While sitting in Borders bookstore downtown Indianapolis drinking a coffee a guy sitting beside me said, “I still can’t believe this store is closing. Can you believe it?” “No, “I replied. “I still can’t believe Borders has filed bankruptcy. I guess they just couldn’t keep up in this digital age.”
With the ease of online shopping, and the introduction of e-readers, coupled with retailers promising to deliver any book, anytime, anywhere, at cheaper pricing, consumers are abandoning traditional bookstores, like Borders.
So, this made me stop to think. As small business owners, we need to be constantly evolving or we will be left behind just like Borders. What a lesson we don’t want to learn the hard way. We need to recognize what the current and hottest market trends so we are not left in the dust. A great example of a company who hasn’t been left behind is Amazon.
When Amazon started in 1995 as an online bookstore selling hardcover and paperback books, I but they never thought that they would be the largest online retailer in the US. Amazon has continued to grow by expanding its products. With products that crosses dozens of categories Amazon continues to grow. Yet many people think that Amazon only sells books. Amazon continues to be on top in their market because they continue to expand and diversify their offerings.
Many lessons can be learned from Amazon through leveraging its power to grow our business:
Lesson 1: Add More Products To Your Business
With Amazon, there are numerous ways to list the same product for sale. For instance, if you have a book, you can list the book as a physical product, in digital form or even record it and offer it as an audio book. By changing the format of your product and then re-packaging it, you can sell your products to tons of buyers who are looking to buy every day. And the great thing about this, the buyer in one click can purchase your products since Amazon stores credit card information in a user’s account. It literally is a one click buy.
Can you just imagine in 2007 when Amazon announced its state-of-the-art wireless reading device, Kindle, and began selling Kindle books, that consumers today would be buying more Kindle books then all printed books – hardcover and paperback – combined. With over 950,000 eBooks, newspapers, magazines and blogs listed, buyers line up in Amazon’s Kindle Store to buy products that can be read on Kindle e-readers, computer and mobile devices. It is clear that digital books are here to stay!
In addition, Amazon makes it simple for you. With Kindle Digital Publishing, you are able to self-publish an eBook quickly by converting and uploading it from a variety of preferred formats. However, you must own all publishing rights to any content you upload for sale in the Kindle Store. Kindle Digital Publishing pays you a royalty based upon two selected options for every title that you make.
Another benefit to listing one or more of your products with Amazon is that the listing of your products will also rank higher in the search engines based upon the key words in the name of your product. Amazon leads in its page rank and credibility with Google and other search engines, so your product page will get ranked quickly and often times will be ranked higher than your own web site!
By ranking in the top searches in Google and other search engines, your product will be exposed to more people. This means more potential sales. So, strategically placing key phrases in your product title helps you get ranked higher for those key words in Google and the other search engines.
So, if you aren’t listing your products in Amazon in a number of different formats, you are missing out!
Lesson 2: Fulfillment of Products: Dependable & Quick
Amazon provides fast and reliable product order fulfillment. They allow merchants to access their global fulfillment capabilities which enables Amazon to fulfill orders for you. Amazon also allows you, as a business owner, to store inventory in their fulfillment center, in the event you don’t want to store it yourself or simply don’t have the resources. Amazon will then fulfill your orders promptly. This service is fast and reliable.
When a customer places an order with Amazon, Amazon will package and ship the products to your buyer. Amazon makes it easy for a customer to combine products receive its Super Saver Shipping rates. So, this is a great opportunity for a customer to buy your product and combine it with other Amazon products. Amazon also provides customer service and returns support so you don’t have to. This is a great opportunity for small businesses to increase sales through leveraging Amazon’s fulfillment centers.
Lesson 3: Online Web Presence: Your Business Face To The World
Amazon has a company, Amazon Services, that provides users with a fast way to create and maintain a web store. You can create an online business through its self-service process to launch and market your products across numerous channels in the global market.
And, the awesome part is that Amazon has built-in optimization for search engines and feeds your items to search and comparison engines. Customer can then with ease locate and buy your products. This is a very good resource for small business owners to utilize Amazon’s business presence. You can begin selling your products immediately without any costs for hardware and software, since Amazon’s web store technology is hosted in the cloud.
In conclusion, as a small business, you can capture big business benefits with Amazon and its services. Are you ready reach millions of buyers by simply re-packaging your products and selling them in different channels? For additional details on how to market and sell your product in different channels, then simply click below.
To learn more about business growth and starting a business, download my free 47 page “Business Thrival Blueprint“. BusinessThrival.com is a site dedicated to helping business owners achieve a thriving business and life.