Selling on Amazon? Here are 7 Ways to Pay for Your Next PPC Ad Campaign
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Expand Your Entrepreneurial Skill Set, AND Make More Money, Without Leaving the Amazon Ecosystem!
Over the last three years, the number of entrepreneurs ONLY targeting Amazon third-party sales as their business model has dropped 10%. According to Statista, since 2019, the percentage of Amazon sellers focusing exclusively on third-party sales has gone from 22% all the way down to 12%.
Over the same time period, the number of Amazon sellers acting as first-party sellers has jumped 10 percentage points. Sure Amazon FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) remains the most popular business model for online sellers. It’s just that good. But, there are other, mostly unexplored ways to make money on Amazon.
By building an e-commerce safety net, Amazon sellers are more likely to be able to weather the marketplace fluctuations and world-wide disruptions that have increasingly become a part of everyday life.
The nice thing is that you don’t need to travel far from Amazon’s marketplace to find alternatives and safeguard yourself from the ups and downs that come with selling online.
It got me thinking about the many interesting new ways to expand your entrepreneurial skill set, and make more money, without leaving Amazon’s ever-growing marketplace!
So, without further delay, here’s a list of seven great ways to make money ON Amazon as we approach 2023.
1. Subscription Boxes
In the last few years, subscription boxes have exploded in popularity. Subscription boxes originated as a way to package and sell curated compilations of products on a recurring, periodic basis. In 2021 subscription boxes were a $22.7 billion business. By 2027, they are expected to hit $65 billion.
As usual, Amazon has been paying attention. Amazon Subscription Boxes enable qualified sellers to list, sell, and manage their subscription box products on Amazon.com.
This is a perfect way to engage new customers,
Because you’re able to list and manage all of your Amazon business from a single Professional seller account, the likelihood is high that in addition to increased sales from the subscription boxes, you’ll be able to drive additional revenue through individual item sales.
Amazon says that, “Amazon Subscription Box sellers must be able to offer a fully-assembled curated subscription box with the ability to support free shipping directly to customers in all 50 states, Guam and Puerto Rico. Sellers must also have an active Professional seller account on Amazon.com in order to start selling, although it is not required to apply to the program.”
With recent successes such as Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh, and Birchbox, it’s clear that this invite-only program is worth jumping through a few hoops to make it happen!
2. Retail Arbitrage
Arbitrage is a business model that involves taking advantage of a price difference between two or more markets, then reselling the products for a profit. Amazon retail arbitrage is the process of buying discounted products through retailers and then selling them on Amazon.
There’s also online arbitrage which duplicates that same model but online. Many successful Amazon sellers began their business that way then pivoted to FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon).
Because there’s very little business infrastructure involved, it’s a quick way to scale up quickly. No overseas shipping challenges and limited storage requirements means that more of your money can be spent on inventory and building your business.
It does require a good instinct for trends, software to identify low-hanging product opportunities, and unless you’re finding your deals on eBay, a car to get you around to the local Target, Walmart, or BestBuy.
3. Sell Handmade Goods
Amazon has declared that they want to become a trusted destination for handcrafted goods. At this point in time they’re already helping artisans from over 80 countries sell their crafts on Amazon.
They must mean it. Amazon is waiving the Professional Selling fee of $39.99 per month for all Handmade-approved applicants, a savings of $480 per year.
Along with that savings:
Sounds like the door is wide open for this one.
4. Merch by Amazon
Do you have an artistic streak? Maybe it’s time to become a Merch on Demand content creator. With Amazon Merch on Demand, you can create graphic tees, accessories, and more, all printed on demand. Amazon handles your printing and shipping, and only prints the products once a sale has been made.
Here’s the amazing part, there are ZERO upfront costs!
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All you need to do is upload your artwork, choose a product type and color, and add a product description. Amazon will create a product page on Amazon and when customers buy your product, they’ll handle production, shipping, and customer service.
What’s not to like?
5. Kindle Direct Publishing
Do you like the idea of seeing your name in print? If so, this is a very good time to write that book you’ve always wanted to. A short book of poetry, teaching someone to sell on Amazon, or explaining the best way to start a fire are all ideal topics for an online publication.
And, of course, Amazon has thrown their hat in the ring.
Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) allows you to self-publish eBooks, paperbacks, and hardcover books for free. It also gives you the option to expand your book’s availability on a global scale. That makes it more accessible for readers around the world. With Amazon KDP, you have full publishing rights to your book, which is not something a traditional publishing house typically allows.
Amazon KDP allows authors to quickly and easily publish their books through Amazon. But that’s just half of it. It also makes it possible for the authors or those books to sell them on Amazon’s massive platform as well.
Is writing (and publishing) a book on your bucket list? Amazon’s KDP makes the process quick and easy. This isn’t just for large, sophisticated publishing houses, it’s perfect for beginners as well.
6. Become an Amazon Influencer
There’s no denying that influencer marketing has become a very lucrative platform. In just five years it grew from $1.7 billion in 2016 to $13.8 billion in 2021. This year, influencer marketing is projected to expand to become a $16.4 billion industry.
The rapid growth of influencer marketing has been directly linked to the rising popularity of short-format video on platforms such as TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
While big brands were the first to get on the influencer trend, there has been a proliferation of smaller, niche-influencers for brands with a more modest footprint.
A recent study by Lego showed that one-third of 8-12 year-olds aspire to become influencers. Why let the kids have all the fun (and make all the money)?
The next step might involve taking a closer look at the Amazon Influencer Program. Amazon says that they “give you the tools you need to select the best of Amazon’s products and services, easily recommend them to your followers, and earn commissions on qualifying purchases.”
By taking advantage of Amazon’s Influencer Program, you’re able to create your own personalized page on Amazon where you can publish livestreams, shoppable photos, and videos.
If you have a social media following, maybe now’s the time to monetize it!
7. Dropshipping
Dropshipping is a business model and order fulfillment method in which a seller purchases inventory (on an as-needed basis) from a third party to fulfill orders. That usually means a wholesaler or manufacturer. The dropshipper doesn’t need to warehouse any of the inventory they sell.
You can run your dropshipping business from anywhere with an internet connection. All you have to do is make sure to align with your suppliers and follow up with customers.
With dropshipping, you can forget about all the traditional Amazon sellers’ worries of sourcing stock or hiring employees to help fulfill those orders. Additionally, with dropshipping, you don’t need to worry about:
One of the most exciting aspects of dropshipping is that it lends itself to running tests to see what might sell. Because your “inventory” is already on the shelves of third parties, the cost involved to experiment with different Amazon product ideas is minimal.
Last Thoughts
For entrepreneurs, the last 24 months have been full of challenges. Between the supply chain disruptions and Amazon’s constantly evolving inventory storage limits, it’s been a wild ride.
At the same time selling on Amazon has increasingly become a “pay-to-play” marketplace. If you want eyes on your products, you need to spend ad dollars to reach your ideal customers.
That’s why it might be a good idea to take a closer look at one (or more) of these seven eCommerce strategies. It just might give you an influx of money that you can use to level up your Amazon PPC spend. That’s often the one thing that allows sellers to take the next step with their online business.
If you’d like to find out how to supercharge your own Amazon PPC advertising strategy, you can reach out to the pros at CANOPY Management, the fastest growing Amazon and eCommerce agency in the world.