Making investments in advertising, no matter how successfully handled on the Amazon platform, would be worthless if your products aren’t retail-ready to drive conversions. So what do we mean by Amazon retail readiness?
Amazon Retail Readiness comprises several actions you must take to improve your digital store presence. Before considering posting or advertising your product descriptions pages on Amazon, make sure they’re retail-ready, which means every item on the Amazon Checklist must be checked.
After reading this article, you should be able to establish retail readiness factors and determine whether your product descriptions page is retail ready for a campaign or not.
What is Amazon Retail Readiness?
When an Amazon product is deemed retail-ready, it indicates that the product listing contains all of the information and details required for the client to comprehend what they are purchasing correctly.
A retail-ready product page is a critical component of any Amazon marketing effort. If you want to sell your goods quickly and land in the Buy Box, you must ensure that your product page is retail-ready!
Importance of Amazon Retail Readiness
Customers who shop online cannot touch or feel the object they are viewing in order to evaluate and make a buying descision. As a result, buyers must rely on all the specifications and information mentioned in the product description.
Although good keywords and ad placements are critical for driving traffic to your listings, a detailed and comprehensive product page is equally important for providing an excellent buying experience.
Remember that the only way a customer can assess the quality of a product is to examine a complete product information page.
[Note: Don’t expect revenue growth until your product’s detail page isn’t presented appropriately.]
Explanation of Amazon Retail Readiness With A Sample
Assume you’ve been invited to your friend’s birthday party. According to the invitation, the party would include an unending variety of cuisine, a birthday cake, many decorations, and gifts. You get thrilled, wear your finest costly clothes, and then go to the birthday party celebration.
But, as a host, your friend didn’t mention that he/she is going to arrange a get-together party with snacks, that’s it! What will happen next? The craving will cause you to be disappointed, puzzled, frustrated, and highly agitated. After that, you’ll think hundred times before accepting such an invitation, right?
That’s exactly how it feels inside when you present your customers with the highest quality and imaginative advertisement, only for them to discover that the product is not as advertised subsequently.
Never do this to customers because if they are disappointed, they will remember your brand and never return to check again, even if you are selling cutting-edge products the next time.
What do Buyers Check Before Purchasing?
While attracting potential customers to your product pages through appropriate keywords, information, and ad placement, it is also critical to ensure that a buyer has a positive experience once they arrive at your Product Page (or ASIN Detail Page).
Most buyers use them to learn more about a specific product by:
- Viewing a product’s images.
- Examining the product’s description.
- Looking for bullet points that highlight the product’s primary characteristics.
- Considering the product’s reviews and ratings.
What Happens If These Aspects Aren’t Correctly Displayed?
Failing a potential customer means disappointing Amazon. So, if you never focus on retail readiness and these aspects are not correctly displayed on your page,
- A potential customer would be disappointed.
- They may never come back to buy your product
- Amazon will eventually prevent your product pages from appearing at the top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERPs).
- You’ll lose rankings and have a difficult time regaining those organic rankings.
Amazon Retail Readiness Checklist: What Makes a Retail Ready Product?
We hope that now you’ve got a little understanding of what retail readiness is. So, the next step is to learn what it takes to be retail-ready. Amazon retail-ready requires a plethora of product features and specifics, ranging from your contents and graphics to the ASIN, inventory levels, title, bullets, and so on.
We’ve created an extensive checklist of what you’ll need to be ASIN retail-ready. Its all about producing a clear and appealing summary of all of your product’s features.
Let’s go over a quick checklist of what a retail-ready product page should look like before you launch your ad campaigns:
-
Good Product Title
The title of your listing is the first and foremost thing a customer sees. You want to improve the product title to appeal to potential purchasers while also being descriptive.
Even though Amazon permits up to 200 characters for a product description, you should keep the title as short as possible for optimal retail readiness metrics.
The standard product title should be between 50-100 characters long. That should include the primary and relevant keywords, brand, and other essential data such as material, color, size, or number. Amazon advises against utilizing all capital letters or being overly promotional with your titles.
Sample of a good product title
You must NOTE:
- You should capitalize the first letter of each word in the title, with the exception of coordinating conjunctions.
- Customers pay close attention to the first 80 characters of a title. Make sure it’s appropriate for their needs.
- Make sure your primary keyword is included in the title.
- Never use full capital letters, even if it’s the title.
- After your major keyword, provide any relevant details such as quantity, packaging, etc.
- Spell out the measurement appropriately (example: 7 inches shouldn’t be 7”).
You must AVOID:
- Bigger titles may decrease your SEO ranking and customer attraction too.
2. Product Images & Videos
Product photos are essential in online buying. A shopper can only appraise merchandise through images.
As a result, when people explore Amazon, high-quality product photographs attract their attention, leave an immediate impression, and reinforce a brand’s identity. Which is why your product photography must be done in the proper lighting and setting.
[Note: If a customer uses the zoom-in functionality, the images may get blurry. We recommend that you can include at least four photographs with a plain white backdrop and at least 1,000 DPI]
If you include video, you can incorporate more benefits of each product. Showcasing how the product is utilized will help people visualize what it would be like to own your product. A lifestyle Amazon video is also more compelling, increasing the length of time a buyer spends viewing your virtual shelves.
Sample of a Product Image
You must NOTE:
- Ensure that the images of your products are of great quality.
- Make sure to shoot them in the proper lighting.
- Maintain a white background for the photographs.
- You might include an infographic that explains the advantages of using your products.
- Highlight your product’s essential features.
- Upload six images to your listing, every shot from various perspectives.
You must AVOID:
- Don’t upload all images from the same angles.
3. Bullet Points with Details
Bullet points assist the reader in making product data easier to read. Instead of reading the entire content, bullets save time and allow them to skim. It also promotes increased sales and conversion rates. However, you should keep in mind;
- Product descriptions for each bullet should be under 500 characters long and include information about the product’s use, its primary features, warranty, assembly instructions, model numbers, and other important information.
- Every product must include five bulleted details on average.
- Try to keep them at 120 characters long and focus on customer benefits, product use cases, and other details. Keywords should also be included here.
When used correctly, bullets can significantly boost your product’s discoverability.
Sample of bullets with product information
You must NOTE:
- Amazon lists products with 5 bullet points. Use this area wisely.
- Describe your product’s features and core benefits.
- Don’t make your secondary keywords unreadable.
- The best product advantage comes first, followed by less important ones.
- Each bullet point has 500 characters.
- Each bullet point should be in “sentence case.”
- Punctuate carefully.
- Correct grammar. Organize your sentences.
- Include product details—size, color, form, amount, etc.
You must AVOID:
- This section shouldn’t include pricing or promotions.
4. Overall Product Description
Although product descriptions play a lesser role than bullet points and product titles, they’re essential for highlighting your brand’s values and history. This is also an excellent time to highlight your consumers’ problems and how your product can provide a perfect answer.
Explain this portion in a more narrative manner rather than a formal manner. You may wonder why 95% of people make purchasing decisions with the subconscious mind. It means that creating a fascinating description will definitely connect the buyer’s emotions with your products.
Sample of product details
You must NOTE:
- Maintain natural-sounding product descriptions by optimizing them with the proper keywords.
- Explain your product in detail.
- Include descriptive qualities of your goods such as size, packing, color, and other details.
- In this section, do not include any pricing information or promos.
You must AVOID:
- Long paragraphs will not fit, only use focus points.
5. Product Stock Availability
It is critical to keep your FBA inventories well-stocked; this is your top priority as a seller. You are responsible for ensuring that your products are available to your clients whenever they require them.
Whenever your products are out of stock, it gives the appearance that you cannot meet your customers’ needs on time.
This type of error can happen once or twice, which is sufficient. However, your organically raised rankings will undoubtedly suffer if this happens frequently.
Sample of product unavailability section
You must NOTE:
- Check that your products aren’t out of stock.
- Maintain consistent stock to avoid affecting organic rankings.
You must AVOID:
- Always keep concerned about your stock. Unavailable stock may impact customers.
6. Customer Reviews & Ratings
You might be astonished to know that, more than 90% of people who buy online make a purchase just after reading the evaluations and ratings! Customers can tell or express what kind of shopping experience they may expect if they rate your products.
And the review will show that whether a product is useful, exemplary, or awful depends solely on its reviews and ratings. Honest reviews submitted by other customers serve as documentation in this case.
Low ratings, bad reviews, or terrible ratings can all have a significant impact on your sales. As a result, it is necessary to sell high-quality products successfully.
[Note: Amazon does not support fraudulent reviews, sponsored reviews, or anything written in return for a voucher or bribe. Such behavior is against their policies, and breaking them may result in suspension.]
Sample of customer ratings
Sample of customer reviews
You must NOTE:
- You can only ask a customer to provide an honest review.
- A delighted and happy consumer will automatically submit a positive review on the page of your listing.
- Maintain an overall rating of 3.5 or above.
- You must have at least 15 confirmed reviews from legitimate customers.
- Keep your product’s quality up and provide greater assistance.
You must AVOID:
- Don’t force your customers to write reviews. It’s not necessary for a customer to provide just good feedback.
7. Winning the Buy Box
Amazon considers each seller’s benefits and drawbacks based on reviews, product pricing, FBA fulfillment, user experience, and other considerations to determine whether they receive the buy box for each and every product they list.
Winning the Buy Box indicates that you are in the lead for the bulk of Amazon sales for that type of specific product.
If you don’t get the Buy Box, you won’t be able to run sponsored adverts, and you’ll probably lose whatever money you’ve spent on product promotion.
Sample of Buy Box
You must NOTE:
- Apply FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon).
- Maintain competitive product pricing.
- Be sure to please customers.
You must AVOID:
- Refrain from maintaining excess product prices.
8. Enhanced Brand Content (EBC)
Sellers that own a brand can use enhanced brand content to include HD photos, crisp text placements, highlight the value proposition and brand story, compare charts, and include extra information on their product description page.
It’s anticipated that improved brand content will contribute to increased sales conversion and decreased product returns as well. Here are some essential to-do points that you should bear in mind:
- Ensure that you have rich text.
- Make sure that your photographs have a high-definition resolution.
- Bring attention to the history of your brand.
- Have at your disposal an additional piece of information.
You must NOTE:
- Always include media-rich text.
- Ensure your photographs are of high resolution.
- Highlight your company’s history.
- Please provide some other information.
You must AVOID:
- Don’t use blurred or low-quality images as product content.
9. Correct Pricing
Your products won’t perform well unless they have been priced competitively. Pricing can be complicated, but you should investigate enough to be well-versed in the sector.
If you think to set it too low, you will undercut margins, but putting it too high will kill your sell-through and cause other issues. It can also be important for understanding how promotions work.
When it comes to slow-moving goods, using a coupon or discount code can make a big difference. Furthermore, it improves the visibility of your listings in search engine results and advertisements.
You must NOTE:
- A competitive price is necessary, so maintain it properly.
- Coupons or discount prices will help you get more traffic.
You must AVOID:
- Don’t believe in talks. Research is necessary before pricing, which means, you should avoid fake news.
10. Adequate Inventory
If you want to continue to be successful and win the Buy Box, you need to demonstrate to Amazon that you have enough of the product in stock to fulfill any number of orders that may be placed.
Whether you do it through your warehouse or FBA, as a seller, you should prioritize ensuring that your inventory is always fully supplied.
You must NOTE:
- Check to see that you have sufficient inventory to satisfy the needs of the customer.
You must AVOID:
- Unavailable stock should be avoided.
Create Your Advertising Strategy
Once you’ve properly prepped your Amazon listings and brand, you’re ready to spend on Amazon Advertising. Ads are critical to Amazon’s success, especially when trying to ramp up sales consistently.
We propose testing and executing various campaigns to determine which ones work best. However, if you followed the procedures above and used your money wisely, you may expect a higher ROI and advertising that convert.
What To Do If Your Listing Is Not Retail Ready?
If your ASIN or product information page isn’t retail-ready, then use the below checklist we provided to resolve the issue.
- Make appealing product visuals.
- Create an enticing product description.
- Create attractive enriched content.
- Give your goods a captivating title.
- Keep your bullet points short and concise.
- Maintain positive customer feedback and ratings.
- Check to see whether your product is in stock.
- Set reasonable pricing for your product.
A Few Mistakes You Should Avoid
In addition to the aspects discussed above, the following are some other elements to take into account:
- When evaluating your product’s retail readiness, consider your price point. For instance, if your product is priced under $10, it would most certainly be categorized as an “add-on item.”
- Only orders totaling $25 or more are eligible for an add-on item. Because a buyer cannot buy these things in a single transaction, generating traffic through advertisements will not help with sales.
- Finally, ensure your text is clear, descriptive, and free of spelling and grammatical problems.
[Note: Remember that blurry photographs, confusing descriptions, or characteristics will never help you sell well. They will have a negative impact on the overall performance of your goods, and this affects your organic rankings as well.]
FAQs for Amazon retail readiness
What exactly does “retail ready” mean?
Retail-ready means that the product listing contains all the information and details required for the customer to comprehend the product they are purchasing.
How do you improve your Amazon star rating?
- Provide an excellent customer experience.
- Send follow-up emails and ask buyers for feedback after an Amazon purchase.
- Request Amazon reviews through your newsletter and social media channels.
- Contact users who have reviewed similar products.
- Recruit the best Amazon reviewers.
- Locate the best reviewers.
- Look for relevant tags.
How many Amazon reviews are required for Amazon retail readiness?
Amazon recommends a minimum of 25 customer reviews for your listing before advertising is scaled.
How much does it cost to leave a review on Amazon?
You must have spent at least $50 on Amazon in the previous 12 months using only your valid credit or debit card: do reviews (including the star ratings) and respond to customer inquiries.
Final Words
If your company wants to promote your brand and run PPC ads on the Amazon marketplace, but Amazon doesn’t consider those pages to be retail-ready, it is a waste of money and time. That means you need Amazon retail readiness for your products.
Therefore, before you consider marketing your products, make sure your listing is flawless, and you have done all the steps adequately so that it can attract buyers before you invest in a successful marketing campaign or product promotion.
