An Amazon side business offers low barriers to entry, global reach, and the backing of a major e-commerce platform. With some strategic planning and consistent effort, nearly anyone turns an Amazon side hustle into a steady stream of additional income. This article outlines tips and best practices for maximizing your potential to succeed with an Amazon side business.
Choose the right products to sell
Unlocking your potential with an Amazon side hustle is to carefully select products that will sell well and be easy for you to source and ship. You want to choose products that have existing buyer demand on Amazon, so you can take advantage of Amazon’s built-in traffic and visibility. It’s best to avoid saturated markets unless you have a product innovation or can offer the best prices.
When you’re starting, aim for smaller, lighter products that you can buy cheaply and have shipped to you in bulk via freight forwarding or wholesale distribution channels. Consumer electronics, phone accessories, beauty products, toys, hobby items, and kitchen gadgets tend to work well for Amazon’s side hustles. As you grow, you expand into larger or heavier products. The key is to maximize profit margins on each sale while keeping fulfillment costs low.
Set up an efficient home workflow
To maximize productivity and minimize wasted time, you need to set up an efficient system for managing inventory, orders, and shipping right from your home. Clear some space for packing materials, shipping scales, inventory storage, and a small workspace. Master multitasking strategies like processing multiple orders simultaneously while printing postage for a previous set of packages. Streamline repetitive tasks as much as possible through templates and automation tools built into Amazon Seller Central. For example, use the restock alerts and forecasting tools, so you always have just enough inventory on hand to fulfill orders quickly but aren’t stockpiling excess inventory. The more you systematize order processing and shipping, the more time you can spend growing your Amazon business.
Build your brand
While Amazon does provide a built-in customer base, you further maximize your potential by building your brand presence within your Amazon store. Create a brand logo and consistent visual style across your product listings, store banners, emails, and packaging. Provide an excellent customer experience so buyers leave positive reviews, order from you repeatedly, and recommend you to others. Use affiliate links and influencer partnerships to draw more external traffic to your Amazon listings. Building a brand persona and distinctive visual identity stimulates buyer trust and loyalty beyond just selling anonymously on Amazon.
Run promotions and experiments
Consistently test and optimize your product listings and promotions through small experiments, then roll out broader campaigns around the listings and offers that perform best. For example, try offering limited-time percentage discounts or bundled multi-packs to incentivize larger customer orders. There are many types of amazon side hustles to try to improve conversion rates by testing different product listing copies and images. Examine customer reviews and feedback to identify new buyer preferences and concerns. By continually running small experiments and promotions rather than just leaving your listings static month after month, you force yourself to learn and improve over time. You maximize the performance potential of both new and existing products in your inventory. Even just slightly better listing conversion rates, larger average order sizes, or extra repeat business from promotions significantly impact your overall sales and profit trajectory.
