When a new brand emerges in a market, it’s often slightly behind competitors. This is usually because of lack of knowledge in the sector, or even because of a lack of knowledge of the area and its people. However, with Amazon, neither is the case. The eCommerce giant comes into the market with depths of eCommerce understanding — and funds to match. All good reasons to sell your products on Amazon!
Amazon sells around the globe but is about to open Amazon Sweden or amazon.se. Amazon has been distributing in Sweden for a while already, via its UK and DE websites. So should competitors Swedish like Fyndiq.se and Tradera.com be concerned about Amazon’s emergence or is Amazon an opportunity for buyers and sellers to get more from online retail? And should you, as a Swedish-based eTailer or eTailer selling into Sweden, sell your products there?
Even if you’re not in Sweden or selling into Sweden, should you sell on Amazon? Yes!
Having doubts about selling on Amazon is understandable. Especially when your loyalties lie with competitors. You may already have a system perfectly set up to sell on Fyndiq or Tradera or another regional competitor and therefore see no reason to also sell on Amazon. Amazon may seem like just another eCommerce website doing the same thing. On the other hand, you may be worried that these platforms may struggle with the emergence of the eCommerce giant.
However, Amazon in Sweden will likely be neither just another player nor a menace to competitors’ survival. It may though, assist your survival to have a presence there.
Selling on Amazon can be highly advantageous. Despite the successes of current Swedish and other regional eCommerce platforms, there are still certain things those competitors can’t offer customers, such as Prime benefits and various options for Amazon Advertising that help merchants reach a global audience.
Amazon brings new ideas to the table with global and local sales opportunities. I believe it will revolutionize the Swedish eCommerce market. Other eCommerce platforms will have to adapt and offer more to both sellers and buyers. This will lead to a more competitive market in which sellers get more for their products online — a worthwhile reason to break the routine of using the same eCommerce platform for every sale.
In 2019, 95% of the Swedish population stated they regularly use the Internet — a total of 9.7 million people and an increase of one million people compared to previous years. 66% of those people shop online every month — the highest percentage of all the Nordic nations. Additional research showed that 84% of those shoppers purchase online from Swedish websites. (Similar statistics around the globe.)
This highlights the opportunities available when selling using a Swedish entity. It also highlights why Amazon needed a Swedish domain.
Recently, Amazon opened its Dutch domain. Using the Dutch domain as a European example, Amazon has great potential in the Swedish market. Amazon had no actual presence in the Netherlands before March 2020, yet it had made 350 million euros worth of sales in the Netherlands in 2018 — up a staggering 40% from the previous year, which highlights its potential as an eCommerce platform.
The success of Amazon.nl highlights the potential of Amazon.se and elsewhere. The Swedish equivalent will look to tap into a market that favors local domains, while also building on recent European market penetration.
If Amazon Sweden experiences a similar level of growth and impact, it will be worth using it as a seller?
Last but not least, because the platform is well-trusted, many users are willing to spend more for the same product. This is because of Amazon’s reputation as being trustworthy, but also because of its policies that back that up. Money-back guarantees, free returns on many products, fast customer service, easy-to-follow guidelines, and reporting all make the platform reliable, dependable, and profitable.
All in all, I believe that Amazon adds something to the Swedish — and any other — eCommerce market. Selling on Amazon definitely has advantages. It brings new features that push eCommerce in Sweden into uncharted territory. The trust the brand generates will by itself help sellers get more for their products. While the lack of a listing fee means sellers can also learn more about which products are profitable. In turn, this will bring new opportunities for buyers and sellers, and not only on Amazon.
Amazon’s biggest eCommerce competitors in Sweden will have to be wary of the new competition. They will have to adapt to survive. Despite that, Amazon’s push for more ecommerce buyers may help them too, if more people start to buy online, which is already happening.
This post was contributed by long-time Finch partner DataFeedWatch. DataFeedWatch simplifies the complexity of feed management for customers and ensures that the feed quality on Google Shopping Ads and other shopping channels is always high, which significantly supports ad performance.
The post author Martin Ender is VP Sales and Country Manager DACH at DataFeedWatch. Martin has years of experience as an ex-Googler in the field of data feed creation and optimization. He regularly runs various webinars and workshops on data feed optimization and feed marketing automation with agencies and Google.