What's Better? Selling on Amazon Vs. Your Own Website
Selling goods online can drive business by getting your products into the hands of many more customers. Once you’ve decided to sell online you have two major routes you can take: selling online through your own e-commerce website or selling through Amazon. Which direction is best? Avoid making a wrong turn – carefully weigh the benefits and disadvantages of each before making this critical decision.
Driving Sales on Amazon
There are three main benefits of selling on Amazon:
- Reach: Amazon consistently makes 40% of e-commerce sales, or about 7% of total retail sales. Amazon has a bit less of the Canadian market, but it is still the major seller, significantly outpacing major competitors. This huge reach can get your product in front of more eyes. This is especially true considering Amazon’s paid Google ads. Amazon promotes many products through Google - although there’s no guarantee they will promote yours.
- Set-up: It’s a little simpler to set up selling through Amazon than your own website. The digital storefront is already there. That said, you will have to pay fees in order to sell through Amazon.
- Buyers: Amazon’s website attracts people who are ready to buy products. They are typically quite far down the sales funnel. So, those people who look at your products are ready to buy.
Unsure of where to sell your products? Our team at WEB ROI can help you figure out what’s best for your store to reach your customers based in Toronto, London, Burlington and more. Give us a call today!
Driving Sales Through Your Own Website
With all those advantages, why should you consider selling on your own website? Well, Amazon can give you an early boost to your race, but the benefits may wear off quickly and leave you eating your competitor’s dust in the long run. Many of the benefits mentioned above come with disadvantages, that make it more lucrative to sell on your own website:
- Branding: When you sell through Amazon, customers are unlikely to develop any connection with your brand at all. This prevents them from referring you to friends and it undermines their long-term loyalty to your brand. It is harder to sell them a second product. But, on your own website, your branding can be clear and powerful, and there are lots more opportunities to develop customer loyalty and engage with customers down the road.
- Control: You don’t control Amazon’s layout and can’t make design changes that may appeal to your customer. You also don’t control response to customer disputes and complaints. When issues are handled well, the customer will thank Amazon, and you’ll miss out on making a better connection with those customers. When they are dealing with you directly, they’ll get a better impression of you and you can control the customer service, ensuring you deliver an outstanding experience.
- Competition: On Amazon, your customer is immediately exposed to all of your competitors. On your own website, they are only considering and comparing your products, which makes it more likely they will complete a sale and ultimately, improves customer retention rates. On the other hand, on Amazon, competitors can easily undercut you on price.
Keep your business goals in mind when considering these benefits and ask yourself which roadmap will provide a long-term strategy to get you past the finish line and drive recurring success. While the prospect of selling on Amazon may seem simpler than building your own e-commerce site, most businesses are better served by selling through their own website in the long term. The good news is that the process doesn’t have to be complicated with the right partner by your side. Set up your e-commerce store with WEB ROI and get the support, guidance, and results you need to win the e-commerce race. You can also download our free eBook on e-commerce.
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