15 Problems You're Facing on Amazon, and How to Solve Them

The Amazon Marketplace is ever changing—with each new day there are a handful of complexities and challenges sellers must face. Whether you’re new to selling on Amazon or you’ve been using the platform for years, it’s difficult to keep up.

Since 2013, SupplyKick has been dedicated to partnering with and growing exceptional brands on Amazon. And with years of experience comes years of learning and growing. To help other sellers, we’ve identified the most common problems Amazon sellers are facing in the current marketplace. Read on to learn more about these problems, and more importantly, our solutions.

1. You're spending too much on Amazon ads and not seeing ROI.
2. Your products keep going out of stock and you’re losing money. (Ahh!)
3. There are too many third-party sellers on your product listing.
4. You’re selling directly to Amazon via Vendor Central.
5. Your product reviews aren’t great—you have a low review count or too many negative reviews.
6. Your products are not ranking well on Amazon.
7. Your customers aren’t converting on your Amazon listings.
8. Your Amazon listing is suppressed or your Amazon account is suspended... Yikes!
9. Your product launch didn’t go as planned.
10. You’re not maximizing profit margins.
11. Your brand is struggling to stand out from the crowd.
12. You’re only selling on Amazon and haven’t considered other marketplaces/channels.
13. You’ve worked with an Amazon Agency before and they didn’t deliver.
14. You don’t have the time or resources to keep up with constant changes and updates.
15. You’re unhappy with your sales or current partner and not sure what to do next.

1. You're spending too much on Amazon ads and not seeing ROI.

To maximize your return on ad spend (ROAS), try these three tips:

1. Use creative search terms. You’ll avoid the competition and high costs associated with in-demand keywords while driving traffic to your products.
2. When using Amazon Web Services (AWS), choose exact match bidding to focus on keywords that deliver the highest conversion rate.
3. Increase your average order value (AOV) through product bundles or upselling customers to more expensive product variations.

2. Your products keep going out of stock and you’re losing money. (Ahh!)

Demand forecasting is incredibly important—with an optimized inventory management strategy, you can keep enough stock available to grow your sales, without over-purchasing inventory. It’s important to understand the main factors that can impact your stock levels: different types of demand, trends in product sales, and inventory optimization software (Feedvisor, Jungle Scout, Google Trends, and Helium 10, to name a few). 

If you are an FBA seller facing unexpected inventory restrictions, there are a couple things you can do to get the most out of your inventory. For starters, focus on strategic advertising—increase your brand awareness, but only run Amazon ads for products that are sufficiently stocked. You can also build up customer engagement and conversion using brand marketing tactics, Amazon Posts, and enhancing your Amazon Storefront.

3. There are too many third-party sellers on your product listing.

If you’re working with too many independent, third-party sellers on Amazon, you risk losing control of your brand. You might be dealing with inconsistent prices, subpar content, and poor seller ratings. The solution: work with a single, experienced agency or wholesale partner that’s dedicated to the success of your brand on Amazon.

4. You’re selling directly to Amazon via Vendor Central.

Selling on Vendor Central has nice perks… but it also comes with a long list of headaches: losing control of the sales process, dealing with unapproved pricing changes, shipping restrictions, and often, smaller margins. To regain ownership of your brand on Amazon and simplify the ordering process, team up with a strategic partner that will put your brand first. When Endangered Species Chocolate made the switch from Vendor Central and partnered with SupplyKick, they exceeded their sales plan by 32% for the first half of 2019.

5. Your product reviews aren’t great—you have a low review count or too many negative reviews.

Sellers and shoppers on Amazon know that reviews matter—in 2021, 57% of Amazon buyers said that reviews are a key factor in their purchase decisions. Here are our tips for growing your Amazon review count while staying within Amazon’s Terms of Service:

• Deliver an exceptional customer experience. Answer customer questions quickly, give customers updates on order and returns, reach out to confused customers, and use product variations to merge reviews.
• Use product packaging inserts to generate product and seller reviews—but make sure they follow Amazon’s review policies.
• Request feedback through Amazon’s automated services like FeedbackWhiz and FeedbackFive.

6. Your products are not ranking well on Amazon.

Even if your brand is selling a top-quality product, it won’t perform well without an optimized Amazon listing and product detail page. Amazon keyword ranking and SEO are at the core of optimizing your product listing to get better rankings. Use software like Google Trends or Sonar Tool to identify high-ranking keywords, and make sure those keywords are included in your product description. 

To maintain strong product rankings, we also recommend maintaining a dynamic Amazon advertising strategy, inventory forecasting, and quickly correcting any errors on your listings.

7. Your customers aren’t converting on your Amazon listings.

So you’ve optimized your listings and shoppers are finding your products on Amazon. But how do you get them to make the purchase? The answer may lie in your Amazon Storefront. Our partners have seen up to a 30% increase in sales per visitor after implementing optimized Storefronts. Storefronts act as “mini-websites” where you can house advertisements to showcase your brand and product assortment in a single location. 

You need to be a Brand Registered seller before you’re able to create an Amazon Storefront. Once you’re qualified, we suggest the following steps to develop an Amazon Store that stands out:

1. Gather branding assets so the Storefront acts as an extension of your brand. It should look and feel the same as your website or store.
2. Develop a purpose for your Storefront. Will it educate consumers? Do you want to show off case studies and statistics? Or do you just want to increase your brand presence on Amazon?
3. Design a Storefront that communicates your brand’s content through visuals.
4. Get feedback on the Storefront from the rest of your team.
5. Publish your Storefront and make changes as necessary once customers start to interact.

8. Your Amazon listing is suppressed or your Amazon account is suspended... Yikes!

If your listing doesn’t meet Amazon’s requirements, it may be suppressed, deactivated, or your account can ultimately be suspended until the problem is resolved. Suppressed listings usually occur due to insufficient information. If your listing doesn’t have at least one main image, a detailed product description, or a defined category type, it may be suppressed.

Follow these steps to fix a suppressed Amazon listing and get your sales back on track:

1. Navigate to the ‘Manage Inventory’ button under the Inventory tab in Seller Central.
2. If you have any suppressed listings, you will see a ‘Suppressed’ button. If no ‘Suppressed’ items are indicated, then congratulations–all listings are working properly!
3. If the button is present, click ‘Suppressed’ and select the desired product listings.
4. Edit listings that need more information, or click ‘Manage Images’ to fix those without product pictures. Every product listing has an Amazon Product Summary page, which lists out all of the suppression and quality issues.
5. Once all of the issues have been resolved, click ‘Save and Finish’ to exit.

9. Your product launch didn’t go as planned.

The typical Amazon launch takes time and resources. Brands should not expect to see a return on investment within the first six months of a product launch. Your goal during this time frame is to increase views, reviews, and conversion. There are many factors that go into launching a new product successfully on Amazon, including extensive keyword and competitive research, continuous monitoring and testing, and modifications to ads and listings based on results. 

Mac Sports was successful on Amazon before partnering with SupplyKick, but our team identified that they could capture more sales by manufacturing size and color variations. So they launched 7 new products on Amazon in collaboration with SupplyKick, complete with carefully crafted product listings and Enhanced Brand Content. Since their launch, these products have totaled over $5,500,000.

10. You’re not maximizing profit margins.

A “set it and forget it” approach won’t work on a rigorous, ever-changing marketplace like Amazon. In order for an Amazon seller pricing strategy to be effective, you need to be completely hands-on and devote sufficient time to monitoring prices. Are you pricing products competitively and optimizing your ad spend? Are you buying from a manufacturer or a distributor (or maybe you’re buying Amazon returns wholesale)? Are you facing vendor chargebacks or higher fees? Frustrated with an overall lack of sales growth and not sure where to turn? If it sounds like too much to take on alone, see how SupplyKick can help you maximize profit margins while protecting your brand on Amazon.

11. Your brand is struggling to stand out from the crowd.

For your product to stand out from the 350 million others sold on Amazon, you need to establish a cohesive brand marketing strategy, complete with photography, video, A+ Content, and an optimized Amazon Storefront. Amazon customers want to engage with brands that are authentic and trustworthy. Seize opportunities to tell your brand’s story and attract customers in a meaningful way through compelling visuals and copy.

How has SupplyKick transformed Amazon Storefronts and increased sales through brand marketing strategies? Read more and view brand examples in our Amazon Brand Marketing Lookbook.

12. You’re only selling on Amazon and haven’t considered other marketplaces/channels.

If your brand is having success on Amazon, why not bring your products to another online marketplace and grow your sales? Marketplace diversification is top of mind right now for growing brands—Walmart, eBay, Facebook, and Target have established competitive marketplaces with varying product assortments, pricing and shipping options, and customer experiences.

And if you’re looking to expand, we suggest you do it sooner than later. For the second year in a row, the Walmart marketplace has doubled in size and now houses over 100,000 sellers. Amazon still reigns above other ecommerce marketplaces, but competitors are starting to make their mark.

13. You’ve worked with an Amazon Agency before and they didn’t deliver.

When you’re trusting an Amazon Agency to represent your brand, we know your expectations deserve to be met. Too often, agencies will overpromise and underdeliver or use a one-size-fits-all approach. Work with a partner that is experienced, driven by values, and committed to your success. Our team at SupplyKick develops customized, data-driven solutions to take your brand #1 on Amazon. And we have the results to prove it.

14. You don’t have the time or resources to keep up with constant changes and updates.

Especially for beginners, Amazon is a challenging marketplace to navigate. You might not have the time to keep your Amazon presence strong and competitive, on top of running a successful business. Before partnering with SupplyKick, Henry’s House of Coffee was in that same position. They struggled with setting expiration dates, shipping costs, and distribution practices—and Amazon Seller Support wasn’t providing the right answers. SupplyKick was able to provide advice, service, and technical expertise to let Henry’s House of Coffee get back to doing what they do best: roasting coffee.

15. You’re unhappy with your sales or current partner and not sure what to do next.

Ready to work with a partner who is committed to your brand’s success on Amazon? Have more questions about selling on Amazon? Kick it with us! Learn more about our Wholesale and Agency partnerships, or start a conversation with our team.

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