5 Amazon Trends for FBA Sellers | Forum Brands

As more entrepreneurs and small ecommerce businesses grow their brands online, being up-to-date on the latest Amazon trends is essential. Today, products sold by third party sellers makeup over 60% of Amazon’s total sales, earning more than $3.5 Billion on 2020 Prime Day alone. The increase of FBA sellers on Amazon spiked from 2007 to 2013 and has steadily increased, with Statista reporting that 53 percent of paid units were sold by third-party sellers in the second quarter of 2020.

More competitors are entering the Amazon selling space every day, which makes knowing the latest trends and preparing strategies for future growth essential. The Amazon trends in 2020 have highlighted the need for FBA sellers to efficiently manage their inventory, the increased importance of product listing optimization, and how product research, automation, and engagement all play a key role in how people expand their businesses.

#1: Efficient Inventory Management

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic caused a surge in online shopping that well exceeded forecasts for the year, with a 44% increase in Q2 2020 compared to Q2 2019. Consumers were already relying on Amazon for non-essential goods prior to 2020. Now, they’ve added their household staples as well. Due to these types of increased inventory demands, Amazon has created a suite of tools for FBA sellers to efficiently manage their inventory and better adapt to shifts in the economy.

The capabilities of the Inventory Performance Dashboard and Inventory Performance Index (IPI) equips FBA sellers with the ability to maintain product demand forecasting, become more agile in advertising and discounting products, and streamline their reverse logistics processes. The tools prompt sellers to better:

• Manage excess inventory
• Track inventory age
• Fix stranded inventory
• Restock inventory

It’s important for an Amazon seller to regularly check their status and IPI score, as a low score can lead to fees and restrict their ability to send more inventory.

Inventory management will also rely on the availability of new automated technology. Whether a small business wants to start scaling their growth or new entrepreneurs want to optimize their time when working as an FBA seller, automation creates more opportunities for growth and profitability. One example is Amazon’s automated pricing feature.

The automated pricing feature allows an Amazon seller to set rule parameters based on consumer buying trends.

By setting rule parameters, third party sellers can reset pricing when they have a surplus of inventory, push sales for a particular product, or make certain products have more competitive pricing if long-term storage fees are coming due. With this type of organization and ease of management, automated tools like these allow an Amazon store to easily gauge how well their products are selling and immediately fix problems before they become detrimental.

#2: Product Listing Optimization

Search engine optimization is a practice used by nearly every business and brand to improve their rankings on Google. The same concept is applied to Amazon listings. The need to continually revisit listings to add relevant high-value keywords and maintain compliance with Amazon's ever evolving product listing guidelines has become one of the top Amazon trends for FBA sellers. Each headline, description, and image makes a difference in how a product shows up in search results and ultimately, how well it sells. A few Amazon recommendations to optimize product titles include:

• Keep them short and sweet
• use proper capitalizations (rather than all caps)
• Remove subjective words
• Use numerals
• abbreviate measurements

Next, optimize the detail page to drive search rankings and conversion. Succinct, yet descriptive bullet points, clear, hi-res images, and straightforward messaging help improve customer experience. It’s best to include the most pertinent information at the beginning. Additionally, choosing the right keywords help customers better find your product by rising up the search ranks. The platform also requires that all areas of the product description meet character count and sizing requirements.

Sellers can take advantage of the Listing Quality tool in the Seller Central portal for recommendations and tips for how to improve product discoverability. This tool automatically sorts listings that need the most attention and gives the seller suggestions on how to improve your listing optimization.

#3: In-Depth Product Research

Being an FBA seller requires knowing what the top trending product is going to be for online shoppers.

Obviously, products that have higher demand and search volume will sell better. Following these trends can shape a product idea for sellers by influencing how they manage their inventory or what search terms they target in their advertising.

For example, Amazon trends in 2020 have shown that because Amazon shoppers are spending more time at home due to the pandemic, online sales for home office furniture and electronics have soared. Knowing that these types of products have had high search volumes make them an attractive product idea for sellers.

In addition to performing product research based on specific industries, Amazon sellers should also look at the Amazon Trend Report. This report looks at the top market trends across the internet and then compares it to what product trends Amazon shoppers have been most drawn to over the past 12 months. After reviewing customer feedback on product purchases, it builds a trend report highlighting its top product recommendations.

The same kind of methodology can be applied by reviewing your own FBA business reports and evaluating which of your products are trending upward or slowing in sales. Compare with online messaging across social media, blogs, and other outlets to gauge the product category that is most popular and see how you can shift your inventory to meet that interest.

#4: Sponsored Display Ads

Sponsored Display ads were first launched in 2019, but have remained one of the top Amazon trends for Amazon sellers. These Sponsored Ads allow Amazon sellers to target and retarget shoppers on and off the Amazon platform.

From existing sellers that want to boost their product awareness to new businesses that are carving their niche, Sponsored Display ads are an effective way to increase visibility across multiple platforms.

These Sponsored Ads can still be customized, but because they are automated sellers don’t have to worry about constantly coming up with fresh creative.

As ecommerce sales continue to rise, the competition for market share will also increase exponentially. For FBA sellers specifically, a successful Amazon ad can be a major differentiator. With the ever-increasing amount of product listings online, Amazon advertising can help FBA sellers bring greater visibility to their brand while also eliminating some of the noise.

#5 Engaging Product Videos

One of the biggest Amazon trends is the power of video. The opportunity of producing and publishing a product video offers another way to attract a larger audience. From TikTok to Facebook Video and Instagram Reels, short social media videos have surged in popularity. Whether as a way to share content between potential customers or as a way for brands to quickly engage with a consumer, product videos have been at the forefront of recent marketing trends.

This type of content is engaging enough to capture a user’s attention in ways print ads, text, or other marketing methods do not. Videos allow sellers to share a larger amount of information in a short snippet, and they can be consumed across multiple platforms without any extra effort from the consumer.

Creating a product video helps online shoppers visualize how and where to use your product, and the ways it proves useful for their everyday life. Although there’s a higher investment for video placement, monitoring reports and tracking sales clearly demonstrate the benefits.

How to Capitalize on Amazon Trends

Knowing what the new Amazon trends are can help you grow your business and stay competitive.

By staying up-to-date with new product trends and customer behavior, FBA sellers can make informed decisions for their business. Still, to really capitalize on any of these Amazon trends, you must first establish a solid process and strategy.

Establish a Solid Process

Determining your place as an online ecommerce retailer means you’ll want to create a consistent presence. All of your product titles, listings, and imagery should be formatted in the same way. Also, establish a regular routine of when you’ll check, resupply, and reprice your inventory. By using Amazon FBA to package, ship, and address customer service issues, you are freed to hone in on creating, maintaining, and marketing a steady stream of inventory that sells well.

Once you have the basics down with a streamlined inventory system, the next step involves improving the process and adding in service opportunities where necessary. Then, you can determine how to differentiate yourself from the competition to continue pushing your business forward.

Make Improvements Highlighted in Reports

Amazon supplies ample data for FBA sellers to review on a regular basis. The data shows you how well your products are selling, how many page views you receive, and other notable analytics that will help drive your business strategy. It gives you the information necessary to ensure you’re properly prepared with enough inventory or you’re able to forecast a surplus to avoid storage fees.

Differentiate Yourself from the Competition

A solid foundation plus constant improvements will help push your business to the next level, but you’ll have to determine what makes you stand apart from your competitors. Amplify the characteristics that make your brand or products unique. Take time to read and respond to online reviews. And, be reliable when meeting consumer demand; it shows you’re a reputable seller that will encourage both repeat and potential customers.

Knowing your target audience will help you know what kind of products they want or need the most. Trends will come and go, but building a loyal customer base is what will drive your business to thrive. Ensure you’re building a strong online presence that will support any market or consumer shifts in the future.

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