5 Reasons Amazon Sellers Should Still Have Their Own Website

Amazon has been a revelation for businesses worldwide. According to a recent study, more than 60% of sales in the Amazon store come from independent sellers – most of which are small and medium-sized businesses. But while Amazon undoubtedly has its positives – FBA, the customer base, and the marketing tools being just a few of them – utilizing it as a selling tool doesn’t mean you should neglect your own online store builder.

Because many of these businesses have their own page and profile on Amazon, a good number have turned away from utilizing a website builder, focusing their expenses on other key areas. But even if you’re an Amazon seller, a website is still a key area of successful business. Below, we’re going to look at exactly why this is the case, walking through 5 crucial reasons websites are important, and what you need to do to get yours right.

If Amazon is the Till, Your Website is the Reception

First and foremost, your website isn’t about driving immediate conversions. If Amazon is the paying counter of your business, then  your website is the reception – where guests are greeted and made to feel at home. This is especially important for repeat customers.

While Amazon can provide you with quick sales, a website can help nurture and strengthen a relationship, keeping your customers up to date with your products through regularly updated content and even company newsletters. The sign-up list is also important in this instance. Despite the exponential growth of social media, email is still said to be one of the top marketing avenues. With a strong, engaging website, you can urge people to sign up to your newsletter and keep them up to date on your products regularly and organically.

Creating Your Brand Identity

This all comes down to brand identity. While there may be thousands of businesses utilizing Amazon to sell their products, not one of them has a recognisable brand identity on the platform. They all merge into one, which can be very problematic if you’re a relatively unknown brand just starting out. Building a website gives you the perfect opportunity to express your brand visually, utilizing colors, aesthetics, and content to relay your message and get people on board.

Attaining the Right Data

One of the best things about building a relationship with your customers through your website is that you can use that relationship to your advantage. On Amazon, customer data is controlled by Amazon, not the seller, so while you can access key marketing insights on Amazon Seller Central, you don’t always get the full picture.

On your website, you can collect the data you need, analyze it in your own way, and then utilize it to personalize your marketing efforts – such as newsletters and loyalty programs. Certain efforts have to be made to ensure compliance, of course, and it’s always good practice to notify every user exactly why their data is being collected and how it’s going to be used, but if your users are willing, this can be a key tool to grow your business to be bigger and better.

Fighting Past the Competition

We mentioned the competition on Amazon earlier, and this is a key reason why a website is so important: as a business, you have competition, and Amazon SEO techniques are not going to cut it if you want to be really successful. While even best-selling products can be lost among thousands of other best-sellers on Amazon, your own website can improve your online visibility through targeted SEO campaigns, pushing your website up the Google ranks and driving more organic traffic directly to your business.

We say ‘targeted’, because it’s not like other big brands are doing this. Across the web, there’s been an increase in murmurs about the success-rate of SEO and whether it’s really worth it in 2024. But just because there’s competition, that doesn’t mean the practice itself is obsolete. Effective and engaging blogs can utilize lesser-known keywords to target a specific niche – derived, perhaps, by the data we talked about in our earlier point!

The Customer Experience

Have you ever tried to contact Amazon about a missing parcel or a faulty product? We have, and let us tell you, it’s not pretty. Because Amazon is such a big company – with so many sellers and customers likely contacting them every minute of every day – it’s become increasingly difficult to get into contact with the right people and find a quick conclusion. Even an email can take the company over three days to respond. If you have a website, however, you can ensure your customers don’t have to feel so frustrated. This will not only give them a tailored shopping experience, but a tailored customer service too, where you work directly with the customer to answer their questions and reach a resolution.