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What is Amazon Launchpad and how it started?
With a lot of sellers and companies listed to sell their products on Amazon, it becomes difficult for new companies specifically startups with innovative products to stand out among the crowd. To provide a platform for these innovative startups, Amazon has a program called “Amazon Launchpad”. This program was launched in 2015.
I had read a story on how Amazon Launchpad was started, though at present I am not able to find any credible link. One of the early members of the Launchpad team was interviewing with Amazon and during the interview, he suggested that “Amazon can create a marketplace exclusively for startups” and then he was hired for the role to set up this new division within Amazon.
Amazon in eCommerce
In the world of eCommerce, Amazon is the top player in the USA. It has around 44% share of the year 2019 eCommerce in the USA as per Bank of America analyst’s post. Around the globe, Alibaba is the largest eCommerce company followed by Amazon in the year 2019. Amazon’s inventory is of about 12 million items while its marketplace is bigger than 350 million items.
How to enroll in Amazon Launchpad?
For enrolling in Amazon Launchpad, Amazon has provided a page with most of the enrollment steps in it.
Earlier Amazon used to collaborate with only startup incubators like Y Combinator, Indiegogo and Kickstarter to list any startup products. But, with time Amazon has added many collaborators. You can check the collaborator’s list here on Amazon.
A startup/seller should be on Amazon Seller Central to register for Launchpad. Amazon will evaluate all applications within 7-10 working days if the products are ready to be shipped. Existing sellers who have less than 3 years of association with Amazon and gross merchandise sell of less than $5 million can also apply for Launchpad. There are some very strict guidelines on maintaining your Launchpad status as a startup/vendor has to maintain at-least 3.5-star reviews and at-least 5 review along with enrollment in FBA with Prime badging.
One of the latest and innovative example of product offered by Amazon Launchpad is listed here. You can check this out, how it is listed and promoted on Amazon.
Benefits to startups for eCommerce
Amazon is a marketplace for many sellers but Launchpad provides a different and special treatment to Launchpad sellers. Launchpad product listings have many benefits.
- Presentation – Vendors can publish a differentiated, more user-friendly, and custom description with larger images/videos using Premium A+ modules.
- Discoverability – This helps Launchpad vendors to get storefront placements of their products, category-focused emails, in-house advertising, and a special widget.
- Tools and Support – Here startups get pre-launch support, account setup, page optimizations, and other benefits.
On the other hand, the biggest disadvantage of the Launchpad program is the requirement to enroll in the Amazon FBA program and reduced profit margin. It means a startup/vendor has to ship all the products to be sold to the Amazon warehouse. But, I feel that this is a small price to get your products on the largest eCommerce platform for customers to try and buy. If you are ready to pay a small price for your future growth of name and fame to become a big brand.
So, if you are a startup or an existing Amazon seller, you can join Launchpad to scale your business, market your products and reach more customers who are interested in innovative and unique products through the Amazon’s established eCommerce channels. Check out the latest and top Amazon Launchpad picks here.
If you want to purchase Amazon Launchpad’s innovative products, and you are not an Amazon Prime member, be sure to sign here for Prime membership to get most of the products in 2 days.
This article first appeared in DigitalYY.com blog.
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