Did you ever wonder how would it be to sell on Amazon Handmade?
Or did you ever think about going beyond any store other than your favorite Etsy?
By the way, the 2 stores mentioned above are the heavyweights of the entire handmade niche.
Though there are other options such as Folksy, and Artfire too.
Also, there is always the option to have your own stand-alone Shopify store too.
Since you reading this post. Therefore, in all likelihood, you might be considering selling on Amazon handmade.
In case that is true. Then, you will love to read further.
What Is an Amazon Handmade Store?
Before I dwell into the reasons to sell on Amazon Handmade. It makes sense to know what it is.
Well, if you have been living under a rock, or under the Etsy clout. Then, you might have missed the launch of Amazon Handmade in October 2015.
As its name suggests, it is an exclusive division for handcrafted goods by artisans. With the store, Amazon aims to deliver genuine products made by artists from all over the globe.
It started off with few categories within the “made-by-hand-niche”. But today it has grown to a wide range of categories from baby products to furniture. And of course, a lot of handmade products in between too.
This post may contain affiliate links. That means if you purchase any of the products mentioned in this article through routing via the links in this post. Then, I may end up receiving a certain monetary percentage from the sale. Though the one who purchases through the link does not end up paying anything extra apart from the mentioned MRP on the product. Full disclosures on the Affiliate Page.
Know the Reasons Why Selling on Amazon Handmade Will Make You Happy
1. Amazon Handmade Fees Is on a Discount (for some time)
I am not sure if you have ever been on a Professional Selling Plan on Amazon. If you have been. Then, you would know that it costs 39.99 USD to be on that plan.
But Amazon has an exclusive offer for its approved Handmade Artisans.
To become a Handmade Seller with them. They have waived off that Professional Selling Plan charges till the end of this year. Hence, even if your sales are gung-ho with Etsy or any other platform. It still makes sense to jump into business with the biggest retailer. Moreover, their current discounted plan will not hurt you either.
Furthermore, I love their simple and upfront costing. As of now, they charge nothing to join, create a shop, and to list products. Though they deduct a 15% referral fee of any item sold. In case, that 15% amounts to less than a dollar, then they deduct 1$ instead of the regular 15%.
Don’t you find this pricing free of complications? It has no separate listing fees, transaction fee, payments processing fees, promoted listings. And perhaps any other additional charges that I might have missed out.
If you do not intend to read any further. Then, this #1 reason should suffice to do confusion free handmade business.
2. Amazon Has a Huge Customer Base
Ever heard the cliche – Size does matter?
Well, it does. The size is of prime importance when the customer base of an e-commerce platform is of concern.
If I take the information from Wikipedia for both the retailers. Then, Etsy had 39.4 million buyers in the year 2018.
Whereas, Amazon had 130 million customers in the year 2016.
I hope you understand that more customers mean more traffic. And more traffic means more the probability of making a sale.
Do I need to state anything further?
Yes, I will, since I am a sucker for data.
So, here is some more information for you.
These charts depict the Net Income for the last 5 years for both the stores. You can see the mammoth difference between the two public listed giants.
Also, I prepared these charts to show the trends in revenue and profit growth for both.
From the charts, you can see that Amazon figures are much bigger than Etsy.
The Amazon charts above do not include data from its Handmade subsidiary. But still, it is worth noting that since their site has independent Sellers in the majority. Hence, every increment in earnings is positive for every Amazon Handmade seller.
3. Outsourced Delivery Options
Did you know that Amazon Handmade shipping applies the Prime delivery option?
Yes, all the registered Amazon handmade sellers can use Amazon’s outsourced delivery.
So, to use the service, you become a part of their Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) feature. Thereby Amazon itself handles all your shipping.
Thus, your prime concern then remains to create and increase orders. While Amazon takes care of the next step of packing and shipping to your customers.
All the handmade items with Amazon’s outsourced delivery feature carry the Prime badge. Though this service is not available for custom-made products for obvious reasons.
4. Lesser Customer Care Queries
Have you ever run your own online handmade store?
If you have, then you would know how much time and efforts go into customer interactions.
Platforms that are for individual makers are in particular nasty for difficult customers.
By that I mean irate customers who have impossible demands.
When you sell on Amazon Handmade, this scenario could differ. One of the reasons is the overall trust factor for the Amazon brand name is quite high. The retail site is the biggest e-commerce giant for a reason. Hence, their sub-domain, Amazon Handmade tends to provide a similar satisfaction for buyers.
The second reason is the Prime delivery option.
With Prime, deliveries happen quick. Also, as a Seller, it no longer remains your Key Result Area (KRA). Therefore, you no longer are liable to answer the delivery related queries.
If you ever faced the wrath of dealing with a grumpy customer over shipping. Then, this reason would be enough for you to consider comparing Amazon Handmade vs Etsy.
5. Strict Joining Process
The stringent joining process maintains the quality of handmade items at Amazon.
There is an entire screening process that qualifies the individual artists. Thus, not all handmade artists get to open shops with them. This may hinder some hobby artists from selling handmade items on Amazon.
Though Amazon’s adherence to a core selection process does attract genuine buyers.
Even Martha Stewart American made Handmade products retail there as well.
Amazon audits every application to maintain its platform as an authentic craft community.
This reflects their respect for the ethos of doing handmade business.
In Conclusion
In today’s time, there is no dearth of platforms that cater to the Handmade niche. Though there is always a scope of improvement.
Amazon handmade business strives to do so with its unique approach to business. It has devised its ways to deal with the common problems that both Handmade sellers and buyers face.
Therefore, it is no wonder that the number of artists that sell on Amazon Handmade is on the rise.
Their simple pricing coupled with expedited delivery removes a lot of overwhelming. Moreover, other competitors can shy away from Amazon’s broad and huge customer base.
So, if your Handmade business plan is ready. Then, you might consider sending Amazon Handmade application a try. You never know it might lead to having a successful business of your dreams.
Do You Sell On Amazon Handmade? If Yes, Can You Share Your Experience With Us?
Image Courtesy: Pixabay
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