Amazon has finally opened registration for South African sellers ahead of its e-commerce operations launch in 2024. With many South African businesses wanting to dive into this promising new business venture, there are plenty of reasons to jump on the bandwagon. Regarded as one of the world’s most valuable brands, there’s sound logic behind the decision of many local businesses to get their ducks in a row before registering to sell on an established multinational online marketplace like Amazon.
Even though the exact launch date for 2024 is still unclear, it is important to take note of important information to ensure you are ready to go as soon as they open up to third party sellers.
This list of eight important questions should help you get started in preparation for registering your seller account on Amazon South Africa:
As a seller on Amazon in South Africa, it’s important to think about how customers will return your products and what will work best for your bottom line.
You have four options available:
There are numerous ways sellers can package, store and ship their products. The process of packaging, storing and sending your products to customers is known as fulfilment in Amazon lingo. You can choose only one option per product, however sellers can choose to mix and match fulfilment methods as they see fit for different products.
In a nutshell, FBA is a service that allows businesses selling on Amazon to outsource their order fulfilment to Amazon. The Amazon team will pick, pack and ship the order, taking a bit of stress off your shoulders with regard to returns and customer service.
If you opt to make use of this service, please bear the following in mind:
The Easy Ship programme provides a service for sellers on Amazon where packaged orders are shipped by the sellers through an associate from Amazon’s identified courier and delivered to the buyer’s location for a small fee. When sellers use the Amazon Easy Ship programme, they can be confident that their customers get a faster and more reliable delivery experience with up-to-date shipment tracking information. Amazon sellers can also choose to use the Self Ship option. This one is pretty much self explanatory and means that as a seller, you package, store and ship all your products.
Selecting a business name is key to help customers easily identify you in the new online marketplace. That’s what a DBA (doing business as) name is all about. You can also choose to use a different business if you are a reseller of your products. Amazon will use this to tell the customer the product is sold by ‘X business.’ Check out an example from Oculus Curae.
Not all products have an easy journey through the Amazon sellers lists. Unfortunately, Amazon has a couple of restrictions on who can sell what in certain categories. Products including collectable coins, fine art, jewellery and a number of other products are part of the ‘gated’ list. Read the full list and requirements here. Businesses selling ‘gated’ products need to be aware of this issue and apply to Amazon to have them ‘ungated’.
Every product you sell on Amazon South Africa will need to have a GS1 verified barcode/GTIN (global trade item number). This is a unique set of numbers used to identify products, often referred to as barcodes.
GS1 works to design and implement a global system of supply chains that allow products, services and information to move efficiently and securely to the benefit of the business and the consumer. Verified GS1 barcodes can be purchased here.
There is an option to apply for a GTIN exemption in the case of handmade, private label or bundled packs of more than one product. However, there is a list of products that are not eligible for exemption. To apply for an exemption, you will need to supply a product name as well as several photographs of the product showing it from various angles in its packaging.
Being a new business on the vast Amazon landscape can be a challenge if you have no marketing strategy or way to make your brand stand out. It is during this stage of your Amazon SA seller journey that you might need your price point to attract new customers.
Consider these pricing strategy options:
A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol or design to distinguish your product from the crowds.
Trademark benefits include:
But is having a trademark a prerequisite for selling on Amazon? No. While it is recommended, it is not necessary.
Entering a new business venture, like selling on a massive online marketplace like Amazon SA, is a big step for any business, and one you should take with your eyes wide open.
Being new to the Amazon marketplace in South Africa, you will need to put some extra effort into positioning your brand above competitors to get noticed and trusted by established and new Amazon customers.
An example of a marketing strategy for consideration is Amazon Ads, which help to increase your visibility alongside other well-established brands.
To take full advantage of the Amazon opportunity in South Africa, it could benefit you greatly to partner with an experienced digital performance marketing agency with international expertise in the Amazon space.
Ensure your chosen agency ticks the following boxes:
Once you’ve checked the above questions off your to-do list, read this industry-insider onboarding checklist to ensure you’re ready to hit the ground running once Amazon launches in South Africa.
As a Verified Amazon Ads Partner and one of the first marketing agencies in South Africa offering Amazon marketing services since 2019, we’ve been helping our clients across various industries grow their businesses. If you need support in preparing for Amazon’s launch, contact Prebo Digital today: az.oc.latigidoberp@ofni.
