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If You Can’t Beat Amazon, Maybe You Should Join It
By Jennifer Schiff
September 15, 2008

So, Should You Add Amazon as a Sales Channel?

Despite the disadvantages, all the e-commerce businesses Ecommerce-Guide.com interviewed were happy to be on Amazon.

"Having a product(s) on Amazon is terrific and relatively painless marketing," said Goldner. "The margins are not as good as from my own site, but no business should rely just on their own venue."

"Amazon's setup and software is easy to work with, they employee great people and Amazon.com provides access to a huge customer base," said Rubin.

"For us as a small publisher, the relationship with Amazon has been very beneficial," added Dake. "Thanks to Amazon, we're able to sell much more than we could a few years ago."

"Our experience with Amazon has been extremely positive, with business growth in the past year over 90 percent," said Gniwisch. "We've been with Amazon for a while now and our history with them has paid off. We've been able to leverage the Amazon brand to help improve our own brand equity and increase product demand with online shoppers. Although Ice.com has grown significantly since we first signed with Amazon [in 2003], it's still an important revenue stream for our business as its boosted search rankings and online reach."

While it can take a year or more to build momentum and sales on Amazon.com, "Amazon is a great way to get your brand out there with a reach you simply cannot achieve as a start-up or even mid-size business," said Gniwisch.

However, Amazon may not be right for every business, especially if you have your own successful e-commerce site or are in a commodity business. One of the keys to being successful on Amazon, Gniwisch noted, is that you have to have "a unique selling proposition" and understand both the advantages and disadvantages.

Jennifer Lonoff Schiff is a regular contributor to Ecommerce-Guide.com and runs a blog for and about small businesses.

Do you have a comment or question about this article or other e-commerce topics in general? Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com E-Commerce Forum. Join the discussion today!

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