Amazon Global Selling: How to Take Your Brand Worldwide

Benefits of Selling Internationally on Amazon

Why should you be interested in Amazon Global Selling?

Answer: a number of reasons, which we’re going to break down for you now.

Wider customer base

Worldwide, there are more than 200 million Amazon Prime members – not to mention those who shop on Amazon without a Prime account.

That’s compared to 112 million in the US. So while the US is still the number one Amazon marketplace, there’s a lot more people out there to reach, if you decide to start selling internationally on Amazon.

Increased sales potential

More customers = potential for more sales. It’s a pretty simple formula.

By getting your product out there in front of the world, instead of just one or two countries, you’ve got the potential to sell a lot more, and make more money.

As a plus, a lot of the international marketplaces out there have much lower competition. So if you’re struggling to compete in a watered-down market in the US, you might find yourself one of the first movers somewhere like Australia or Singapore.

Shorter path to launch

Launching globally, when you’re already an established seller on another marketplace, gives you a much easier path to launching your product than starting from scratch.

You’ve already got a product you know, you’ve mapped out the features and benefits, and if it’s selling on another marketplace, you know there’s demand for what you’re selling.

The tools provided by Amazon make it simple to just convert your existing listing to fit new marketplaces, instead of going through all the hassle of figuring it out from square one.

This is a big advantage if the alternative growth strategy you’re considering is to launch new products on the same marketplace. It’s easier, and likely a safer bet to launch your existing products in an Amazon marketplace in a new region.

Diversified revenue streams

Adding new marketplaces to your repertoire is a great way to protect against the many things that can go wrong as an Amazon seller.

Maybe you get hit with a negative review that hurts your sales. Maybe your competitors target you with underhanded tactics. Or perhaps there’s simply a flood of new players in your niche who knock a chunk off your sales.

When you’re only in one marketplace, this can be extremely damaging to your business. Launching a wide range of products gives you protection, but so does launching your products in new marketplaces.

That way, when your US sales take a hit, you might still have profitable channels in the EU, India and Japan that keep revenue coming in.

The Amazon Global Selling program reduces friction

Finally, the help that Amazon Global Selling offers you as an Amazon seller makes it probably the easiest way to expand your business.

It’s in Amazon’s best interest as well to help you launch and succeed globally. That’s why they make it so easy, and remove a ton of the friction involved in international expansion.

Things that might cause you to think twice – e.g. tax, translations, international shipping – are all much easier than you’d expect with the Amazon Global Selling program.

How to Start Selling Globally on Amazon

As we’ve mentioned, is much easier to sell globally as an Amazon seller than you’d expect.

It still requires some work, don’t get it wrong. And it’s not as simple as just clicking a button and making sales in the Netherlands. But it’s not as hard as it usually would be to start a business in other countries, thousands of miles away.

Here’s a broad overview of the steps involved to start selling internationally.

Choose Your Marketplace(s)

First, choose your target marketplace(s).

You can see the options available to you above. It’s not viable to launch on all at once – that’s going to be far too much work, and you probably won’t have the cash flow to be able to supply inventory to all these marketplaces at once.

Instead, start small. It’s up to you, but a good idea to start is by launching on Amazon Europe. These are probably the most popular of the international marketplaces at this time, and you can reach pretty much all of Europe by shipping products to just one fulfillment center, with Amazon’s European fulfillment network.

Register Your Seller Account

You’ll now need to register an Amazon Seller account in the new marketplaces you want to sell on.

The good news is that in some areas you can get by with a “unified seller account”, meaning you can sell on multiple marketplaces with just one Seller Central account. US sellers, for example, can sell on Mexico and Canada without setting up a new account. While one account in a European marketplace acts as a European unified account, which lets you sell across all other EU marketplaces.

Set Up Fulfillment

Once your account is live, figure out how you’re going to store and ship your products.

There are third-party logistics (3PL) providers all across the world, who can allow you to live in the US and sell in Europe, for example.

However, Amazon’s fulfillment network is the best bet. You get all the advantages afforded to FBA sellers, such as increased Buy Box percentage and higher rankings, and the whole process is simplified for you (especially if you want to sell across all of Europe).

You’ll also have Amazon handle order-related customer service too, which is extremely valuable, as you may not be equipped to provide local language customer support.

Create Your Listing(s)

The next step is to build international listings for your products. Amazon provides some very useful tools to help you convert your listings to international marketplaces, so take advantage of this.

Be aware, though, that translations done through Amazon Global Selling are automated by software, so don’t always come out right in the new language. You might want to pay a freelance translator or an agency to make sure your listing copy comes out right, whether it’s in German, Japanese, Italian, etc.

Adapt For the New Marketplace

You don’t necessarily want to simply convert your listing word-for-word into a new language, and call it a day.

What resonates with US customers may be different to those in India, Australia, France, etc. So do some research, and consider even bringing in experts from that area, to make sure you’re communicating in a way that fits the marketplace.

You might want to get new images made up that fit better for that country too.

Also consider any additional costs that come with selling in international markets, such as taxes, currency conversions, fees, etc. You may find you need to increase prices to maintain profit margin.

Alternatively, you might find that prices in general are lower in the new country, and you need to lower prices to stay competitive.

Launch

Next up – launch your products in your target marketplace.

If you’re doing well in another Amazon site, you probably know what to do to launch products already. Much of this can be replicated in other countries.

You might want to drive traffic to the new products in your new marketplaces, using paid ads (such as Google, Facebook, TikTok). Just remember to target users from the new region you’re launching into.

You can also set up PPC campaigns to get your products off the ground.

Come up with a plan, whatever that plan may be. When you find a strategy that works, replicate it for each new marketplace you launch into.

Learn More: how to effectively and successfully Launch products on Amazon.