A Guide to Amazon Fashion for New Designers
As a new fashion designer, you want to market your product to the world. Your creation process is complete – now, you need to enter the fashion business. Most likely, you’ve thought about opening up your own boutique, creating an e-commerce website, or perhaps contacted major retailers about carrying your product. But have you considered selling your apparel designs on Amazon.com? Many designers don’t see this as a viable option, but Amazon’s fashion product selection is growing rapidly, with many notable designers placing their apparel on the platform. Amazon.com sells to millions of customers worldwide – as a designer, why not leverage Amazon’s enormous customer base to your advantage and sell your items through Amazon?
Creating a Successful Amazon Fashion Business
Creating an Amazon account can be exciting for a new entrepreneur, but in the fashion category, it’s important to tread carefully. First off, you’ll need to get approval to sell in the clothing category before you can create your store. Reviewing the guidelines for selling apparel on Amazon is crucial for success – you can find these category guidelines here. Be sure to know them inside and out before you launch your Amazon store.
Another decision that you’ll need to make is whether or not to use Amazon FBA. With FBA, Amazon will pick, pack and ship your items from their FBA warehouses, as well as handle all the customer service and returns for you. FBA is a convenient option, but you can also choose to package and ship items yourself. There are pros and cons to both methods, but FBA does make it easier to handle the intricacies of Amazon’s strict guidelines.
Amazon’s most important Leadership Principle is Customer Obsession. Amazon wants every order to be handled perfectly, without complaints or problems from the buyer. That is why Amazon’s algorithm is highly advanced and programmed to detect any inauthentic items, negative feedback, late shipments, or any other issues that arise due to a violation of their policies. If Amazon detects that your account is violating any of their policies, they will suspend your account without notice.
When it comes to Amazon fashion, the guidelines are complex – the most common violations seen in the fashion category are trademark and IP violations, image policy violations, and customer service that is not up to par with Amazon’s standard of customer service. For new designers, Amazon fashion could be a major asset to help grow your business as long as the account is properly managed.