You may think that being an Amazon seller in the UAE is an easy way to build an online business that generates a lot of income quickly because you will have access to a huge number of customers in the UAE and throughout the GCC. However, the reality is that there are many frustrated new sellers who get started with the hope of generating quick sales only to discover that they have no visibility, very few customers converting on their listings, and a lot of inventory that is not moving.
What is happening?
For most sellers, the problem lies not in the product they are selling but rather with their product listing. The biggest mistake that most new sellers make is that they do not optimise their product listings for search, conversion, and buyer trust.
Throughout this blog post, we will highlight the most important mistakes made by new sellers with their product listings, what effect those mistakes have on their sales, and how experienced sellers correct those mistakes to generate consistent sales on Amazon in the UAE.
The Biggest Mistake: Treating Listings Like Product Descriptions
The biggest mistake that new sellers make is thinking that the Amazon listing is simply a description of the product, whereas it should be a combination of three components, a sales page, an SEO asset, and a conversion tool; they create a very short and vague product description without using any keywords, put up low-quality or incomplete pictures, do not define the benefits to the customers, and/or copy from their competitors without any plan or strategy. An e-commerce study found that over 70% of all Amazon purchases are made without customers going past the first page of Amazon results, meaning if you are not optimising your listing for visibility and conversion, then your products will likely never receive any views regardless of how great they are.
Mistake 1: Poorly Optimized Keywords
The majority of unsuccessful sellers on Amazon in the country of the United Arab Emirates have made a major mistake with their account, and that is their lack of research on keywords. Amazon is identical to other search engines. If you do not have the right keywords in your listing, your product could possibly never show up in searches. Mistakes include the following:
- Using very vague titles such as "high-quality water bottle" (instead of having more descriptive titles)
- Failing to provide highly relevant, high-converting keywords like "BPA-free insulated water bottle" (when targeting a person who resides in the United Arab Emirates)
- Not including backend keyword information that relates to what you sell (this is required by Amazon).
- Including too many irrelevant keywords in your listing.
Successful sellers on Amazon use tools to conduct thorough keyword research, such as Helium 10 or the Amazon Keyword Planner, and as a result, have listings that are 200-300% more visible than listings that are not, according to Amazon's seller analytics platform.
Mistake 2: Poor Product Titles Resulting in Low Sales
The Product Title Is The First Element That Customers Will See When They Come To Your Product And Is Often The Main Reason They Will Either Choose To Click On Your Listing Or Continue Scrolling.
The Following Are Examples Of Commonly Short Titles:
- Too short
- Vague
- No Benefit
The second example gave the reader a very clear understanding of the value, features, and benefits of purchasing this item. When selling in the UAE, where multiple similar products are sold, this clarity is extremely important.
Mistake 3: Photos Are Of Poor Quality And Have Missing Images
Not Understanding The Power Of Visuals.
According to Amazon, 40% of customers purchase a product by looking at the image and are ultimately influenced by it to make a purchase. New Sellers Make Numerous Mistakes When Using Photos In Their Listings:
- Only Provide 1-2 Images
- Uploading Low-Quality Or Blurry Images
- No Lifestyle Images
- Not Providing Product Dimensions Or How To Use The Product
Good Product Listings Will Have:
- Greater Than One View/angle
- Lifestyle Usage Photos
- Infographic
- Comparison Tables
Strong images can drive customers to purchase products; therefore, for customers in the UAE who tend to be more visual and more mindful of brand names, strong imagery can be essential to closing a sale.
Mistake 4: Focusing on Features Instead of Customer-Focused Copywriting
Many times an inexperienced seller finds themselves concentrating on the features of their product rather than the benefits to the customer. The reality is that the consumer does not necessarily purchase a product; they actually purchase the solution to a problem.
An example would be the statements below:
"Constructed of stainless steel"
"Will keep your drinks cold for 24 hrs and will work perfectly in the climate of the UAE."
According to Nielsen's study, emotional messaging can increase conversion rates by more than 20%.
The great product listing will answer the question, What is in it for me?.
Mistake 5: No Review and Trust Signals Strategy
The key to all e-commerce is trust. All new Amazon seller uae fail to build up reviews and ignore the importance of a strategy to acquire them.
Among the typical strategies that an inexperienced seller may make when launching their product will include:
- No review strategy (plan) at launch of product
- Not participating in the Amazon Vine program or the Early Reviewer Program
- Not following up with their customers after purchase
- Poor buying experience after purchase
As per Amazon data, products with 10 or more reviews will receive significantly more conversions than products with no reviews combined. Products with reviews can see an increase of up to 65% in conversion as compared to products without reviews.
Optimizing Your Listing to Maximize Your Sales Potential
The top-performing Amazon sellers in the UAE take a few crucial steps when creating listings:
- Perform extensive keyword research before creating any listing.
- Create SEO-optimised titles and bullet points.
- Capture high-quality images of their product.
- Write copy that is focused on the benefits of the products listed.
- Develop a structured plan for generating product reviews.
These sellers don't consider their product listings static pages that only need to be created once and simply left alone. They are continually optimising their listings based on their performance data.
Conclusion
For every native Amazon seller located in the United Arab Emirates, the first step to being successful on Amazon is developing an optimised listing. Even if the listing is unsuccessful, the best sellers will typically still struggle if they've created a poorly optimised listing. Conversely, if the listing was created using the proper optimisation, it will generate a significant amount of "organic" sales.
The most common error that new sellers make is failing to understand the necessity of having an optimised listing.
If you have good keywords used in the listing, great images of the product, and you've created a copy that describes the product and explains the benefits to customers, great! You will experience changes in your sales if you optimise your product listings using the above information. If your business is experiencing low visibility or conversion rates, the best time for you to conduct an audit of your P listings is now. Create a plan for optimising your Amazon marketplace strategy and having the ability to sell well in the UAE marketplace.