Selling fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) online has become a necessity for brands, with a recent study by Kantar revealing that 50% of FMCG growth will come through e-commerce. Brands have the ability to cut out the middleman and go direct to consumers, saving them money and giving them the ability to reach a new market.
Online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay and Ocado give retailers the option to list their FMCG products online alongside massive players and categories. 62% of shoppers say they are excited about the prospect of being able to order all their goods through a single retailer such as Amazon, showing that shoppers want a convenient and quick way to get everything they need.
In this blog, we are going to cover everything you need to know to help set up your FMCG brand for success on e-commerce marketplaces!
What is FMCG?
FMCG stands for fast-moving consumer goods which is the umbrella term for products that sell quickly and tend to have a shorter shelf life or high demand. These products are purchased frequently, are consumed rapidly, and tend to be sold in large quantities. For example, food and drink, health and beauty products, cleaning supplies, etc.
Setting up FMCG products online
Setting up your own e-commerce store can be a daunting task, especially for smaller brands trying to compete with big names. Online marketplaces such as Ocado and Amazon are a great way to bypass this and an ideal opportunity to put brands on a slightly more level playing field.
Ocado
Ocado stocks over 50,000 FMCG products, including big-name brands, M&S food, and Ocado Own Label items. Ocado’s model sidesteps traditional supermarket shelf space requirements, giving smaller, independent suppliers a chance to shine in their virtual aisles! And setting yourself up as an Ocado seller couldn’t be easier.
Simply fill out the application form which can be found here. This form is broken into 4 sections where you have to tell them about your brand, range and individual products as well as prove that they are safe and legal. Once this is complete, an Ocado Buyer will test your products and decide whether they should be listed on Ocado.
If you have been accepted, your brand will get a dedicated Ocado representative who will help you to set up your listings and your Brandbank account.
Amazon
Amazon is perfect for FMCG products as the customer base is already shopping there! Fresh new startups and Fortune 500s, B2B and B2C, brand owners and resellers all sell on Amazon! With 300 million customers shopping on Amazon stores worldwide, you can see why.
All you need to set up a Seller Account is a valid business email address or Amazon customer account, a chargeable credit card, a valid passport or national ID, your company registration details and phone number as well as a bank account where Amazon can send you your money!
If you choose to set up an Amazon Vendor Account, you will receive a Vendor Manager, however, if you create an Amazon Seller Account, you can upload your products yourself with the help of an agency, Amazon support or a range of tutorial videos.
eBay
eBay is a global e-commerce powerhouse that sits just behind Amazon as the world’s second-largest online marketplace, attracting over 1.7 billion visits per month from 190 markets around the world!
If you’re registering as a business seller, simply select ‘Create a business account’ on the eBay registration page. Here they’ll ask for some additional details, like your business name, type, and address, as well as any beneficial owners, officers, directors, account managers etc. Once you’ve registered an eBay account and completed verification, you can create a listing for the products you want to sell.
Optimising FMCG Listings
Setting up your FMCG products online is only step one of a successful omnichannel e-commerce strategy. Once your listings are set up they need to be optimised with awesome imagery, a captivating product description with optimised keywords and an advertising strategy to help you reach a larger audience.
Copywriting
To become successful and to stay ahead of your competition requires high-quality content that resonates with your target audience, including informative and engaging copywriting. This covers various elements, such as the information ‘above the fold’ on desktop sites such as the product title and bullet points. And the information ‘below the fold’ on desktop sites, such as A+ on Amazon and the product description on eBay.
Keyword research plays a huge part in ensuring your products are discovered, so have a handful of the most relevant keywords ready to use for each product. Titles are vital for SEO, so try to ensure that the most relevant keywords are included — but resist the temptation to cram in lots of keywords, as this can often make the text look unappealing and hard to digest – often deterring shoppers.
Carefully consider the brand’s tone of voice guidelines whilst copywriting. Do any phrases need to be written in a specific way to be on-brand or to meet any criteria for certain claims? Are you getting across the USPs of your products and the essence of your brand?
Visuals
The first 10 seconds of a webpage visit are critical for a consumer’s decision to stay or leave. Shoppers form their first impression within just 50 milliseconds, so presenting attention-grabbing packshot photography is crucial when it comes to selling online!
Capture every angle of your product with multiple high-resolution packshot images that allow the customer to zoom in on the finer details, brand messaging and label information. Think about textures, colours and features. Once you’ve nailed the packshots, think about what else the shoppers would like to see.
Lifestyle imagery increases conversions by helping the shoppers picture the product in their homes and hands! It can help them visualize how it fits into their world and can also show important information such as size, consistency, colour and what’s included.
Advertising
Advertising services are designed to enable brands to improve their visibility, drive demand for products and improve sales. It’s one of the most effective methods of getting your products noticed, fast! The different marketplaces have different forms of advertising with different dashboards to help analyse your ads.
From video advertising to sponsored products to DSP, there are so many options to choose from. All with a range of budgets available and superb targeting possibilities. If you’re not used to e-commerce advertising, start small and experiment! Target the relevant keywords you know your shoppers use and analyze and review the results before expanding your reach and budget.
Here at marketplace amp, we have a range of experts to help with every stage of the customer journey. As a partnered Amazon agency and experts in e-commerce, we can help you set up and optimise your FMCG listing on a range of marketplaces, with expert graphic designers, photographers and copywriters to make sure your listings are optimised — with the best-looking images and copy that convert! Contact us today to find out more.
