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Amazon v going alone with Shopify

Paul David

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I'm currently about to launch a new physical products brand and i'm unsure about which route to go down to market them on.

I have identified two main (successful) competitors for my products. One sells on Amazon and via their own shopify website for around $20.00.

The other competitor sells only via their website for $50+ and uses facebook and instragram to generate sales (they have over 700,000 facebook fans). Offers Free worldwide shipping and returns. I think for the product type $50+ is expensive but then i also wouldn't buy a pair of Vilbrequin swim shorts for $200.00 yet people do.

The other sellers on Amazon are all around $24.00 and below price bracket.

For obvious reasons i don't want to have a brand that's reliant on Amazon but there's a lot of customers i'm missing out on if i don't use it. On the other hand i can't have a product on Amazon for $20.00 and sell it on my own website for double the price can i. And i can't put my products on Amazon at double the price as everyone else is selling them for because they just wouldn't sell.

If i sell via my own shopify site only i wouldn't need as much stock as for Amazon as i'd be making more profit per sale.

Can anyone offer any advice.....
 
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Andy Bell

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Im not an expert but I have done both with success. With amazon my biggest issue was hundreds of Chinese suppliers that will undercut your product down to the penny, copy your photos, send you fake reviews...its really cutthroat there now, nothing like it was years back. I tried doing a new product recently and got my investment back but had to go through hell, my supplier even started selling after seeing me having some success.

With shopify you have your own issues and you can sell for whatever but you need to have a good value proposition and have a good traffic campaign/remarketing campaign targetted to your visitors then you can succeed aswell.

Let me ask why dont you do both, shopify integrates with amazon aswell to let you sell your product, you can market it as the premium option and build your brand, even if your competitiors are undercutting you on price you may get a few sales just by integrating the shopify app. Ebay is another integration.
 

Xeon

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Or you can consider Etsy depending on your products.

Depending on how you want to position your brand in your target market's mind or how unique/cool your brand is, Amazon may not always be the answer to everything.

The feel that Amazon gives me is that it's an online version of Walmart, an online departmental store where people look for cheap bargains and sales. It kinda forces the shoppers there to shop based on price. Like a market where people are haggling prices.

If I have a product that is extremely hip and cool and associated with edginess, the last thing I want is for it to be associated with Amazon.
 

Paul David

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Thanks for the replies. Funnily enough my competitor who sells only via their website has a retargeting advert in between the replies to my post!

I've had some responses elsewhere saying i should both and offer lower price on Amazon and higher on website but i think having a $20-25 sale price on Amazon compared to $45-50 on my website will damage the brand. You don't see Ralph Lauren selling cheap polo shirts on Amazon and then more expensive via their shops or website.

Plus i don't think it would be long before word got around that amazon was the cheapest and people would go there.
 
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Lambo-Hunter

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Thanks for the replies. Funnily enough my competitor who sells only via their website has a retargeting advert in between the replies to my post!

I've had some responses elsewhere saying i should both and offer lower price on Amazon and higher on website but i think having a $20-25 sale price on Amazon compared to $45-50 on my website will damage the brand. You don't see Ralph Lauren selling cheap polo shirts on Amazon and then more expensive via their shops or website.

Plus i don't think it would be long before word got around that amazon was the cheapest and people would go there.

Your price shouldn't be what makes your product unique so if you have to lower it to compete with the others then you got a product problem.
 

Walter Hay

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Amazon is a race to the bottom.

Go for shopify.
If Amazon is a race to the bottom, it usually means that the seller chose a product with the help of a system such as JungleScout, and is selling something ordinary, with an ordinary listing, among the crowd that found the same hot product.

There are ways to avoid competition, or at least to minimize it.

  1. One that has been proven to work is true private labeling, not the "slap on a sticker" variety, which is only a token gesture that just makes it possible for buyers to know that you are vendor John Smith, and not John Jones. What a great USP:thumbsdown:
  2. Another way is to find something unique that has not been imported and sold on Amazon before. You are not likely to find such a product by joining the crowd sourcing through Alibaba.
  3. A third way is to produce something new, or at least improve on something that exists but has deficiencies.
  4. An even better 4th way is to combine 1 and 2, or 1 and 3.
Walter
 
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Last edited:

Paul David

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Price them both at $45-$50 on Amazon and your website.

Actually, price them at $45-$50 on Amazon and $40-$45 on your website.

Thanks for the advice Kenric. I think the most I’ve seen someone selling this item for on amazon is $24.99. And although a lot of these listings have good reviews my product is higher quality, I just need to convey that in the listing I suppose.

And if i list at nearly double price of competition I can knock them out the park ppc wise.

Even 200 sales a month on amazon at $20.00 profit is an extra $4000 income.



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