2020 and Corona — A good year to sell on Amazon?

Amazon is now the third largest search engine in the world and number one for specific product searches. What makes Amazon so unique is that customers who search for products there already have an intent to buy. But what effects will the Corona crisis in 2020 have on the so successful marketplace?

Amazon at record high thanks to corona

The corona pandemic appeared out of nowhere and presents the economy with completely new challenges: A number of retailers, self-employed people and start-ups are fighting for their existence, and numerous jobs are at risk. And there is still no telling what effects the crisis will have over the next few months.

Compared to brick-and-mortar retail, online retail is booming. Amazon as a sales channel is therefore more attractive than ever. The Amazon marketplace is one of the big winners of this time, as the willingness to shop online has increased enormously as a result of the crisis.

The online retailer is also having an extremely positive impact on the stock exchange: Despite the virus crisis, the share price in June 2020 is almost 40% higher than at the end of 2019. Or is it better for Amazon thanks the virus crisis? [1]

On Monday, 06.07.2020, Amazon shares even broke a new record and surpassed 3,000 US dollars for the first time in history. There is definitely no sign of the negative effects of the corona pandemic for online retailers. [2]

Is Amazon relevant as a marketplace for my company?

According to technology company BigCommerce [3], online marketplaces have become important digital marketing channels. It is therefore essential for progressive, modern companies to focus on selling on Amazon in 2020 if they want to be at the forefront of the e-commerce world. Find out how medium-sized companies can benefit from selling on Amazon in this blog post.

9 out of 10 consumers check prices on Amazon before making a purchase. The question of whether an Amazon presence is worthwhile for companies in 2020 is therefore superfluous. Nevertheless, companies that are concerned with their online presence should ask themselves the following questions:

• Is Amazon FBA (Fulfilment by Amazon) and the concept already used by millions of sellers reachable and sustainable
• Can companies sell on Amazon without compromising their brand identity and values?
• And should Amazon be seen as an additional sales channel or as a core business?

How does Amazon increase my reach?

There is no question that companies build up a significantly high online presence by selling on Amazon. The challenge, however, is to achieve the desired visibility in the seemingly endless sea of competition.

Here is a house number: Over 3 billion products are sold on Amazon marketplaces. Over 50% of all product searches start on Amazon.

To become a top seller on Amazon today and achieve high reach, basic product optimizations and simple growth strategies are no longer enough. Instead, you have to deal intensively with the market, the categories, the products and, above all, the target customer on Amazon. If you were able to become a top seller within a few weeks 3-4 years ago with little effort and a few tricks, today you need above all a long-term agile and functioning growth and advertising strategy for your own brand.

According to statistics, the USA is by far the largest Amazon market. In 2018 alone, 160.15 billion dollars were generated here. Germany is in second place with $20 billion. Great Britain is in third place with 14.5 billion dollars in 2018.

So if you understand how the Amazon A9 algorithm works on these marketplaces, you'll reach more customers than ever before — all over the world.