Managing an inventory of high-margin and hot-selling products, getting premium organic search results, and winning the Buy Box are the goals of any Amazon seller. Merchants can achieve these goals through optimized listings, effective inventory management, positive seller feedback, and robust review management.
However, managing an Amazon business is challenging, especially as it grows. If you feel overwhelmed, you may outsource some functions to virtual assistants in Phoenix. Many retailers tap independent contractors to keep their Amazon businesses afloat, and so should you!
This article lists outsourced tasks that can streamline operations for your Amazon store.
Tasks to Outsource to Simplify Amazon Seller Operations
Whether you are an individual seller or company representative, growing an Amazon business is challenging when you manage all the moving parts. Business functions like manufacturing, merchandising, shipping, customer service, marketing, and accounting can take up most of your time.
Getting lost in daily tasks can make you forget your core function or lose sight of scaling your business. Outsourcing e-commerce services can help. Many merchants leverage innovative third-party services to save time, generate more sales, and cut costs.
What outsourced tasks can you assign to virtual assistants to streamline operations? Here are a few to consider:
1. Product Research
Product research is necessary when looking for and creating a list of products to sell on Amazon. In addition, you need to procure samples to test and look at similar products from different manufacturers.
After acquiring the right product, you must go back and forth with your manufacturer to determine the pricing and shipping terms and handle invoicing. The entire process takes a lot of time and effort.
You can outsource tasks to an Amazon virtual assistant to streamline operations. Partnering with an offshoring provider in the Philippines matches you with the right professional. The remote assistant can handle product research so that you can concentrate on core activities.
Your virtual assistant can also conduct market research on your behalf to identify valuable insights into the newest trends. With their help, you can learn about your competitors’ best-selling products, review negative feedback to facilitate product improvement, and determine best practices to apply to refine your strategy.
2. Product Sourcing and Logistics
Product sourcing and logistics are crucial, but talking to suppliers can take significant time. Amazon sellers must get quotes, establish product specifications, define agreements, and draft contracts.
Some virtual assistants specialize in these tasks and perform them well. Alternatively, some sellers conduct product research and let a sourcing expert handle the rest. Doing so helps them expedite the process and procure the right item at the right price.
Amazon virtual assistants can source raw materials for you and find specific items from local and international suppliers. They can even negotiate pricing and terms with suppliers, manufacturers, and logistics companies on your behalf. Lastly, a specialist remote assistant with a good network in your target market can arrange factory visits.
Just ensure that the individual you hire is an expert at sourcing and managing supplier relationships. Also, determine how involved you want to be from the onset.
3. Listing Creation
Amazon list creation is time-consuming. Merchants must work on titles, descriptions, image sets, bullet points, and reviews to ensure good product listings. They must also optimize existing listings regularly to fit Amazon standards.
For example, each product must have a primary photo with a minimum dimension of 1,000 pixels and a primary keyword in the product title. Another rule to follow to make products Amazon-friendly is to use bullets to highlight its main features. The description must also be accurate and readable. Lastly, the review section must have positive reviews to build credibility for potential buyers.
Amazon sellers can outsource tasks to a virtual assistant with a background in list creation and optimization to streamline operations. They can work with business process outsourcing (BPO) firms to find a virtual assistant with experience in Amazon search engine optimization (SEO).
Merchants also do not need to bring listing optimization in-house or hire a full-time copywriter. Instead, they can work with a professionally trained independent contractor to gain high traffic and convert as many leads as possible.
4. Inventory Management
Fulfillment by Amazon has many processes and systems you can use to optimize your store. However, the daily demands of inventory management can easily overwhelm any seller, especially those utilizing various methods.
Therefore, an Amazon virtual assistant can come in handy. They can help sellers like you manage your inventory stock across multiple storage facilities, warehouses, orders, sales, and deliveries. The virtual assistant can:
- Manage your inventory dashboards
- Track your store’s health by monitoring inventory key performance indicators (KPIs)
- Help plan and implement stocking strategies
You can use automation tools to boost your virtual assistant’s productivity, especially as your store expands. Using an inventory management solution, you can automate simple, recurring tasks such as encoding and organizing information in a database. Some tools use robotic process automation (RPA), which can automate 70%–80% of rule-based processes.
5. Shipment Plans
Developing an Amazon shipment plan involves many tedious steps that most sellers would rather not do. A virtual assistant can handle the outsourced tasks to streamline operations.
For instance, once you are ready to ship your stocks to Amazon, the next step is to draft a shipment plan including the following details:
- Whether your team or Amazon will prepare and label your inventory
- Your logistics partner’s information and your chosen shipping method
- List of items you want to send to the Amazon fulfillment center
- Number of each item you want to send
- Pallet and carton measurements
You can make this process easy with e-commerce outsourcing. Your virtual assistant can help draft a shipping plan when transferring the products to Amazon’s warehouse.
After the virtual assistant drafts the shipment plan, they can send shipping labels and inform you or your external warehouse provider where your stocks will be delivered. This way, they can make further arrangements.
6. Product Exchanges, Returns, and Reimbursements
Customers may ask to return a product for many reasons. It may be because the product was defective or damaged upon arrival, or they may have simply changed their mind. An Amazon virtual assistant with knowledge of customer-centric outsourcing knows how to handle such concerns and can provide partial refunds when needed.
Amazon also has a reimbursement policy for products damaged or lost within their facility or warehouse. However, filing a reimbursement claim requires multiple steps, depending on which part of the fulfillment process was involved. Therefore, managing reimbursement cases in-house takes a lot of work.
You can outsource this task to streamline operations. A virtual assistant helps ensure that any damaged or lost product is eligible for reimbursement under Amazon’s policy and raises concerns with the relevant department. They create a ticket with Amazon’s support team to have them investigate and resolve the issue.
7. Customer Service
Being there for customers through good and bad times is vital to ensuring they have a positive experience with your store. Doing so lets buyers know you are always available to address their concerns. A positive experience increases the chance of getting a good review and minimizes negative ones.
Generalist virtual assistants shine in this function. Virtual customer support agents can manage multiple communication channels like phone calls, business email, social media, and text. Having a virtual assistant for customer service can improve the quality of your service and enhance customer satisfaction.
Outsourcing customer support to a virtual assistant is common and very affordable. One outsourced customer service tip is to ensure a set process and design blueprints for any potential scenario.
8. Amazon Pay-per-click (PPC) Management
Running an Amazon PPC campaign takes a long time. You can outsource the task to streamline operations if you do not feel confident managing it or if it is not something you enjoy. However, the virtual assistant needs access to your Seller Central account to do the job.
Alternatively, you can set up the campaigns and have the virtual assistant monitor them daily. Interviewing potential virtual assistants thoroughly is essential to finding someone who understands the process.
Moreover, you must establish ground rules to ensure you do not compromise your budget. Clarify how much you want to pay for clicks. You must also maintain frequent communication and request weekly progress reports.
Benefits of Outsourcing Tasks for Amazon Sellers
Research shows that many business leaders view outsourcing as a way to save time when dealing with support functions. In fact, 24% of small businesses hire remote workers, such as virtual assistants, to enhance productivity.
The benefits of hiring a virtual assistant do not end there. Here are more examples:
- Reduce bottlenecks by establishing proper systems
- Minimize operating costs since the virtual assistant’s equipment, workspace, or internet plan are covered by the BPO provider
- Oversee low-level tasks on your behalf
- Free up your time to scale your business
- Work around your schedule to meet your needs
The Bottom Line
You have 24 hours a day and can only do so much for your Amazon store. Whether you want to free up your time to work on other matters or avoid burnout, you can outsource some functions to a trusted virtual assistant. They can handle customer service, write product descriptions, and conduct research and sourcing on your behalf.
Are you looking for an Amazon virtual assistant? Partner with Unity Communications, and we’ll match you with the right remote professional for your needs. Let’s connect to learn more.
