Sellers on Amazon reach many milestones such as their first sales, first year as an Amazon seller, and one of the proudest moments is cracking $1 million in annual Amazon sales. Many businesses may see this accomplishment as a confirmation that how they are running things is the most efficient and successful way, but this can be a trap. Continuing to go with the flow of what has gotten you to the million-dollar mark may seem correct, but it can cause your sales to plateau. If you want to continue to grow, doing the same old, same old will no longer cut it. Though, there are many roadblocks that need to be overcome to break through this sales plateau.
Common Causes
A lot of sellers sell their brand on Amazon, but they don't do it alone. They partner with several groups that could all be working on different aspects of their Amazon business. They can have one group that provides creative services, another that handles their advertising, others who take care of copywriting work, and some who handle the logistics of inventory. This may not be the case when they start, but as they grow they realize they need extra help in certain areas and hire these partners. Many issues can result from going with this strategy.
Efficiency
Having multiple different partners doing different things means that communication can become confusing. Information is relayed to these different groups by the seller but can be understood differently. Each partner is not in communication with the others. It can create delays, miscommunications, and constant reiteration of messages back and forth. All of this creates major delays and may not get you the quality of work you may have been looking for. Trying to improve the inefficiencies in these processes will be difficult to nearly impossible as all of these groups are not one contained unit working together. If advertisers don't have a clear idea of the stock of current items, as that is being taken care of by another group, Amazon advertising is harmed by products that end up out-of-stock. If all of these groups are connected and in constant communication better synchronization can be reached and business will become more efficient.
Eventually, all of this slow-down, inefficiency and mixed messages will start to take their toll on costs. You may have seen hiring different groups as a more cost-effective strategy when you were just starting out and trying to grow as a business. Though, as you reach these milestones and your sales stagnate and growth stops, the cost of these multiple partners outweighs the cost of a single partner. A single partner aiding your brand will eliminate communication problems, run things faster, and create strategies and processes that will accelerate growth. We've run into a lot of brands who ended up partnering with us at Avalanche that have gained growth and avoided the headache of trying to manage too many facets of their Amazon sales. Partnering with a single entity will most definitely become more profitable for sellers and brands as they grow on the platform.
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