Top Takeaways from Prosper Show 2017

Last week a few members of the Payability team were in Las Vegas at The Prosper Show where Payability was thrilled to be able to sponsor the event and show our support for the Amazon Seller community.

The Prosper Show in its second year is a must-attend for Amazon Sellers. This Amazon Seller specific conference is jam-packed with sessions by the experts, business owners and top influencers on the most important topics Amazon Sellers are facing ranging from accounting, product rankings to taxes. Each session had specific takeaways that Amazon Sellers could quickly put to use in their business.

Mobile

Mobile has grown from just a buzzword at conferences to an absolute do-or-die for ecommerce – and especially Amazon Sellers. Amazon touts a whopping 50% of all US shoppers have downloaded its mobile app. For Amazon Sellers, this means that optimizing listings for mobile shoppers is critical.

Enhanced Listings

In addition to optimizing listings for mobile shoppers, listings with more content – especially videos and lifestyle images – are performing the best. If you’re lucky enough to be a part of the Amazon Launchpad program, utilize all of the special listings

Move Fast

Don’t reinvent the wheel, learn from the successful competition and borrow from what they’re doing.

But Dedicate Time

In order to have a high performing Amazon Sponsored Products, you need to take the time – Mike Ziegler of Marketplace Clicks recommends about 30 minutes of uninterrupted time – to set up campaigns with defined audiences, keywords, ad copy, etc. Rushing through setting up an ad campaign equates to throwing that ad spend away.

3PL or Own Fulfillment Center

3PL and your own fulfillment center are converse costs as Skubana founder Chad Rubin pointed out. As your business grows, you can negotiate lower costs with 3PL which means your fulfillment costs decrease over time. Conversely, your own fulfillment center has escalating fixed costs as your business grows and you have to hire more employees, buy more equipment, etc.

Build your Own Ecommerce Store

Seems like too much work, right? That’s true, but it’s worth it when you consider the 55% of total online sales that take place on individual merchant sites. And, BigCommerce points out that branded stores generate 2x Amazon sales for sellers doing both. Sounds like a great opportunity to boost sales.

Taxes, Taxes, Taxes

We’ve all heard that taxes are a guarantee in life, but it just got real. Starting April 1, 2017 Amazon will begin collecting sales tax in ALL US states with a sales tax. No more loopholes for Amazon Sellers.

Free Returns

Offering free returns might seem scary, but when 70% of shoppers say service is more important than cost, it is a no brainer. Add some cost saving protection by setting up USPS to charge for return shipping only once it is mailed, not when the slips are printed.

Brand Protection

Brand protection especially for Private Label Sellers continues to be a hot topic as fraud risks (and attacks) increase. As fraud has increased so has the variety of protections a brand owner can take: from brand and category gating to owning matching domains and the Amazon Brand Registry, or all of the above. Check out our friend Kevin Rizer’s Private Label Podcast and his learnings from Prosper Show.

Use Your Tools

There are hundreds of companies that have created specialized tools just for Amazon Sellers. These tools can help you identify your most profitable products, optimize your Amazon listings, track inventory, and more. If you can save time, move faster, learn valuable insights, or get an edge on the competition, then it’s worth the investment in your business. Check out these other Prosper Show sponsors – Feedvisor, Skubana, Helium 10, Forecastly, Seller Labs, and World First.

Growth Investments

As your Amazon business evolves, the growth investment opportunities evolve too. Attendees were asked if they had a magic $500k, where would they invest: top answers were inventory, warehouse/facilities, employees/managers, and expanding to new products.

Speaking of growth, the Amazon Sellers we spoke with overwhelmingly said that lack of financing was the biggest impediment to growth. That’s where Payability comes in; instead of waiting 2 weeks for payment, Amazon Sellers get paid every day giving them the cash flow they need to quickly reinvest in inventory and grow their business. Contact us to get started sales@payability.com or 646-494-8675.