What does it take to become an Amazon international seller? If you’ve been selling on Amazon for a long time, your store is only growing. You’re exceeding revenue goals each quarter and gaining a devoted consumer base.
You may be ready to expand your business but are also unsure about your next steps. If this is the stage you’re in now, you should consider becoming an international seller on Amazon.
While Amazon dominates in the U.S., the e-commerce giant is also popular in various countries. For example, did you know there are over 200 million Amazon Prime members–worldwide? By expanding your business internationally, you can open up more opportunities and sales.
In this guide, we will explain how to become an Amazon international seller, and will offer some advice to get you started.
Basics of Becoming an Amazon International Seller
While each country differs in terms of collecting taxes and product compliance laws, there are some basic best practices that sellers should know before expanding to the global market. These include handling customer care, Amazon’s global fees, and shipping.
Customer Care
Sellers have different options when handling international customer care. You can either sign up for Amazon’s Customer Service, which handles assistance in various countries and the local language.
Depending on your company, you can access these benefits at a low price or even free. If you become an Amazon FBA international seller, they will also handle customer service for you.
That said, you can handle your own customer service as an Amazon international seller, but there are best practices to create the best experience for your consumers. The easiest way to do this is by offering service in their native language.
Even though 1.35 billion people in the world speak English, this is a small figure compared to the 7.8 billion global population. In other words, don’t expect your consumers to speak English. If necessary, hire customer representatives in their country so they feel comfortable contacting customer service.
That said, the type of customer service you offer depends on what’s best for your brand. Phone and email service are the most common examples, but don’t forget about customer service chat–41% of consumers prefer live chat over email and phone support.
Amazon Global Selling Fees
International sellers must pay a monthly fee when they sign up for Amazon Global Selling. However, fees for every country’s marketplace differs. Here are some examples:
- Canada: 29.99 CAD
- Brazil: 19 R$
- Mexico: 600 MXN
- Germany: 39 EUR
- U.K.: 25 GBP
- Italy: 39 EUR
- France: 39 EUR
- Japan: 4,900 JPY
- Spain: 39 EUR
- Australia: 49.95 AUS
As you can see, these fees are in the country’s local currency. Calculate these rates with your own currency to ensure you’re not overspending without realizing it.
Shipping
As an Amazon international seller, you’ll need to add shipping to your global expansion strategy. Every country in the Amazon global selling program has different shipping rates and requirements.
Using Amazon remote fulfillment via FBA is often a seller’s first choice, but this option may not be available everywhere.
While Amazon handles delivery in countries such as the U.S., Europe, and the U.K., other countries may require their own postal service to handle the deliveries. This makes shipping more expensive. Some countries may also let Amazon sellers use third-party couriers.
Because of the gig economy, Amazon has expanded its Flex service internationally. Amazon Flex is a service where anyone can deliver parcels as long as they have a car, driver’s license, and meet other requirements established by Amazon and the local legislature.
This makes it easier to offer different shipping options and costs, saving your customers money while they receive their products quicker.
Remember that if you use Amazon’s FBA services, they handle shipping for you. But some sellers may prefer handling their own fulfillment. We will cover this more in another section.
Benefits of Becoming an Amazon International Seller
While there are best practices to keep in mind when selling globally on Amazon, there are even more benefits to consider.
Grow Your Business
Global retail e-commerce sales are expected to grow 56% over the next few years. Becoming an Amazon international seller is an easy and effective way to grow your store.
From a customer’s perspective, they may not be able to find everything they need in their country and at their local store. They will go online and find international sellers who can supply the products they need.
Since expanding internationally is an easy way to reach more customers, you have more sales and revenue growth opportunities. Plus, you’ll create a devoted consumer base worldwide.
Diversify Your Sales
Sales diversification is integral to your e-commerce strategy. When you diversify your sales channels, you’ll achieve consistency, stability, and resilience.
If you’re looking for a way to diversify your sales channels, expand to international markets. This way, you maximize growth while mitigating risks. For example, every business endures its slow seasons. But slow seasons may differ between countries.
In the US, the retail peak season starts during the holiday season, from October to the end of December, obviously due to the holiday season. But every country has its own holidays.
In Brazil, their version of Valentine’s Day (Dia dos Namorados) occurs in June, so the summertime is a busy retail season in this region.
Global Solutions From Amazon
Amazon has many logistics solutions for international sellers, making expansion very simple. Depending on where you sell, you may be able to link your existing Seller Central account to different regions when becoming an Amazon international seller.
Thanks to Amazon FBA, you can easily dropship products from a different country. You can get paid in your own currency, and Amazon offers many advertising and marketing tools for their international markets.
Which Global Markets Should You Enter?
From Europe to the Middle East, Amazon sells in various regions worldwide. One of the best aspects of becoming an Amazon international seller is all of the countries you can expand to. But which market should you enter?
Asia-Pacific
Amazon’s Asia-Pacific market includes the countries India, Japan, Australia, and Singapore. There are many reasons why businesses should expand here, notably because the APAC market will be worth 4.02 trillion USD by 2028.
Japan and Australia are two of the most notable countries in this region. 4.75% of Amazon’s net sales come from Japan, and Australian online shopping is increasing YOY by 12.3%.
Not every APAC country is readily available on Amazon. For example, Vietnam has a booming e-commerce market, but your store may need to set up a package forwarding service to deliver Amazon items.
U.K. and Europe
Europe is one of the first picks for the new Amazon international seller. That’s because Amazon makes it easy to expand to Europe’s market. With one Amazon account, you can sell in 28 countries!
Some of Europe’s nations comprise Amazon’s biggest consumer base. For example, Amazon U.K. is worth 6.6 billion GDP!
U.K. Amazon isn’t the only successful market in Europe. 77% of Amazon shoppers in Germany made a purchase monthly. Amazon is more popular in Spain; nearly eight in 10 shoppers make a purchase once a month.
In April 2023 alone, Amazon’s French website received 256.7 thousand views. Amazon Italy has similar popularity; in the first quarter of 2022, Amazon’s Italian website generated 34.4 million unique views.
LATAM
While Amazon sells to various countries in the South and Latin American regions, Brazil and Mexico are the two biggest markets for the new Amazon international seller. In 2022, Brazil generated 108.9 million e-commerce shoppers.
Mexico has also become the world’s 13th-largest e-commerce market.
If you expand to LATAM, don’t exclude your store to only Amazon. Mercado Libre is an e-commerce and auction marketplace that operates throughout Central and South America.
In 2022, Mercado Libre generated 10.5 billion USD in revenue, making this a profitable marketplace to enter. Through its cross-border selling program, Mercado Libre is open to American sellers.
Middle East
Amazon operates in different Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has the 28th largest e-commerce market.
Understand that Amazon hasn’t fully penetrated this region, and sellers can see this as both a risk and a reward.
Amazon International Seller Checklist
Expanding your Amazon business globally is one of the best growth strategies. But to best prepare for your expansion, it’s integral you follow this checklist.
- Creating Your Account: If you have an Amazon Seller Central account, you can likely use the same account for your international store. Understand that every region differs, so you may have to create a new Amazon international seller account in the country you choose.
- Choosing What to Sell: Research the region to know which products perform best on their Amazon market and other preferences from the local audience.
- Fulfillment: As with U.S. Amazon, you have the choice to use FBA or self-fulfill with international Amazon. When choosing your fulfillment, keep local taxes, customs and duty, packaging requirements, and shipping in mind.
We Can Help You Become an Amazon International Seller
While becoming an Amazon international seller is a profitable venture, there are a lot of responsibilities on your plate. That’s why you should consider onboarding an e-commerce agency to transition you to global selling on Amazon.
Our global expansion services can help you expand to the APAC and LATAM regions. If you’re interested in selling in these regions, schedule a call with us today.
Author
Stephanie Jensen has been writing e-commerce content for seven years, and her copy has helped numerous stores rank on Amazon. Follow her on LinkedIn for more insight into freelance writing and creating high-quality content.
