Amazon favors marketing privately labeled products this holiday season

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• Is Amazon FBA still worth it in 2023?

• Amazon heavily promotes its private-labeled products this holiday season 

• Items flagged as pesticides incorrectly 

• How to reduce return rates during the holidays 

BIG IDEAIs Amazon FBA still worth it in 2023?

For newer sellers, the question of whether FBA is worth it can come to mind more often than not. Well, is it? As we move on to another year, it's a good time to assess.

Here's JungleScout's take:

• Margins: Even with fee hikes, 65% of third-party sellers say their profit margins are greater than 10%, while 32% of sellers are above 20% - impressive.

• Monthly sales: Most (27%) earn around $1,001 to $5,000, while the next bracket (22%) earns under $500.

🚀 Is it too competitive?

The sales and profit are good, but isn't it too saturated with everyone flocking to FBA?

The short answer is no. Although competitive, you aren't necessarily stealing sales from one another - you're sharing a growing customer base. The key is to leverage yourself from your competitors through proper listing optimization, PPC marketing, and 5-star reviews.

🏆 So, is it worth it?

Ecommerce, particularly Amazon, isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So while everyone is shopping online, the traffic continues to prove extremely valuable. Of course, there's a lot to consider when selling on Amazon, but if on route with your business goals, you can find a lot of success on this platform.

AMAZON NEWSAmazon heavily promotes its private labeled products this holiday season

Is Amazon playing favorites with the products they're pushing out this holiday season? According to this article, they're heavily discounting Amazon-owned products and have launched promotions under "last-minute deals."

Here are some examples of the discounts they're offering:

• 10%-60% discounts on Echo devices

• 45% off on winter wear clothing (Amazon Essentials)

• Nearly 70% off on home essentials, kitchen, and electronics from some third-party brands like Shark, Nespresso, and Bose

• Deals across home, kitchen, electronics, toys, fashion, and beauty products

🚚 Speedy deliveries incoming

Aside from the aggressive marketing on discounts, these items are tagged with "Arrives before Christmas," meaning they're delivered before December 24th. This strategy is Amazon's move to encourage customers to shop right from the convenience of its platform, even as close to the holidays as we are - a difficult feat for sellers to compete with, ultimately favoring the purchases of Amazon-sold products.

Although this isn't new, retail experts agree that Amazon is offering increasingly substantial discounts this year, winning the hearts of every last-minute shopper. Other possible reasons include Amazon clearing out excess inventory and considering exiting the private label business.

BITES OF THE WEEK

• Shipping deadline: What's the last day you can order at Amazon for Christmas? - CBS News

• What’s a better buy, Amazon or Apple? - The Motley Fool

• Amazon has a problem the whole planet may not like - The Street

• Can you file a theft report on a customer if they keep your merchandise after being refunded? - Amazon Services: Seller Forums

TRENDINGItems flagged as pesticides incorrectly

A seller recently expressed frustration on Reddit as 13 of their products were flagged as pesticides when they weren't. Amazon didn't approve the listings because the manufacturer had no paperwork indicating the items were not pesticides.

The user continued about how poorly seller support handled their case, receiving only generic responses with no solutions. The seller ultimately wanted to pull $300,000 worth of stock products back.

The culprit? The terms on the listing.

As usual, fellow sellers came to the rescue. Their advice consisted of the following:

• Remove all terms relating to anti-bacterial or anti-microbial properties in the product description and A+ content.

• Edit or delete auto-generated Spanish and Hebrew-translated A+ content (Amazon does this automatically) through the A+ content manager page. Remove all translations mentioning either term.

• Amazon flagged another seller's listing for including the word "contamination." They listed the many words that get flagged when auto-translated to Spanish. Some of them include mold, mildew, fungi, resistant, hypoallergenic, virus, bacteria, microbe, germs, fungi, resistant to dust mites, etc.

Consider using different terms if you're selling a product with similar claims. You'll need to get creative when building and marketing your listings to avoid getting flagged, as frustrating as it can be.

We're playing by Amazon's rules, and what goes into listings is still pretty strict, so it's best to err on caution rather than get your listings suppressed.

ACTIONABLE ADVICEHow to reduce return rates during the holidays

Buy now, return later - A dig on Amazon's extended return period during the holiday season.

While it's effective in encouraging people to shop, backlash includes sellers dealing with increased returns and refund requests.

A good return rate is 5%-15%; the lower, the better. eComEngine shared some tips on how to reduce this:

• Publish accurate product descriptions. In many cases, returns happen out of failed expectations. To prevent this, the description should be as accurate as possible.

• Include high-quality images and videos in your listings. Demonstrating the use of the product will help customers navigate their product more easily once they receive it.

• Monitor your reviews. To please your customers, you have to understand them. Seeing what works and what doesn't provides opportunities to improve your products, thus reducing returns.

• Use proper packaging. Packaging your products well prevents them from damage while in transit.