The Amazon Merchant Platform February, 2012

1. The Amazon.com Merchant Platform February, 2012

2. What Is A Marketplace? Online marketplace- Refers to a type of Ecommerce site where product and inventory information is provided by multiple third parties, whereas transactions are processed by the marketplace operator. Online marketplaces have become a driver of new business for online merchants that leverage them as channels for increased sales. -Wikipedia • Trusted Source • High Traffic Volume • Loyal Customer base • Vast Product Catalog • Shopping Destination • In an Online Marketplace the seller primarily needs to focus on sourcing, listing his inventory, managing orders, fulfillment and customer support. • The marketplace platform takes care of the Technology infrastructure, payment processing, managing fraud & risk etc Examples of other Online Marketplaces include , Buy.com, Sears.com, Newegg.com, Overstock.com, soon to be Walmart

3. Why Amazon? Amazon has a desirable customer base • Amazon Customer Growth • 152 million active customers world wide (*) • 79 million monthly unique visitors in the US (Sept ‘11) • 8.3 million daily unique visitors in the US (Sept ‘11) • Desirable customer demographics—Average household income: • Amazon: $75K • Amazon / Consumer Electronics: $83K • Prime customers: $96K • Prime consumer electronics customers: $119K • 71% are home owners; 41% have children in household

4. Why Amazon? Amazon sales keep growing >40% YoY • $34.2B in revenue in 2010, +44% in 9M 2011 • Already $32.4B in 9M 2011 • Q3 Net Sales grew to $10.88 billion (+44% YoY) • 54% of Revenues came from Non-Media (including Industrial & Scientific) Historically, Q4 is Amazon strongest quarter Media Non-Media

5. Why Amazon? Third Party merchants play a key role in Amazon growth In the first 9 months of 2011, 37% of units sold on Amazon were sold by Third Party Merchants Growth of 3P Units Sales (in %) 37%

6. Who Is It For? EVERYONE Whether you are a enterprise business or a stay at home mom Amazon.com will allow you to tap into their 150 Million users to sell your product on their platform Starting out selling on Amazon is easy because you can start with just one product. • Retailers • Manufacturers • Importers • College students • Stay at home Moms • Online Sellers • Books, Beauty, Music, DVD, Video/VHS, Baby, Camera & Photo, Electronics, Grocery & Gourmet Food,  Health & Personal Care, Home & Garden, Musical Instruments, Office Products, Personal Computers (in Electronics category), Toys & Games, Software, Sports & Outdoors, Tools & Hardware, Video Games and Wireless Antennas • **Automotive, Cell Phones & Accessories, Clothing & Accessories, Jewelry & Watches, Motorcycles, ATV & Protective Gear, Shoes • ** Amazon Approval required

7. How it Works? Upload Your Product Inventory With Selling on Amazon, it's easy to upload your inventory. Once you've registered use the Web-based tools, a free desktop software application, or text files to get up and running fast. Customers See Your Products on Amazon.com Amazon.com is a leading web site and is a stop for millions of online shoppers. By listing your products on Amazon.com, reach millions of potential customers every day. Customers Purchase Your Products Amazon.com makes buying your products a snap. With features like 1-Click and a brand millions of consumers trust, we help customers make quick, easy, worry-free purchases. You Ship Products to Customers Amazon notifies you by email when an order has been placed. You simply pack and ship your item to the customer (unless you let Fulfillment by Amazon do the work). Amazon Transfers Payments to You Amazon deposits payment into your bank account, and sends you an email notifying you that your payment has been sent.

8. Costs When your item sells, Amazon collects the sales price and shipping costs from the buyer, deducts a referral fee of 6 to 25 percent of the sales price, and a per-item fee of $0.99. The $0.99 per-item fee is waived for Pro-Merchant Subscribers. Sale Price........................$100.00 Shipping Price..................$ 5.95 Amazon Commission.......-$ 8.47 (8% Consumer Electronics) Closing Fee..................... -$ .99 (For non- Pro merchants) Gross Earnings.................$96.49 **Variable Closing Fees Charged on Books, Music, Software, Video Games • How Do I Get Paid? • After a sale occurs and you have sent Amazon confirmation that the order has been shipped, Amazon processes the payment from the buyer and credits your net proceeds from the sale to your Marketplace Payments account. • When Do I Get Paid? • Typically Amazon settles your previous days transactions and provides you a settlement report. Funds are then set to be disbursed within 1 weeks time. • If you're a new seller, there is an initial 14-day holding period before funds will be released from your Marketplace Payments account.

9. Product Detail Page The Product Page Live

10. How Do I List My Items On Amazon.com? Add a Product Tool - Good Under the Inventory tab, you’ll notice a link labeled “Add a Product”. This process begins with a simple form that allows you to located the product already on Amazon, which is necessary due to Amazon’s single product page per product. (If the product doesn’t already exist on Amazon, you can create a new product.) Seller Desktop - Better Seller Desktop is a free desktop application that gives you a GUI for listing your products. It is almost always quicker than doing them one-by-one through the Add a Product tool. With Seller Desktop, you can list products, create variations, and upload everything to Amazon when you’re ready. Enterprise Integration - Best Complete selling solution to Amazon integrated with an existing Order management / CRM software. Ties into current EDI and Accounting software. Inventory management, re-pricing , Order management, and post sale management with integrated shipping solutions.

11. Listing A Product Listing A Product Demo Live

12. FBA (Fulfillment By Amazon) Cant Pick and Pack? No Problem… Fulfillment by Amazon is designed to help your operation succeed in fulfillment while you focus on your business. Step 1: You send your products to Amazon. You send your new or used products to Amazon's fulfillment centers. Step 2: Amazon stores your products. Amazon catalogs and stores your products in our ready-to-ship inventory. Step 3: Customers order your products. Step 4: Amazon picks and packs your products Fulfillment by Amazon picks your products from inventory and packages them. Step 5: Amazon ships your products. Amazon ships the products to your customers from our network of fulfillment centers.

13. FBA Advantages -Increased sales The reason sales increase when using Fulfillment by Amazon is that now your products can qualify for Amazon’s Free Super Saver Shipping (meaning Amazon can offer its customers free shipping on your products with orders over $25), AND Amazon can also offer its Amazon Prime members Free, Two-day Shipping on your products. -Prime Eligible When customers see "Fulfilled by Amazon" beneath your product listings, they know their orders will be fulfilled in a secure and timely manner. Customers will Qualify for Free 2 Day shipping at no additional cost to the Merchant. FBA items stand out on key Amazon.com pages with logos and text that emphasize Fulfillment by Amazon -Reduced Shipping costs Leverage Amazon’s volume when it comes to shipping costs. Amazon can ship your product to the end user faster and cheaper than most fulfillment centers Warehouse Costs- Since Amazon is picking and packing your orders, there is no need to manage your own warehouse or fulfillment center. You can literally work out of your garage Returns / Customer Service- One of the advantages of using Fulfillment by Amazon is the use of Amazon's customer service to handle customer inquiries, refunds and returns.

14. FBA Costs • Inventory Storage.45 CU. FT/ Month • Amazon charges a fee to store your items until they are shipped to fulfill an order. An avg. DVD would cost $0.02 to store for 30 days. They only charge you for the time the item is in the warehouse, so if it sells in 15 days, your warehouse charge would be $0.01 • Order Handling– • Media Items do not incur a handling charge. Non-media pay $1.00 per order. • Pick & Pack- Media items are charged $0.50 for items under $25.00 and $1.00 for items over $25.00 • Weight Handling- The rate is $0.37 cents per pound but Amazon only charges you for the actual weight of the item to the nearest pound. If a DVD weighs 4 ounces it would cost $0.37 cents in this calculation. I am used to calculating the packaged weight for postage but Amazon uses the item weight before packaging Example: Product: Kensington K72356US Mouse-in-a-Box USB Desktop Mouse Weight: 1lb Price: $19.95 Item Price………………….…19.95 Amazon Commission………. 1.20 Order Handling……………… 1.00 Pick & Pack……......………... 1.00 Weight Handling…………….. 0.37 30 Day Storage……………… 0.01 FBA FEE FBA FEE Total cost to fulfill a 1 lb Package $2.38

15. Follow Amazon’s Rules Amazon has a low tolerance Get to know Amazon’s rules. Getting banned is a bad idea, so follow their rules. Mistakes That Will Get Retailers Kicked Off Amazon • Manipulating ratings and reviews • Marketing to Amazon Customers • Substituting Items • Counterfeit or Sub Par Merchandise • High ODR (Order Defect Ratio)

16. Best Practices Selling on Amazon Can be extremely profitable. Follow these steps to ensure continued success • Provide Excellent Service • Check For Orders Daily • Be Flexible With Your Pricing Strategy and Promotions • Determine What Your Margins Are • Maintain a Low ODR (order defect ratio) • Make Use of Seller Central Reports • Remember to send your orders out within two business days • Maintain Positive Feedback • Sell Quality Product • Get ready for the Holidays

17. Helpful resources • Sign Up For A Seller Account • https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/onboard/workflow/Registration/login.html?passthrough%2F&passthrough%2Faccount=fba_soa&passthrough%2FsuperSource=OAR&passthrough%2FmarketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&passthrough%2Fld=SC-30 • Simply –Amazon • http://simply-amazon.com/ • How It Works Tutorial • http://www.amazonservices.com/content/sell-on-amazon.htm?id=hm1&ld=AZSOAHelp#!how-it-works • How To Videos • http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_lnav_dyn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200281720 • Getting Started Checklist • https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/rainier/help/pdf/Getting_Started_Guide.pdf • Fulfillment by Amazon Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOicZ_AgsSA

18. Thank You! Q&A Eli Sakkal Elisakkal@Gmail.com Please feel free to contact me if you need further assistance with your new venture.