213: Researching How Your Product Fits on Amazon

With Lesley Hensell, Co-Founder of Riverbend Consulting & Author

Hosted by Kevin Mako, President of MAKO Design + Invent

Lesley Hensell, renowned for her 14 years of experience in Amazon sales, is the mastermind behind the revolutionary book, “The Amazon Incubator.” Lesley also serves as Co-Founder at Riverbend Consulting, where she has directly assisted numerous Amazon sellers that achieve annual revenue ranging from $500,000 to $500 million by solving pressing issues, optimizing workflows, and maximizing business growth. In this episode, Lesley shares the extensive insight she has amassed into the intricacies of Amazon’s sales platform and how to improve your chances of sales success as an inventor, startup, or small manufacturer. She delves into the benefits of leveraging Amazon as a product startup, provides strategies for conducting effective keyword and competitor research, and outlines best practices for overseeing a product launch to ensure enduring success as an Amazon seller.

Here are the key takeaways from the episode:

• The utility of Amazon for new hardware startups.
• Two-thirds of the products sold on Amazon are sold by 3rd party resellers, while the remaining third are Amazon direct purchases.
• There are 150 million Prime members just in the US alone.
• Surprisingly, Amazon has surpassed Google for product research!
• Almost anything can be sold on Amazon.
• The first questions to consider as a hardware startup are; Is your product suited for Amazon, and is there a niche for your product on Amazon?
• Find your product description keywords! Build out long-tail keywords by writing out the direct definition and primary descriptors of your product.
• Helium10 and JungleScout are excellent software packages that you can use to conduct keyword research for the Amazon marketplace.
• In addition to researching how your product fits on Amazon, research the competition extensively.
• The keywords that you use to research your product should dictate how you build your actual listing page, as well as your pay-per-click advertising.
• Brand registry on Amazon is important for brand protection!
• After your listing is live, strive to achieve the BSR (best seller rating).
• A great listing page includes a ton of product details, professional-looking photos, and lifestyle images or videos of your product being used.
• Have a comprehensive plan prepared prior to your product’s launch, including your advertising strategies and materials.
• Can your product be fulfilled better with Amazon or with a 3PL 3rd party shipper?

Lesley Hensell Links:

LinkedIn | Riverbend Consulting | The Amazon Incubator

The Product Startup Podcast Links:

www.ProductStartup.com

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MAKO Design + Invent Links:

www.makodesign.com

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Kevin Mako Links:

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Producer: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to the above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories.