Learn everything you need to know about retail readiness and how it can elevate your success on Amazon.By Catherine IbarraOctober 21, 2020
Stay on top of the latest e-commerce and marketplace trends.
Retail readiness on Amazon entails a number of steps you must take to enhance your digital shelf presence — the placement of your products via an online channel — before you begin a marketing or advertising strategy. Investing in advertising, no matter how efficiently executed, will not be worthwhile if your products are not retail-ready to drive conversions.
Products are considered retail-ready when your product detail pages include all the information necessary for consumers to make informed purchase decisions. This includes informative, SEO-rich titles, bullets, and product descriptions, clear imagery, engaging videos, customer ratings and reviews, and ample inventory.
Optimizing these areas of your digital shelf will have a direct impact on your conversions and your relevancy for organic and paid rankings. It can help you secure premium ad placements and ensure you make the most of your advertising efforts.
Below, we explain how to optimize the key elements of Amazon retail readiness, including:
First and foremost is the product title. It is essential that your product title is clear and straightforward since it is what shoppers first see when they visit your detail page. Titles cannot exceed 200 characters — the recommended amount is typically around 80 characters, although Amazon’s length guidelines vary by product category.
An effective product title should include the brand name, product name, and differentiating attributes, as well as relevant and impactful keywords, which can help improve your rank in organic search. The same applies for your description and bullets, but these areas allow more room to elaborate on details about your product.
Bullets are limited to 250 characters each, although the ideal amount is around 150 characters each and five bullets total. Your bullets should call out valuable product information that answers any questions a shopper may have about your product. Consider reviewing your Q&As to pinpoint common questions that have been submitted and provide the answer within your bullets.
Descriptions should be less than 2,000 characters to maintain the shopper’s attention. Keep in mind that even though you should expand on product information, being concise is key. This section will help consumers have a better understanding of your product and should provide enough detail to allow the shopper to envision what the product would look like or how it would be used to help inform their purchase decision.
Images and Video
Product images are one of your most important marketing tools. When consumers browse Amazon, images capture their attention and leave an instant impression. You should include a minimum of four images — and make sure they have a plain white background and at least 1,000 DPI to prevent the image from becoming blurry if a shopper uses the zoom-in functionality.
If you decide to include video, this is an opportunity to feature more of a lifestyle element. Showing how the product is used will help consumers imagine the experience of owning your product. A lifestyle video is also engaging, which will increase the amount of time a shopper spends viewing your digital shelf.
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews play a significant role in a shoppers purchase decision. Including a significant number of reviews is going to help further promote your products. To be retail-ready, an ASIN should have a minimum of 15 customer reviews, which is an influential resource customers reference before making a purchase.
Over three-quarters (79%) of consumers check reviews on Amazon before making a purchase decision, according to Feedvisor research. In the age of social proof, positive customer reviews help convey your product’s credibility and could lead to an increase in conversions.
Star Rating
As for star ratings, your ad campaigns should focus on products with a 3.5-star rating or higher, as this will give you the best chance at converting shoppers that reach your product detail pages. During high-traffic occasions, such as holiday shopping events, we recommend pivoting to 4-star products or higher to gain a competitive edge.
Inventory
Ensure your products are in-stock and that you have plenty of inventory before rolling out your advertising initiatives. Amazon campaigns require you to have stock for at least the last 30 days prior to launching a campaign.
We recommend increasing your inventory for holiday shopping events in Q4 since an influx of buyers are expected. Also, be sure to confirm that you are winning the Buy Box to receive sales credit for product purchases.
Enhanced Content
Brand-owning sellers can use enhanced content, also known as A+ Content, to add images and rich text to the product description. This is where you can highlight your value proposition, brand story, and add any other supplemental information about your products, such as a competitive comparison.
This section will enable you to differentiate your products from your competitors, establish a unique brand identity, and resonate with your target audience’s needs and values.
Optimize Advertising Initiatives
Ensuring your products are retail-ready on Amazon is essential before launching your advertising campaigns. Enhancing your product titles, descriptions, bullets, images, videos, customer reviews, star rating selection, inventory, and content will help optimize your advertising initiatives.
Leading consumers to a retail-ready digital shelf can drive discoverability and incentivize more shoppers to purchase from your brand instead of your competitors. In contrast, launching ad campaigns without being retail-ready would hurt your business. Driving traffic to product detail pages that lack the information necessary for shoppers to convert would be a waste of ad spend and negatively affect your bottom line.
About the Author
Catherine Ibarra is a marketing consultant at Feedvisor, where she contributes to the company's content marketing initiatives. She has a technology background.
Final Thoughts
If you are selling on Amazon’s marketplace, retail readiness is critical to the success of your business. You can build out an enhanced digital shelf by following the key elements outlined and applying the recommendations provided above. Well-executed product detail pages will ensure that your products stand out among your competitors.
Retail readiness drives conversions, improves relevancy for organic and paid rankings, increases the probability of securing premium ad placements, and optimizes your advertising efforts. Investing in advertising for retail-ready products on Amazon can lead to an increase in discoverability and conversions.
Learn what Feedvisor can do for your business.
When you partner with Feedvisor, you automatically receive access to our true, AI-driven technology and hands-on team of e-commerce experts. Contact one of our team members today to learn more about our end-to-end solution for brands and large sellers on Amazon, Walmart, and e-marketplaces.
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