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A year ago, Amazon launched Amazon Exclusives, a platform for unique products offered exclusively on the Amazon platform.
For small businesses selling products online, the platform offers an opportunity to reach a huge network of shoppers and even get help from Amazon’s marketing team. But the prospect of selling only on one platform, especially for new businesses, can seem like a risk.
However, Christine Boerner, owner of Cielo Pill Holders, thinks it’s totally worth it. Boerner started selling her pill holders on Amazon a few years ago. And she signed on with Amazon Exclusives shortly after it launched.
The Benefits of Amazon Exclusives
She said in a phone interview with Small Business Trends, “If you’re considering it, I would recommend that you absolutely do it — zero hesitation. Amazon is a huge global leader on ecommerce and they’re offering you the chance to have their experts get behind your business and help it grow.”
According to Boerner, the biggest benefit she’s seen for her business is the increased visibility. Amazon has promoted the shop on its Exclusives landing page, mobile app and in holiday promotions.
In addition, being an exclusive seller lets you add more details to your product listings. And it prevents other people from selling your products on Amazon. So if you’re having a sale, you don’t have to worry about people stocking up on your products for cheap and then undercutting your regular prices.
In addition, all products on Amazon Exclusives are fulfilled by Amazon. So that can make life easier for sellers and also make products more appealing to customers, since they’ll be eligible for free shipping for Prime members. Other than that, the process is very similar to selling on regular Amazon.
The biggest issue with the platform, which might deter some small businesses from signing up, is that you have to sell with Amazon exclusively, though you can still have a main website or physical business location. But if you’ve already found success selling on other ecommerce platforms, or think your products might be a good fit for another platform, Amazon Exclusives might not be for you.
Still, if you have a business that offers something unique and you want to get products in front of people where they’re already shopping, your business could certainly benefit. In fact, that’s why Boerner got involved with Amazon in the first place.
She explains, “A major benefit of my products is that it makes it easy for people to take their medicine. But then I thought about people buying them, and I was basically asking them to buy out of their normal routine. So instead I thought I should make it easier for them and just meet them where they already are. So Amazon was kind of a no brainer.”
Of course, sellers who don’t want to take on the commitment involved with becoming an exclusive seller can still use the main Amazon platform. But according to Boerner, businesses with unique products or a story to tell should strongly consider using Amazon Exclusives.
She says, “When you’re selling on Amazon all you have is a picture of your product and a couple of bullet points to let customers know all about you and what you have to offer. That’s fine if you’re selling toilet paper and everyone knows what it is. But my product is made in the U.S.A. and I donate to autoimmune disease research charities and I charge four times more than what you’d pay for a really cheap pill holder. So I need to be able to help people understand why it’s worth it to pay more.”
To get started, Boerner said that she had to do some basic paperwork to agree to the financial terms. But most of the work involved coming up with expanded product listings to really help her products appeal to buyers on the platform.
Though it’s only been about a year, she maintains that joining Amazon Exclusives has been a huge, “life-changing” thing for her business. So if you’re an online seller and you have a unique product to offer, Amazon Exclusives could be worth a second look. If you’re interested in selling, you can apply to become an exclusive seller on Amazon’s website.
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