Serene Quek from Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer and a prominent cloud services provider. Serene has been with Amazon Global Selling Southeast Asia for over 3 years with ample experience in assisting Amazon sellers in growing their cross border ecommerce opportunities. By the end of this session, you’ll know how to sell on Amazon and uncover the common myths in cross border e-commerce.
WHAT IS AMAZON GLOBAL SELLING?
Did you know that Amazon has a vast selection, a significant portion of which is offered by third-party sellers – companies who leverage Amazon’s global marketplaces to offer products for sale? In fact, more than half of the units purchased on Amazon are sold by these sellers; companies ranging from large brands to small start-up enterprises. Opening our marketplaces to sellers is good business for Amazon and the companies, and it delights our customers through increased selection. We are a team of sales, business and technical professionals who are passionate about helping businesses thrive and creating great experiences for customers.
So, you might be wondering why I should sell on Amazon. So, Amazon has a global footprint and we have a worldwide customer base. We have a physical presence in more than twenty countries and there are over 300 million active customer accounts, with over 200 million prime customer around the world. Amazon is equipped with leading logistics infrastructure which helps sellers deliver products to customers in over 200 countries and territories. Thus, sellers can leverage on Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) to help fulfil local or international customers. Amazon is also always adding new tools and services to help sellers manage their Amazon business. Since 2020, Amazon has released more than 250 tools and services to help sellers manage their Amazon business.
WHAT ARE THE COMMON MYTHS IN CROSS BORDER E-COMMERCE?
I CAN’T DO CROSS BORDER E-COMMERCE IF I DON’T HAVE A WAREHOUSE ABROAD.
This is not true because you do need to have an overseas warehouse in order to do Cross Border E-commerce. The advantage of having a warehouse abroad is just that you can shorten the delivery time for customers where the items will be delivered from the destination country. Building a warehouse abroad is also very costly especially for SMEs. A more convenient option is to leverage on Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Amazon’s warehousing and fulfillment service that allows sellers to send inventory to an Amazon warehouse and have their orders shipped by Amazon. Sellers can also use Amazon Seller Central which is a tool available to Amazon sellers once they have a registered account to check on the delivery status of the goods. With FBA, sellers no longer have to find and coordinate local express companies in the selling country. This will help to reduce the seller’s workload.
I CAN’T DO CROSS BORDER E-COMMERCE IF I AM NOT A BRAND OWNER.
Firstly, you can do cross border ecommerce without your own brand. You can do well in cross border ecommerce, as long as you have a good product selection, familiar with your target market, understand customer’s needs and familiar with the product supply chain. If you want to establish your own brand, Amazon has various tools such as IP accelerator, Amazon brand registry, transparency and Project Zero. IP Accelerator connects businesses with a curated network of trusted IP law firms which provide high quality trademark registration services at competitive rates. So, once you have a trademark, you can gain access to Amazon brand registry, transparency and Project Zero. Therefore, this help sellers to protect their brand. Amazon also provides a series of tools to better manage your product listing, report any violation, prevent counterfeit and also protect your intellectual property.
ONLY E-COMMERCE PROFESSIONALS DO WELL IN CROSS BORDER E-COMMERCE.
That’s not true because everyone starts small. Amazon has training classes to help you ramp up on your knowledge to engage in cross border ecommerce. From choosing a target country to product selection or even a step-by-step guide on how to set up an Amazon store, you can always engage with Amazon via live webinars and events. Sellers can learn from Amazon resources such as the Amazon Seller University which you can easily find on YouTube. Besides, you can also choose to engage with service providers such Axisnet where they can help you in onboarding with Amazon.
ONLY RETAILERS AND WHOLESALERS CAN BE SELLERS THROUGH CROSS BORDER E-COMMERCE.
Individual sellers can also engage in cross border ecommerce. You can be a seller as long as you have a product that can be sold. So you can learn how to select the products, how to build your own brand, and there are many ways for you to sell on Amazon.
YOU CANNOT DO CROSS BORDER EXPORT E-COMMERCE WITHOUT AN OVERSEAS BANK ACCOUNT.
Seller can choose to use cross border payment services that is compliant and approved by Amazon. Sellers have to set up the deposit account in their Amazon seller account. Once this is set up, Amazon will automatically set the payment to the seller’s chosen deposit account.
The future of eCommerce is too vast. Whether you’ve already got an established e-commerce business, a great idea for a new product, or you just have a passion for selling, now is the time to take the next step with Amazon!
