3P SELLING MODEL ON AMAZON
In the 3P (Third Party) selling model, you use Amazon as a platform to sell your goods through a group of dealers who serve as your representatives. Each of them will operate through its own Amazon Seller Central account and will compete with other dealers for a place in the Buy Box. It might seem like all the work lies with dealers, but you need to keep a close eye on them to make sure they stick to the agreed terms.
THERE ARE FOUR WAYS FOR SELLERS TO ARRANGE THEIR WORK THROUGH AMAZON, FOUR SELLING MODELS YOU CAN CHOOSE FROM.
There are four ways for sellers to arrange their work through Amazon, four selling models you can choose from. If you want to delegate a large scope of work to dealers and are ready to constantly monitor their integrity and manage your brand catalog, then the 3rd Party Selling Model is a great option.
HOW WE CAN HELP
Amazon Brand Registry
If you want to retain control over your intellectual property and protect it from infringement by gray sellers, you will need some tools to do so. Amazon Brand Registry is an indispensable tool that only brand owners can leverage to keep tabs on everything related to their products. With Brand Registry, you can prevent sales of counterfeit products and unauthorized changes to listings. It also enables you to take swift action against infringers. We can help you enroll in the Brand Registry program, monitor the integrity of your dealers and discover gray sellers before they can cause damage to your brand.
Seller Quality Assessment
Some sellers are more trouble than they are worth. If you want your brand to perform well on Amazon, you need to partner with value-added dealers who will respect your MAP policies and have high ratings on the platform. Our Seller Quality Assessment tool analyzes 10 indicators of a brand’s performance on Amazon to give you a 100-score rating of its reliability. We’ll analyze all your dealers and break them into three groups: Useful, Reliable and Risky Sellers, so that you know how much value each dealer brings to your brand.
MAP Monitoring
Minimum Advertised Price violations are one of the tactics to which dealers resort if they want to outcompete other sellers. Doing so benefits one dealer and harms the rest of them, undermining the fairness of the competition. We have a MAP Monitoring tool that allows us to keep tabs on the prices of all of your dealers. If you want your policies to be adhered to, there is no better tool to ensure that.
Amazon Listing Quality Assessment and Control
A good listing is a signature attribute of a successful Amazon seller. It showcases a product in a most presentable and appealing manner while providing exhaustive information about it and thus helps customers to make a buying decision. At the same time, it meets all of Amazon's criteria regarding the title, bullet points, description and visual elements. However, the overwhelming majority of Amazon listings do not meet these criteria. The good part is that there is no guesswork involved in determining a listing’s quality. We’ve developed a tool that assesses all the elements of a listing and displays its performance score. If you want to leverage all the opportunities to improve your performance on Amazon, then Amazon Listing Quality Checker is a must.
Amazon PPC
Amazon's organic search is the primary way of showcasing products, but it’s not the only one. There is a way to present your products while outrunning major competitors that only requires a small budget to be effective. Amazon PPC (Pay-per-Click) Advertising is a tool brands and their dealers can leverage to generate more sales. However, it takes an expert to launch an effective advertising campaign that won’t burn through your budget within a week. We know Amazon PPC like the back of our hands and can navigate the sea of bids and impressions with ease. We can manage all of your ads or ads for one of your dealers, whatever arrangement is more to your liking.
Customer Reviews Management
It’s hard to overestimate the role of customer reviews in increasing your reputation and trust. They work for customers, who read about other people’s experiences and make decisions, and they work for Amazon which evaluates customer satisfaction and decides whether to prioritize your listings or not. Amazon Vine can help you get genuine reviews that will encourage other customers to consider your products. And if somebody was dissatisfied enough to leave a negative review, there is still a way to solve that issue. Voice of the Customer allows brands to collect valuable insights regarding customer’s expectations and needs and address any potential issues to prevent further negative reviews.
Catalog Management
Instead of having each of your dealers decide on the listing’s design and content, you can establish a standard each of them should adhere to. You can implement numerous advanced marketing tools like Amazon Storefront, A+ or EBC content for listings and Brand Story to utilize all the possibilities granted by your Brand Registry enrollment. Here’s how we can help you manage it:
- Amazon A+/EBC Content Сreation
- Brand Story Design
- SEO Listings Optimization
- Premium A+ Content
- Amazon Store Creation
PROS & CONS OF 3P SELLING MODEL
EASE OF DISTRIBUTION:
As a rule, dealers have established distribution networks that can get products directly into the hands of consumers. They have both resources and experience to handle logistics, so it is safe to delegate that part to the dealers.
MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICE (MAP) POLICY VIOLATIONS:
Dealers tend to violate MAP policies every now and then to gain an advantage over other sellers. Such actions can devalue the brand and bring about conflict between you and other retailers. Ensuring all of your dealers adhere to these policies is no easy feat, but it should be done consistently if you want your dealers to respect the agreements you made.
REDUCED MARKETING COSTS:
Brands that sell through dealers can save a lot on marketing costs. Dealers typically invest in marketing and promoting the products they sell, which significantly reduces the need for brands to spend resources on the same activities. This leaves you more resources for developing new products and building your brand identity.
CHALLENGES IN MANAGING BRAND CATALOG:
When selling through multiple dealers, maintaining consistency in the brand catalog can be challenging. Different dealers may list the same products using their own listings and content of varying quality. It is equally difficult to ensure the accuracy of product information across listings of all your dealers to make sure no product details get mixed up. Both of those factors are detrimental to customer experience and brand image and thus should be monitored closely.
INCREASED REACH:
Even if you already have an audience, dealers can help you reach an even wider one. They often have established customer bases of their own that trust them, which can provide exposure to potential customers you wouldn’t reach otherwise.
GRAY SELLERS:
Unauthorized sellers are a significant threat to brands selling through dealers on Amazon. Such sellers often obtain products through unofficial channels and may not adhere to the brand’s quality control standards. They can also disrupt your pricing strategy by selling products at lower prices and will not honor warranties or return policies. All of these factors can lead to negative customer experiences that always reflect poorly on the brand. Such sellers should be dealt with immediately upon their detection.
RISK MITIGATION:
Selling through dealers substantially reduces the risks. Dealers purchase inventory upfront, which means you get the immediate revenue and pass on the risks of unsold inventory to dealers.
INSIGHTS AND FEEDBACK:
Dealers can provide valuable market insights and customer feedback. They can share real-time information about customer preferences and product performance. If you see a repeating pattern, you can utilize the feedback to make improvements or increase the production volume of certain goods.
Top Services & Tools
Amazon Catalog Management:
Amazon Promotion:
Brand Protection:
Top Analytical Tools: