Amazon Handmade can be a fantastic way to generate sales but it’s important to do your research to make sure it’s suitable for your products.
Follow this step by step guide to learn how to evaluate whether your product is a right fit for Amazon.
Do your products fit in an Amazon Handmade sub-category?
First things first, check that you can sell your type of handmade product on Amazon. There are plenty of categories within Handmade to choose from so chances are there will be suitable category for your product.
The current Amazon Handmade categories are:
Amazon Handmade doesn’t currently accept: Digital or Downloadable Products, Food & Grocery items, or Electronics.
Don’t panic if your products don’t fit into one of the Handmade sub categories, you can still sell your products in other categories on Amazon.
Do your products meet Amazon’s definition of handmade?
To qualify for Amazon Handmade, your products must be one of the following:
- Handcrafted: Products made entirely by hand;
- Hand-altered: Existing products which are altered or adapted into a new design e.g. embroidered denim jacket;
- Handmade customised: Handmade products which are customised e.g. you make jewellery and hand stamp initials on them per the customer’s request.
Again, don’t worry if your products don’t meet the criteria as you can still sell on Amazon, it just won’t be in the Handmade category.
Are there similar products selling on Amazon?
Amazon isn’t the right place to launch an entirely new kind of product.
Shoppers don’t tend to browse the way they would when they go into a shop.
When they go to Amazon, they’re looking for a particular product to purchase – this is actually great as it means shoppers actually WANT to spend money 
, but it does mean that in order to sell your products, there needs to be people looking for it in the first place.
So before you start, go on Amazon and check that there are products like yours already selling on Amazon.
There doesn’t need to be loads but you need to see some competitors – that suggests there is likely to be some demand.
Is there enough demand?
The next question you need to ask is whether there is enough demand.
And just because you have a top selling product on Etsy doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be a top seller on Amazon.
That’s because Amazon has its own customer base and its own algorithm for deciding what products are shown to customers so check demand before listing your products.
I would recommend using software such as the Jungle Scout chrome extension or Helium10 to assess your competitors’ sales and the demand for your product.
By looking at what sales your potential competitors are making, you can also start to understand what keywords you would need to rank for to get these sales.
What is the average price point for competing products?
Amazon is no longer just a destination for cheap products – in fact more and more customers are going to Amazon for premium products which is why you now see brands like Roland Mouret and Chanel selling on Amazon.
But you need to consider what you could sell your products for.
Look at your competitors to see what kind of price point they’re selling at – obviously you can go for the upper limit but if you’re way more expensive then you could find it tough to compete.
You also don’t want to make your products too cheap otherwise you could be left with no profit after you’ve paid the fees.
So what if your products don’t really fit with Amazon?
If you find that your products aren’t quite suitable after you’ve carried out the product evaluation, don’t right off Amazon completely.
There are various things you can do to adapt your products and make them suitable.
Top Tip…
Could you change the size of your product or sell it as a set in order to charge more for it?
Or if there’s limited demand for your exact product perhaps there might be more demand for a similar product in a different colour or design?
Carrying out a thorough evaluation of your potential competitors will help you to see where there are potential opportunities for you to make sales.
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