If you’re an Amazon seller, there are a number of perks to setting up your own “storefront” and making your inventory available to the millions of shoppers who frequent the site. One major drawback: it can take a lot of time to tackle office tasks that have nothing to do with sales. This is an area perfectly suited for a seller’s own Amazon VA.
This article covers the proven methods in which Amazon sellers and dropshipping expand their capacity, market share, operations, and profits — all by way of adding full-time professional virtual assistants. These strategies should help you remove the full-time administrative tasks that were once required to run your business. In turn, you can focus on selling more products and earning higher profits.
What Is An Amazon Virtual Assistant?
An Amazon VA for sellers is a professional who provides remote administrative and operational support to people or businesses who sell products on Amazon. They handle various tasks related to managing an Amazon store, allowing sellers to focus on more strategic aspects of their business. They can assist with product listing creation, inventory management, order processing and fulfillment, customer service, market research, competitor analysis, and marketing campaigns.
These virtual assistants are well-versed in navigating the Amazon Seller Central platform and utilizing tools and software specific to Amazon selling. They can optimize product listings with relevant keywords, manage inventory levels to ensure availability, address customer inquiries and complaints, and implement effective marketing strategies to boost sales. By hiring an Amazon VA, sellers can benefit from professional assistance, save time and resources, and streamline their operations to maximize their success on the platform.
What Can An Amazon Virtual Assistant Help You With?
1. Initial Setup
To get started as a new seller on Amazon, there are several key steps to follow. First, create an Amazon seller account and select the appropriate selling plan. Next, decide on the products you want to sell and conduct thorough market research to identify profitable opportunities. Once you have your products ready, create high-quality product listings with compelling descriptions, clear images, and competitive pricing. Additionally, it’s crucial to optimize your product listings using relevant keywords to improve visibility in Amazon’s search results.
After setting up your listings, you’ll need to manage inventory and shipping logistics effectively. Amazon offers fulfillment services through Fulfillment by Amazon, where they handle storage, packaging, and shipping on your behalf. Alternatively, you can handle fulfillment yourself through Fulfillment by Merchant. Sounds like a lot, right? Every one of these steps can be made more efficient and effective by leveraging an Amazon VA for seller support.
2. Product Sourcing
Sourcing vendors and suppliers for your products or services is one of the most important parts of beginning to sell online. It doesn’t matter if you want to liquidate items from your garage or purchase inventory for a dropshipping business – you have to find the right sellers in order to put yourself on the path toward success.
Is it possible for you to do this by yourself? Of course, but it’s time-consuming. The right virtual assistant will save you a ton of time by helping you find the right vendors and suppliers for your business. They’ll help you find products that are great for your business and make sure that they’re available at the best prices possible.
3. Research
An Amazon VA can play a crucial role in helping a seller with keyword and product research. They utilize various tools and techniques to identify profitable product opportunities and optimize product listings for better visibility and sales. Firstly, they can conduct comprehensive keyword research to identify relevant and high-converting keywords for the seller’s products. Then they analyze search volume, competition, and trends to determine the most effective keywords to target. This research ensures that the product listings are optimized with the right keywords, increasing their chances of appearing in relevant search results.
Secondly, they can assist in product research by analyzing market trends and competitor data. They can examine product reviews, ratings, and sales performance of competing products to identify gaps and opportunities. This helps the seller understand customer preferences, make informed decisions on product selection, and tailor their offerings to stand out in the market.
4. Product Posting and Optimization
Researching other products and monitoring competitor activities is crucial in the e-commerce and Amazon business landscape. It provides valuable insights into market trends, customer preferences, pricing strategies, and competitive advantages. By staying informed about what competitors are doing, Amazon sellers can make informed decisions, refine their offerings, and develop effective marketing and sales strategies.
A virtual assistant can be an invaluable asset in assisting sellers with this research. They can track competitor products, and analyze their pricing, packaging, customer reviews, and promotional activities. This information helps the seller understand the competitive landscape, identify gaps in the market, and make data-driven decisions to differentiate their products and improve their own marketing strategies. Furthermore, the virtual assistant can conduct competitor analysis to identify successful tactics, uncover potential opportunities, and recommend strategies to gain a competitive edge.
5. Product Advertising
A virtual assistant can help manage sponsored product ads on Amazon. They can create and optimize ad campaigns, set bidding strategies, monitor performance metrics, and make data-driven adjustments to maximize ROI. While Amazon advertising is a popular choice for e-commerce businesses, there are alternative advertising platforms that can also be beneficial. One such alternative is Google Ads. With Google Ads, the virtual assistant can create search and display campaigns to target relevant keywords and audiences across the Google Search Network, Google Display Network, and YouTube. This allows the e-commerce business to reach a wider audience beyond Amazon’s customer base.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram also offer advertising options that can help target specific demographics and engage potential customers through visually appealing ads. These alternatives can provide additional avenues for the virtual assistant to promote the e-commerce business and drive traffic to its shop. Virtual professionals who specialize in social media marketing are common and can be a very worthwhile investment for any e-commerce business.
6. Inventory Management
No one likes to deal with product returns, so it’s important that you keep track of what’s in stock at all times. If there’s a problem with the inventory levels on your product pages, you risk having customers come to you for a refund or replacement.
With full-time virtual assistants, you can have our team monitor your inventory levels each day and make sure that they’re always accurate. You’ll be able to log into your Amazon seller account at any time and see what you need to do to fix any issues with your inventory.
7. Dropshipping
An Amazon va can be a huge help in assisting an e-commerce business with dropshipping operations. They can handle the product sourcing aspect by researching and identifying reliable suppliers or wholesalers who offer the products the business intends to sell. They can establish relationships with these suppliers, negotiate pricing and terms, and ensure smooth communication and order fulfillment. Furthermore, they can manage inventory and order processing. By closely monitoring stock levels, updating product availability on the website or marketplace platforms, and coordinating with suppliers they can improve order accuracy and shipment times. They can also handle customer inquiries and provide support throughout the order fulfillment process, ensuring a positive customer experience.
8. Customer Service
Of course, if you’re new to selling on Amazon, you’ll likely need some help with customer service. Selling online attracts some of the most passionate customers, so it’s important that your team is able to answer queries quickly and effectively.
There are a number of ways that our virtual staff can help out your customers. They can answer questions on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook – as well as provide direct support via email and live chats – making sure that all of your customers’ needs are met.
9. Basic Bookkeeping And Accounting
If you run a small to medium-sized business, then you’ll need a place to manage all of your financial and accounting details. It’s also important that you know where your money is going so that you can take action if there are any issues or changes to your merchant account. We often have features in our software that allow owners of small to medium-sized businesses to manage various aspects of their business easily.
Skills To Look For In An Amazon Virtual Assistant
When looking for a virtual professional to assist an e-commerce business, there are several important skills to consider. These skills will ensure that your Amazon VA can effectively contribute to the business’s success. Here are five crucial skills to look for:
- Proficient in using E-commerce platforms and tools. A virtual professional should have hands-on experience and a deep understanding of popular e-commerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommerce, or Magento, as well as proficiency in using relevant tools like inventory management systems, CRM software, and analytics platforms.
- Product research and sourcing skills. The virtual professional should possess strong research skills to identify profitable products, conduct market analysis, and find reliable suppliers or wholesalers to ensure a steady supply chain for the e-commerce business.
- Experience in order fulfillment and inventory management: Proficiency in managing inventory, processing orders, coordinating with suppliers, and ensuring timely delivery of products is vital for a virtual professional to keep the e-commerce business running smoothly.
- Customer service and communication experience Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential for a virtual professional to handle customer inquiries, provide support, and maintain positive relationships with customers, suppliers, and other stakeholders.
- A strong digital marketing and analytics background: Knowledge of digital marketing strategies, including SEO, social media marketing, and advertising, is valuable in driving traffic and increasing sales. Additionally, proficiency in data analysis and reporting enables the virtual professional to make informed decisions and optimize marketing campaigns for better results.
Finding The Right Virtual Assistant For Your Business
As mentioned, there are a few reasons why sellers should consider deploying some full-time e-commerce virtual assistants to help with important tasks. As we’ve just discussed, new sellers will need to do a little more legwork when it comes to getting their products set up and ready for sale on Amazon.
Full-time MyOutDesk virtual assistants come with proven business experience and cost up to 70% less than a traditional employee. They work as hard, if not harder, than full-time employees and take all the stress out of non-selling tasks.
Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.
MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.
See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.