar products, doing some research online, and performing a patent search to get started. If the invention fits the bill as a useful and unique consumer product, apply for a patent immediately.
Research Markets
There may be a reason no one has ever created the product before. If consumers aren’t interested in buying it, even the most interesting invention is going to flop when it hits the market. Sit down and do some brainstorming regarding how the product solves a practical problem, how it stands apart from its competitors, and who would actually be interested in buying it before moving forward.
Set Up a Seller Central Account
If the product is sufficiently unique and provides a valuable service to consumers, it’s time to get serious about selling on Amazon. The first thing inventors should do, before even setting up an account, is to determine whether they should set up a Professional Seller or Individual Seller account.
As a general rule, all inventors who plan to market their own unique goods should set up Professional Seller accounts. Individual Seller accounts only allow users to sell items already found on Amazon. Here’s what information inventors will need to sign up for an account:
Create Product Listings
Since inventors are selling items that don’t yet exist on Amazon, they’ll have to create new listings for each of them. To do this, log into the Seller Central Dashboard and choose “Inventory” from the menu. This will create a pop out that says “Add a Product” and open the product listing creation page.
Inventors will be prompted to offer comprehensive information
about their new products, including categories, subcategories, a title, a description, and images. Make sure the product description contains plenty of details and engaging visuals and consider SEO optimizing the content to make it easier to find.
Take Photos
High-quality photos can dramatically improve just about any product listing. Most sellers commission professional photos, but those with adequate equipment and knowledge can also take their own photos. Just make sure to follow these technical guidelines:
Keep in mind that these are basic requirements. It’s worth the money to hire a photographer who has specialized experience with taking product images for Amazon. Professional photographs will dramatically increase sales.
Brand Protection
Amazon makes it easy for inventors and business owners to protect their brands using Brand Registry. This tool allows Amazon to use information provided by sellers to remove content that infringes on inventors’ intellectual property rights. It’s still important to patent inventions and trademark phrases or symbols that distinguish them from other products. There’s no need to apply for a copyright, as this form of intellectual property protection is automatically vested on creators once they have created their works.
Getting Reviews
Once inventors have listed their products, they can start collecting reviews. Most consumers check reviews before purchasing a product, so they’re more important than some novice sellers think. It’s important to maintain a good reputation by providing excellent customer service and encouraging satisfied customers to leave reviews describing the products as they become more popular.
Sell Your Invention on Amazon - The Bottom Line
It may seem like the hardest part of making money as an inventor would be coming up with innovative ideas and creating useful products. In reality, that’s just the beginning. Those who want to turn great ideas into tangible products as quickly as possible can benefit from signing up for an Amazon Seller account. From there they can create new product listings, market their products off site with links directly to their Amazon Stores, gather data about potential customers, reach new audiences, and start building a reputation online. It takes work, but it’s worth the effort.
If you are looking for help getting your invention launched on Amazon, look no further. Our team of experts is dedicated to utilizing Amazon to enhance and grow our clients businesses. Schedule your free consultation to learn more today.
