So, let’s cover why you should start working on your DTC.
First things first, Amazon is a great way to reach many, many customers but relying only on the sales that are coming from Amazon can be quite risky, and it can also eat into your margins.
Let’s talk about some of the main issues sellers have.
- Issue number one is that you do not have direct communication with your end customers. You can only use reviews and that is just not enough. It’s not bidirectional, you can not pass a message directly to your customers or ask them any questions.
- The second thing is you’re at risk of getting your store canceled if anything goes wrong. You’re just not owning the channel that you sell on.
- The third thing is that your brand is not visible. You’re selling on Amazon people are buying on Amazon, nobody’s using your brand. Nobody’s searching for your brand solely on Amazon, you need to build that, you need to invest in that outside of the Amazon ecosystem and then you might show up on Amazon as a brand as well.
So these are the three main issues. If you consider any of them meaningful enough, you should be starting your own DTC channel.
Talking further about the Amazon track the most troubling issue with that is they actually own the data. You cannot access that data, you cannot extract any knowledge or any learnings from that data and that cripples a lot of business decisions.
The second thing is the cost structure you pay while selling on Amazon. And that is one of the topics you often hear when talking to other amazon sellers or in the groups.
They take a percentage out of every sale. And course, they have a right to do that, but those charges are not small and they impact your bottom line quite a bit. At the same time the pricing can change at any point in time.
Another thing that a lot of Amazon sellers talk about is the algorithm of showing and listing the products on Amazon literally one slight algorithm change or a competitor undercuts you and you lose your rankings. And you lose your sales almost overnight you’re also always on a risk of suspension if you do something that is not in line with Amazon policies or if there’s a human error. If your whole stock is on Amazon if you are using FBA you basically have everything in their control.
Now talking about building your own store.
This gives you control.
This gives you access to your customer.
And this gives you data to work with.
You’re getting higher profit margins because you’re not paying Amazon.
You have the chance to nurture loyalty and communication with your end customers.
And you can build a brand that people know and trust. So having your own sales channel and building your brand is a must in the modern day.
Even having a simple website is good first step if you aren’t ready for a full shop.
Building your own online site can tell your story outside Amazon and increse the trustability. And it could also lead more traffic to your Amazon listing and increase ranking as a secondary effect.
So let’s get you started.
Let’s build a brand, and not just a listing.
