Not everyone can do business on Amazon for two main reasons: Competition and Concern about Hijacker. We all know that Amazon is a huge and ever-evolving marketplace where new opportunities emerge every day; and do not let “hijackers” deter you from getting started, as it is a false roadblock that can be avoided. Therefore, it is very important to do a competitive analysis before you enter any business, or select any product to sell on Amazon, but it is not smart to worry about an ever-present but ambiguous threat of competitive “hijackers”.
In this post, let’s give an overview about what Amazon hijackers do, and how they affect your business.
Who Are Amazon Hijackers?
Hijackers are the people on your listing that have undercut your price just enough to steal the Buy Box from you.
Typically, these are Chinese counterfeiters or bots that are running on an algorithm, but some of them are Americans trying to get a leg up on your online success.
What does it mean to have your listing “hijacked”?
Generally, acquiring a list hijacked suggests that somebody is currently selling a similar or fake variant of your private label merchandise. As we took the attempt to make our own product and brand especially so we are able to avoid having to compete to make the Buy Box this is bothersome to some label vendor.
Let’s take a look at a real example of hijacking:
MOCREO sells a Bluetooth selfie stick under its own brand. Yet, we can see there are 2 other sellers for this product.
Here we see that MOCREO seems to be the original seller based on review-count. But REDGO Direct is selling the same product under the same brand for almost $2 less.
And if we look at their individual listings, we see they are almost identical. Except for the seller.
What is the Buy Box?
Amazon will designate 1 seller, a product’s default option seller. When a client clicks the “Add to Cart” button, then the seller which owns the Buy Box will find the purchase (unless the client expressly changes to buy from another seller). Because clients will seldom decide on another vendor of an identical solution,”possessing” the Buy Box is a huge advantage in.
Impact of hijacking
Let’s review the common situation about this issue, an unsuspecting client might buy your flea and tick collar, but rather than purchasing from you, your list hijacker possesses the Buy Box plus they get a fake version of your flea and tick collar! They’re unhappy with their purchase, and leave a negative review on that your listing! Therefore, you get a review which you do promote, from not buying your goods and this review could dissuade traffic.
This could derail your successful product if it continues. Of course, you don’t ever want to find yourself in this position to start with, so let’s explore the precautions you can take to prevent this situation.
But never give up on your business, you can learn how to prevent listing hijackers and invest in your brand by applying these steps below to keep your listing stay away from Hijacker
1. Monitor Your Listing Closely
They do not call it “Amazon” for nothing–items can get crazy out there! Whether you’re currently walking through even the superstore, or the Amazon forest, heed this advice: be conscious of your environment!
You are going to want to realize your list beyond checking in on your Seller Central dash each single day. Many your label merchandise is being sold by sellers. When it’s greater than one (that one vendor being you), then you might have a hijacker position in your hands….you do not need to look at your record each and every single day, but sometimes will probably be adequate, especially since your earnings begin to ramp up along with others might note your achievement.
Additionally, if you notice any sudden dips in sales from your Seller Central dashboard, that could be an indication of something amiss.
2. Build Your Own Ecommerce Site
If you are able to create your own ecommerce site outside of Amazon (sites like Shopify or Square Space make it easy to set up your own ecommerce store), you can stay away from the riff raff of all Amazon hijackers. This really is a Strategy also, so you can begin constructing your customer base which It is possible to contact rather than be reliant on rules and the traffic of Amazon.
Amazon delivers a tag fulfillment support, which means that you may have clients check out on your website and have the product. Or you could send the client to test out.
3. Brand Your Products Better
If you create better branding on your product listing, and show that you have a distinct brand and logo on the actual product, and the packaging, you may deter the lurking pirate. The reason for this is because you are clearly demonstrating the brand to the customer, and if they order your product from a counterfeit seller, then it is immediately apparent that their product may not have the branding that your product should have.
So when you are taking your product photos, do your best to show off the branding on the packaging and the product itself. This is a best practice regardless, as you are investing in developing the brand and your marketing collateral, you might as well show this off to your customers!
Your victory will soon overshadow the hijackers who feast on the temptations they could collect from you by follow their steps above.
