amazon marketplace 2

Which Amazon Marketplace should I sell on?

By Harriet
Reading Time: 7 minutes

If you’re reading this blog post, chances are you’ve decided to start selling on Amazon… hurrah! Get ready for an exciting ride 🙂 Now, you may not know it, but one of the first questions you should probably be wondering about is this – which Amazon marketplace should you sell on?

The beauty of selling on Amazon is that you do not have to live in the same country you sell in. You don’t have to go to the country you sell in either!

What we mean by that is…

You could be from England, and sell in America.

You could be from America, and sell in Australia.

You could be from Singapore, and sell in Holland.

(You get our gist!)

And it doesn’t matter where you live; selling on Amazon is a fully remote business. You could run your business from a campervan on the road, in your home in the countryside, or even on a rock (like the lady in the photo below!). All you need is a laptop and Wi-Fi, and you should be good to go.

which amazon marketplace

So in this blog post, we’ll introduce all the different Amazon marketplaces where you can sell. We’ll also talk about the pros and cons so you can make an informed decision about where to launch your business.

Don’t forget, most people launch on one marketplace and then grow their business by entering another market. You can sell in as many countries as you like! (You’ll just need to successfully open your account and be verified as a seller)

That being said, here are some of the marketplaces which you can sell on:

  1. Amazon US – Amazon.com
  2. Amazon UK – Amazon.co.uk
  3. Amazon Australia – Amazon.com.au
  4. Amazon Germany – Amazon.de
  5. Amazon Netherlands – Amazon.nl
  6. Amazon Canada – Amazon.ca
  7. Amazon Singapore – Amazon.sg, and Amazon Dubai – Amazon.ae

So here is a quick introduction to each marketplace, along with some pros & cons…

1. Amazon US

Starting off is Amazon US. This is the most popular FBA marketplace because of the sheer volume of customers who buy every day. Makes sense, because Amazon started in the United States.

The market is huge, with over 300 million daily active users. Online shopping is thriving in the US, and Amazon is the primary platform.

Over 75% of US online consumers shop on Amazon, so it’s definitely worth checking out even if you’re not from there. You can take a small piece of the pie and still acquire lots of customers!

Pros:

  • Huge market of online consumers
  • Compatible with Jungle Scout, so you can analyze your sales & assess which products will sell well

Cons:

  • Biggest market means there are a lot of sellers on the platform. It can make it very competitive.

2. Amazon UK

Amazon UK tends to be the second most popular Amazon marketplace. Whilst the market is markedly smaller than that of its older sibling across the pond, its $12 billion in yearly revenue is nothing to look down upon.

Consider selling here as well, because the UK is also a huge market which you’d definitely want to be a part of. It’s a fairly established platform already in the UK, which brings with it some pros and cons.

Pros:

  • Slightly less competitive than Amazon.com
  • English-speaking population
  • Compatible with Jungle Scout as well

Cons:

  • Like the US, fairly competitive, with a lot of established sellers already
  • With the UK leaving the EU, you won’t be able to use Pan-European FBA (i.e. easy access to sell across Europe)

3. Amazon Australia

Amazon Australia is a relatively new market, but it’s quickly emerging. The numbers are in – they doubled their revenue from $292 million in 2018 to $562 million in 2019. Looks like the land down under is ready for Amazon, and you’d definitely want to be part of the action.

Australians are also quite used to high mark-ups, so you’re more flexible in terms of your pricing.

Another huge thing to consider – Australia is closer to Asia, so if you have Asian suppliers, shipping costs would be way lower. However, Australia is also huge in terms of land area, so don’t forget to factor in domestic shipping in your costs.

Pros:

  • Less competition
  • English-speaking population
  • Customers are used to paying high mark-ups on goods
  • Close to Asian supply regions so shipping costs may be cheaper

Cons:

  • Relatively new marketplace
  • Small population
  • Large country could make domestic shipping (to the FBA warehouse) more expensive
  • Not compatible with Jungle Scout

If you are from Australia (or near Australia) and want to launch in this marketplace, we’ve got a special webinar on how to sell on Amazon Australia so make sure you check that out in the media lounge now.

4. Amazon Germany

Even if Amazon UK is the second most popular market, Amazon Germany is the next biggest Amazon market after the US. It has a whopping $16 billion in yearly revenue, so it is definitely worth checking out as well.

Despite having a market that’s over 30% bigger than the UK, its roughly 49,000 sellers is 20% less than the 60,000+ sellers currently on amazon.co.uk. It’s good to capitalize on this now, before everyone figures it out and starts entering the German market!

Amazon Germany also gives you access to other European markets as well. However, one caveat is that if you want to be competitive, you need to take language into consideration. Even if there are a lot of English speakers in Germany, you’d still have to take care of your keywords and actually translate your listings into German.

No worries though, as there are fantastic freelance sites like Fiver where you can have people work on translations for you.

Pros:

  • Biggest European market
  • Easy to sell in the other European markets
  • Lots of English speakers
  • Less competition
  • Compatible with Jungle Scout

Cons:

  • Will need to conduct proper keyword research in German & translate your listing into German (but you can hire a freelancer for this without breaking the bank)

5. Amazon Netherlands

Next, we go to Amazon Netherlands. This market is another European market worth checking out as well. Like Amazon Germany there are also a lot of English speakers here; however, you still have to translate your listings in Dutch so that your listing is native to the language speakers here.

It might be a good idea to consider the Netherlands if you’re already planning to sell on Amazon Germany. These two European markets make a good launch point to sell in the area and complement each other well.

Pros:

  • Like Germany, easy to sell in the other European markets
  • Lots of English speakers
  • Less competition

Cons:

  • Not compatible with Jungle Scout
  • Like Germany, you’ll need to conduct proper keyword research & translate your listing into Dutch (but you can always hire a freelancer for this)

We also have a special webinar on how to sell on Amazon Netherlands, so make sure you check that out in the media lounge now.

6. Amazon Canada

Next, we have Amazon Canada. It’s super easy to sell on Amazon.ca if you’re already selling on Amazon.com. You can test the waters by enabling Amazon.ca from your seller central account. You can then have your FBM and FBA products sold on the Canadian Amazon as well, but have all your items shipped from the US.

If all goes well, you can double-down and start shipping products into Canadian fulfilment centers or set up your own logistics base in the country.

The good thing with Amazon Canada is that despite being a smaller market, it is also a less competitive one. Strategic Amazon sellers will find it a lot easier to rank and market products successfully on here. However, do take note that eCommerce isn’t as big here as in the US. It’s ramping up, but the growth is relatively slow.

Pros:

  • Easy to start selling from an Amazon.com account
  • English speaking population
  • Low competition

Cons:

  • eCommerce here has been slow in the past
  • Low online expenditure

7. Amazon Singapore & Amazon Dubai

Amazon Singapore & Amazon Dubai are both quite new, so we’ve grouped them together. Amazon is starting to really explore these two markets, so if you have the capability, it’s good to enter here for that first-mover advantage. Since they’re still trying to establish here, the verifying process isn’t as strict.

Both countries also have a sizeable English-speaking population, so language shouldn’t be a problem. As with the case of the European Amazon markets, it might be good to take translations into consideration though.

Pros:

  • English speaking population
  • Low competition
  • As the marketplace is new, it’s easier to open an Amazon account than the US / UK marketplaces as the verifying process isn’t so strict

Cons:

  • New marketplaces mean a smaller customer base – might take longer for sales to take off
  • Not compatible with Jungle Scout (yet)

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amazon verify & reactivate account

These are the different Amazon markets that you may want to consider. As you can see, there are a lot of opportunities everywhere. Hopefully, these help you out when figuring out where you want to sell.

Remember that the Amazon US is the biggest Amazon marketplace, but it also has the biggest competition for sellers. Consider the markets in other countries, as it might well be worth all your effort.

Take note that it’s also worth going for a market that is compatible with Jungle Scout so you have insight into what products will be in high demand. It’s just a smart and easy way of keeping track of your performance so you know where you stand.

Just one last thing worth mentioning – you’ll need to pay the Amazon fees on a per market basis. So if you sell on Amazon.com & Amazon.co.uk, you’ll pay monthly fees for two markets. It’s not a huge cost especially when you’re generating sales in multiple countries, but worth considering so you can factor it into your monthly costs.

At the end of the day, it’s best to just choose whichever market you feel comfortable selling on -and don’t forget, you can easily expand so don’t worry about being locked into selling on the first market you decide on. You may start with one market and stop selling there altogether – the world really is your oyster!

 

Comments
  • Eunice Veloso says:

    This email has no question in particular (once i’ve started ImporEXerts program this week): i’t’s just to compliment you!
    This was helps:! In “my firts baby steps on e-commerce”, didn’t even realise that i had, at some point, to choose a market to sell on my products… kkkk… Thank you!

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