How To Expand Into Amazon Europe From The US

The Amazon Europe Marketplace is at the forefront of Amazon’s growth. Countries such as Germany and the UK making up 17% of its foreign market.

Amazon sells to over 25 different European markets.  Don’t ignore these markets if you’re planning on selling worldwide.

Launching a product in Amazon EU is becoming common for those selling on Amazon as a non-US resident. So if this matches you, this article may be of great interest to you.

Countries that make up Amazon Europe:

• France
• Germany
• Italy
• Spain
• United Kingdom

The competition for selling on the European market is low compared to the US market. Therefore, the cost of launching a product is significantly lower than in the US market.

You can feel confident establishing a base in Amazon Europe because of Amazon’s commitment to the area.

Amazon has already invested €15 billion in the European Union since 2010 and has shown no signs of slowing down. A look at the number of customers they have shows that their efforts are paying off. Over 93 million users currently shop in the EU marketplace, making it a great location to start selling your products.

Here’s What We’re Covering:

• The EU Market Is Often The Perfect Place To Expand
• Getting Started In Sales, Understanding VAT
• Researching Which Of Your Products Would Make A Good Fit For Amazon Europe
• Translate Product Listings Into The Language Of Choice
• Give Your Product Launches In Amazon EU A Little Boost With A Giveaway
• Launch A PPC Campaign
• Customer Service – A Critical Feature
• How EU Sellers Can Sell Into Amazon US
• Wrapping This Up…

The EU Market Is Often The Perfect Place To Expand

The US marketplace is saturated with high volume of common goods and services.

However, these products aren’t always available in the EU market. If you’ve noticed your business is dropping off, this may be the perfect location to try.

With a solid strategy, products that are losing their edge in your current market will have a fresh new audience.  Ready to give Amazon Europe a try?

Getting Started In Sales, Understanding VAT

Before you can sell on the EU market, you have to register for the VAT. (Value Added Tax)

The VAT is a tax to keep things fair for home producers. It’s a consumption tax charged to the seller.

Each country has its own VAT rate, and you’ll need to register for one in every country that holds inventory.  Selling in 5 countries can become complicated.

With distance selling, you need to sign up for VAT if you go over the threshold; or expect to go over it within 30 days.

As an option, you can create a business inside the UK. Then you’ll have a threshold of up to 80k pounds to work within.

VAT can be a complicated aspect to your business. Every country is slightly different; practice your due diligence before you set up a business in your country of choice.

Researching Which Of Your Products Would Make A Good Fit For Amazon Europe

Use tools like JungleScout or Viral Launch, to figure out which product would be a good fit for the marketplace.

They can also show you what your competitors are doing. With a convenient Chrome Extension, JungleScout takes all the guesswork out of choosing products.

Save yourself the hours of research normally required to find a profitable product to sell.

Translate Product Listings Into The Language Of Choice

Don’t skimp on hiring a translator for your product listings. Great product photos are only half the battle.

 Google translate is helpful for basic communications but its mistakes can be downright disastrous.

Even if the words seem similar to the computer, it can cause awkward and embarrassing misunderstandings.

Customers are suspicious of product listings that are visibly written by a non-native speaker. They won’t want to buy your products if they see a bad product page.

If you don’t speak the native language of that country, choose someone who has prior experience in translating Amazon listings. Someone who knows how to SEO your listings for the keywords your customers will be searching for.

There are several great tools you can use to help you search for keywords.

The tools include Keyword Inspector, Merchant Words and AMZStellar. These tools work by allowing you to quickly assess how much traffic specific keywords have.

You can optimize your product listings to make it easier for customers to find products. A native speaker can put together a product listing that will incorporate them invisibly into the descriptions.

Give Your Product Launches In Amazon EU A Little Boost With A Giveaway

For your product to have a competitive edge, you need organic reviews to start.

The EU Amazon marketplace still allows your customers to leave a review even with a 100% discount. Unlike in other countries, you can create “Money off” codes vs. the percentage of codes the US allows.

Reviews will help boost your search engine stats, and help your product rise in both keyword and bestseller rankings. Therefore, it’s important to capture heartfelt customer reviews anyway you can.

A giveaway can spark interest in your product, and get them in the hands of reviewers. The people who will do the most to advertise your business.

Reviews will help others decide to buy your product. Customers are good at figuring out who genuinely loves a product, and who fakes a review.

Making sure you get these genuine, happy reviews from real customers will generate more future sales than other methods.

A giveaway is also a great way to gain a boost from social media. Customers who are excited about a free product are likely to share the contest with other people. Familiarity with your product will help improve your branding and get more people to purchase your products.

(More interested in creating your own product? Check out How to create a Private Label Product and Find the Perfect Manufacturer)

Launch A PPC Campaign

Once your product has gotten a few sales with reviews and perhaps a small customer base, start a PPC campaign. If you’ve ever started a US based business, you’re probably familiar with this process. If not, it’s relatively simple.

You’ll want to make sure that your keyword research is done by a native speaker. Particularly one who is deeply familiar with the keyword research tools we mentioned earlier.

You’ll need an eye-catching advertisement that focuses on headline searches. Create variations in a few different styles so you can change them up. There are programs that can keep track of your best advertisements, making your PPC campaign as effective as possible.

You need a PPC campaign in order to get the word out about your product. Even with great reviews and customers talking about you, sales suffer without PPC.

A PPC campaign can target people who are interested in your product.  It helps them notice your product first, before getting caught up by a similar product.

PPC is the best way to drive new customers to your products and increase your sales.

Customer Service – A Critical Feature

Once you have sales, switch gears to providing the best possible customer service for your clients.

Once again you will want native speakers for the country of your choice. The better their understanding of customer service, the better customers will react.

Bad reviews can cripple your business. It’s important that you keep customers happy by replying to your buyer messages.  Remove negative seller feedback, and convert positive feedback into reviews.

Ideally, you don’t want anything to be wrong with your products; but mistakes happen. The wrong item gets shipped, the manufacturer makes an error, or the product gets damaged.

How you handle these rough patches in your customer’s experience can dramatically alter the outcome of your business.

Customers receiving assistance in getting their item replaced, questions answered, and other concerns met, will be likely to recommend you.

General questions and compliments also need to be handled properly in order to help your business. Compliments can turn into positive reviews, and general questions lead to more sales when you address concerns.

Happy customers are quick to spread the word about your business, but unhappy customers are even faster. Keep everyone happy for a solid business strategy that lasts.

How EU Sellers Can Sell Into Amazon US

If you want to try selling on Amazon as a non US resident, it’s not only possible, but fairly easy.

You don’t have to start in your home country’s market to be able to take advantage of the US marketplace.

Many sellers start directly in the US market, and then expand to other countries as their business gains traction.

Starting off in the US makes sense because it takes advantage of the lion’s share of sales that Amazon generates. You don’t need an importing license to sell in the US.

Currently the majority of Amazon sales come from the North American continent, including the US, Canada, and Mexico.

After that it’s Amazon Europe with Germany, and the UK, and then Japan. These places make up 95% of all sales on Amazon, a huge share of the market.

You Can Sell On Amazon From Anywhere

The US can seem so far away, the idea of starting a business or expanding there may seem daunting.

If you already have an established business in the EU, you can start selling in Amazon US right away. This is a smart move if you feel like you’ve already tapped out the market in your home territory.

There is a wealth of new customers awaiting you in the US market. You’ll have access to all the same resources you are used to in the European marketplace.

There are even fulfillment prep centers to make sure that the products you’re shipping meet all of Amazon’s requirements.

Wrapping It All Up…

If you need a little help getting your business going, we can help make your transition to Amazon Europe a smooth one.

SatiSupp experts can help photograph your products for a professional looking image that sells, research keywords customers use to buy your product, launch your products with a product giveaway, and help with the VAT registration as well.

With native speakers available in every language, they can be your voice for customer service, copywriting, and optimization services.

We are here to make selling on the EU Marketplace easy for you, so if you’re not sure about the process or don’t speak the language, get in touch with us today. Get selling today on Amazon’s most lucrative marketplace.