Comprehensive management tools for Amazon are a must have for this reason: More than 500,000 of businesses in the United States sold 3.8 billion products on Amazon from September 2020 to August 2021, averaging $200,000 in sales.
Those are big numbers. If they inspire you to try becoming an Amazon seller, then go for it! There are at least five good reasons to sell on Amazon, not the least of which is that 38% of shoppers worldwide start their product search on there.
However, Amazon is a very competitive platform, and navigating it can be overwhelming for new sellers. Resist the urge to wing it and take advantage of the many Amazon seller tools available to you.
Key Takeaways:
- Amazon has about 2 million sellers actively selling on the platform, 500,000 in the United States that sold more than 3.8 billion products in 2020-2021
- Amazon seller tools aren’t necessary, but they can make Amazon sellers more efficient and effective
- Many of the seller tools offer the same services at slightly different levels, so choosing one can be challenging
- The Amazon Seller tool available free for all sellers is a good place to start
Best e-commerce platform for beginners
Best e-commerce platform for beginners
What Are Amazon Seller Tools?
The primary purpose of Amazon seller tools is to make it easier for you to manage your business. The accumulated data on the platform is why product research tools, such as Jungle Scout, provide helpful information for new sellers.
If you want to know what products people want, Amazon is an excellent place to start. According to the SMB Impact Report from Amazon released in October 2021, nearly 2 million active small and medium businesses (SMBs) are selling on the platform.
Can you start an Amazon business without them? Of course, you can. However, keeping track of all the critical tasks you need to do can take a lot of your time. These tasks include:
- Product sourcing
- Product listing
- Competitor analysis
- Inventory management
- Customer management
- Feedback analysis
- Shipping management
- Financial management
If that seems like a lot, it’s because it is. Running any business requires you to wear many hats, and Amazon is no different. The good thing is there are many tools available designed specifically to make Amazon sellers more efficient, maximizing their profit potential.
Some tools are specific to one task, such as ProfitBandit, a scouting app by SellerEngine. It helps sellers check products they find off Amazon, such as Walmart, against what is on Amazon to see if they can profit from it.
Others offer a suite of tools that focus on one task but with ancillary features to manage other aspects of the business. ShipBob, for example, is one of the best shipping software you can use if you’re not a Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) seller, and it includes order and inventory management features.
ShipBob isn’t exclusively for Amazon but integrates directly with the platform, so it fits your purposes nicely.
How Can Your Business Benefit From Using These Tools?
There are two main benefits of using Amazon seller tools. One is efficiency. You save time by automating the many manual tasks required to run your business. You save money as well. Additionally, many of these tools do a more thorough job than if you were to do them on your own.
Another is well-being. Running any business, especially on Amazon, is a full-time, often stressful job. You can take back some of that time and relieve a lot of the stress by using Amazon seller tools. Once you automate your most critical processes, you can relax and concentrate on things that matter the most: Your personal life, for starters.
However, you may find that many of the Amazon seller tools available offer most of the same features, so choosing one from hundreds, if not thousands, can be challenging. We hope to help trim down the fat by making some suggestions.
6 Amazon Seller Tools That Make Running Your E-commerce Business Easier
Amazon already has a lot of tools available on Seller Central for its sellers so all you need to do is choose wisely. However, some features are exclusive to FBA sellers, such as inventory management. Our top picks for paid Amazon seller tools can help all sellers gain a competitive edge.
Amazon Seller App: Best Overall
We start with the starter pack of Amazon seller tools, the Amazon Seller app. This is a suite of tools developed by Amazon exclusively for Amazon sellers and, thankfully, it’s free. If you can only pick one tool for your Amazon business, this is arguably it.
The Amazon Seller tool runs the gamut of features from product scouting to fulfillment management. Anything an Amazon seller needs is right there.
You might be thinking that because it’s free, it won’t be any good. However, Amazon is developing ways to help sellers succeed because higher sales mean higher revenue for Amazon.
Remember that Amazon makes money for each item you sell ― and ship if you’re an FBA seller ― so it’s rooting for you. Also, Amazon is pretty cagey about releasing information publicly, so the Amazon Seller app is a great way to get access to data that most Amazon sellers would pay a lot of money for.
camelcamelcamel: Best for Tracking Price Changesl
camelcamelcamel is another free tool that delivers more than you would expect. It’s a straightforward price tracking website specific to Amazon, helping Amazon sellers stay competitive by keeping up with those pesky price changes in real-time.
camelcamelcamel has a few other features to make it easier to keep up with your competition. Additionally, the insights are valuable for any e-commerce business running on a web platform because it integrates with the most popular web browsers using The Camelizer browser extension.
For example, if you have a Shopify store or are thinking about starting one, you can install The Camelizer on your browser. This gives you the information on the best prices on Amazon for the products you sell, and you can then match those.
Jungle Scout: Best for Automation
While the Amazon Seller app is excellent for managing your Amazon business, it doesn’t do much with automating tasks such as product research or product sourcing. These are crucial for finding fantastic opportunities to grow your business.
That is where Jungle Scout — a comprehensive suite of product research tools for starting and growing your Amazon business bridges the gap. Check out its features.
Jungle Scout isn’t just for product research. It also helps you find keywords, track your ranking, automate product listing, and manage inventory and promotions. A key feature of this software is its Supplier Database.
However, Jungle Scout is a bit on the pricey side if you’re considering investing in the entire suite. You might also want to check out AMZScout, especially if you’re a new seller. Bqool and Viral Launch are also good product research tools you can consider.
Zoho Inventory: Best for Inventory Management
Managing your inventory is critical for keeping your bottom line from bottoming out, so inventory management software is a necessity, especially if you’re not an FBA seller or sell on multiple sites.
Our pick is Zoho Inventory because it provides a comprehensive suite of tools for inventory, order fulfillment, and customer management.
Zoho Inventory has pricing tiers for Amazon sellers of all capacities. It also has great integrations with multiple e-commerce platforms and online marketplaces, including Amazon.
ShipBob: Best for Order Fulfillment
Order fulfillment is another headache for many Amazon sellers who aren’t using FBA. We mentioned earlier that our pick for the best shipping software is ShipBob, and we stick by it.
If all you need is scalable fulfillment software with direct integration with Amazon, ShipBob offers all that and more. It offers flexible and transparent pricing that makes it easy to track your shipping and storage costs.
FreshBooks: Best for Accounting Management
Don’t get so busy selling that you forget to do your accounting. That’s a big no-no for any business owner, including Amazon sellers.
It would be best if you had comprehensive accounting software to keep you updated on everything financial going on with your business, on and off Amazon.
We pick FreshBooks as an affordable way to keep track of invoices and expenses, making it easy for you or your accountant when tax season comes around.
More importantly, it integrates with Amazon Seller Central through Zapier, and you can easily track the profit you make as an Amazon seller.
What Should You Do Next?
Now that you know how important it is to have tools to support your Amazon store, it’s time to find the right ones, here’s our list of the best Amazon Seller tools. Explore the Amazon Seller app to see if it checks all the boxes for you. You can do this right after you register for a seller account. It’s free, so you have nothing to lose.
You can also check the other recommendations to fill in any gaps you see in your operational needs. Many of these tools overlap, so your final choices come down to personal preference. Most have free trials, so you have the luxury of trying the software before committing to any of them.
