I decided to start
exporting to Amazon was creating an account,
the first thing I noticed was...
I wonder what this is... which one should I do?
Isn't this one of the questions you come across?
Small-lot listing , large-lot listing ,
just hearing the words doesn't really make sense.
When starting an Amazon export business,
I would like to explain in
an easy-to-understand way
each listing format,
including the advantages and disadvantages such as which one should beginners choose
1.What are large-lot listings and small-lot listings?
First, I will explain what large-lot listings and small-lot listings are.
Large-lot listings and small-lot listings
are the store formats used when opening an Amazon store .
When you start selling on Amazon,
you must choose one plan or the other.
(Of course, you can change it during the process.)
If you're still not sure,
try imagining your mobile phone rate plan.
Depending on how you use your mobile phone plan,
you might get better deals, or
you might end up losing money because you don't actually use it that much...
Strictly speaking, this is not the case,
but if you imagine it that way,
I think it will be easier to understand from now on.
2.What is the difference between large and small listings?
・Large Listing
/Small ListingIf
you imagine just the words
if you are handling a large number of products, you
should choose large listings, and if you are expanding on a small scale, you should choose small listings
, but this is not always the case. .
Let's take a closer look at how much the costs differ,
2-1. Regarding fee structure, the larger the sale, the better the deal.
First, regarding the monthly usage fee,
large-scale listings are $39.99 per month,
and small-sized listings
are free of charge
There is no monthly fee for retail listings, but
there is a closing fee of $0.99 for each item sold
On the other hand, large-scale listings do not require closing fees , so
no matter how many sales you make, you will not be charged more than the monthly fee ($39.99).
39.99 ÷ 0.99 = 40.303…
A simple calculation
that if you sell 41 or more items , already more profitable to sell in large quantities .
3. Benefits you can receive from large-scale listings
Furthermore, large-scale listings
come with many
convenient and attractive services
that are not available in small-scale listings, such as the monthly fees involved
Let's take a look at the services available for large-scale listings.
3-1. New listings now available
A new listing is
a new listing of a product that is not currently listed on Amazon .
In other words, in small-lot listings,
you are only allowed to list items in conjunction with items that already exist
3-2.Expansion of listing categories
For
retail listings listings in some categories are restricted.
●Watches
●Health & Beauty
●Apparel/Shoes/Bags
●
Cosmetics ●Jewelry
●Food & Drinks
●Pet Supplies
In the case of large-scale listings
for these seven categories you can handle them by submitting a listing application.
●Health & Beauty
●Cosmetics
have many top-selling products,
so having these categories restricted would be a major negative factor
3-3. Main cart acquisition rate increased
Amazon has something called
the main cart When multiple sellers are listing the same product,
the seller displayed on the product page is called the main cart.
In the image below, shop b (official name withheld) is the main cart.
Didn't you think that somehow the cheapest seller was
Of course, the product price is also a factor, but
it seems to be determined by a variety of factors
, including seller ratings, listing format, shipping method, and point allocation Large-lot sales are said to be one of them.
(*The mechanism for acquiring the main cart is not disclosed by Amazon, so this is a rule of thumb.)
Once the product is displayed in the main cart,
the sales of the product are different.
In order to obtain the main cart,
large-scale listings are one of the essential elements.
3-5. Shipping charges can be set
It is surprisingly little known, but
shipping charges cannot be set for small-lot listings.
Shipping charges are predetermined for each category and
cannot be changed.
If you set free shipping,
it will look better and your products will sell better, but
please be careful as you cannot change the shipping charges for small-lot listings.
3-6. Bulk listing is now possible
It's great when you're just starting out, but
as the number of products you handle increases
it becomes extremely tedious to list each item manually
With bulk listing,
you can list multiple products
by simply filling out the required information in a CSV file and
Listing items manually
not only troublesome, but
also a waste of time, so
I think you will almost always use the bulk listing feature.
This is also a feature that is only allowed for large-scale listings.
3-7. Order management report can be used
With major listings,
you can publish business reports
which are extremely important in understanding buyer trends
For each product,
you can extract detailed data such as
the number of sales and purchase rate
The number of accesses and purchase rate are particularly important.
It's a useful tool when you
've listed a lot of products but
sales aren't increasing at all.You yourself if you're getting access to the site in the first place, and
if you're getting access,
you can just adjust the price and see if it's inevitable. It will also contribute to sales.
If you are not getting any number of accesses, you
may need to review the product title, images, etc., and
you will also know that the product in question may not be suitable for non-stock sales in the first place.
You need to improve your product research.
As you can see, when you look back on your listing status,
the fact that you cannot use
the order management report, which can be reflected in product research is a big negative factor for small-lot listings. Is it?
3-8.Getting the MWS key
There is no usage fee to obtain an MWS key, but
the condition is that you must be a major seller.
First of all, the term MWS key may not be very familiar to your ears.
First of all, what exactly is MWS?
What is MWS?
Amazon's official explanation is easy to understand, so
I will refer to it below.
Amazon Marketplace Web Services (MWS) is a unified web services API that helps Amazon sellers programmatically exchange data about listings, orders, payments, reports, and more. Data integration with Amazon enables a high level of sales automation to help sellers grow their business. By using Amazon MWS, sellers can expect to improve sales efficiency, reduce operating costs, and improve customer service.
Utility of MWS keys
In terms of specific things you can do
in your sales business using external tools other than Amazon's official ones
, revise prices, create reports, conduct product research, and
make your sales business run more smoothly. You will be able to use convenient functions for
Only professional sellers will be given
the keys necessary to use their MWS The magnitude of the benefits goes without saying.
Product management tools are indispensable as your sales scale grows
4.In the end, which one should beginners choose?
We've spent a lot of time looking
at the differences between large and small listings 
but which one should you choose?
We have seen all the benefits of bulk listings, but
is it really okay to sell bulk items?
Let's think about which one to choose.
4-1.Recommended for bulk sales
Whether you're starting as a side job or
serious about selling your business, recommend large-scale listings .
Improving the acquisition rate of the main cart greatly contributes to sales.
It is difficult to sell items through small-lot listings.
You may be hesitant to
suddenly pay $39.99 per month, if you sell 41 or more items, you will get your money's worth just from the fees.
Let's divide it into necessary expenses.
So, when should you sell in small quantities?
4-2.In the case of small-scale sales, small-lot listings are possible, but...
Even so, I think there are some people who are hesitant about making a large sale.
I want to get rid of unnecessary items at home at a high price,
I don't know if the sales business will continue as a side job, so I want to wait and see.
If that's the case, I don't mind small-lot sales.
However,
for a while, I will sell about 30 items a month
to grow the reputation of my account.
For those who think so,
the reality is not so easy.
As I have said many times,
there is a big difference in sales between large and small listings.
I have seen many people quit their jobs due to not only not being able to sell their small items as expected,
not only not being able to earn a reputation, but also
not being able to maintain their motivation
thinking
of getting serious about exporting to Amazon,
we highly recommend registering as a bulk seller.
5.About the 3-month free campaign for large-scale listings
This is a little off topic, but
Amazon
has been running a three-month free campaign for major sellers
However, that campaign ended in October 2017.
, we ran a 10 yen campaign for the first month
from July 2018 to December 2018 that seems to have ended without success.
As of April 2019, there doesn't seem to be anything in particular going on, so
you have no choice but to apply at the regular price.
we will update here as soon as campaign information is announced
6.Summary of the differences between small-lot listings and large-lot listings
Advantages of large-scale listings include
- Free closing fees
- New listings
- Expansion of categories that can be listed
- Increased main cart acquisition rate
- Shipping settings
- Bulk listings from a csv file
- Order management report
- MWS key can be obtained (external tool) available)
Disadvantages of large-scale listings include:
・$39.99 per month
The advantages of small-lot listing are:
・It is advantageous if the monthly sales are 40 items or less.
Disadvantages of small-lot listings include:
You cannot use various functions that are available for large-lot listings.
Unless you only
sell a very small number of items per month and I think it's best to choose large-scale listings.
