6 reasons to swap Amazon Influencer Program for your own marketplace business

If you are a Creator looking to monetize your content, selling through Amazon Influencer Program may seem like a good choice. However, if you look at some of the shops run by fellow influencers there, you probably won’t be impressed. They are probably not happy with the sales outcomes either. 

But there is another way - starting your very own beautifully merchandised dropshipping marketplace with tens of quality, domestic brands offering delightful products that scream “buy me” and leave your audience no choice. 

With Vendo, you can curate your product catalog from many different brands and sell them on your own marketplace website while keeping the customer relationship to yourself and a 20-30% sales commission from each order. That’s 10 times more. Just cut out the middleman. 

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6 reasons to switch from Amazon Shop to Vendo marketplace

1. You need to be approved by Amazon to even start

Amazon's Influencer Program can be hard to get into - Amazon teams evaluate your website and/or social media accounts, the number of followers, and engagement. And then you have to wait to see if you passed their standards.

"When reviewing your application, we look at the number of followers you have in addition to other engagement metrics." - Amazon Influencer Program

With Vendo anyone can start things off on their own terms with a free trial that gets you up and running in no time. And Vendo sets you up for success with an intuitive and beautiful shopping experience.

2. Amazon's commissions are very low and non-negotiable 

Amazon's Affiliate program offers low commissions on physical goods - a measly 3% for products in the most popular categories like beauty, sports, kids, home and garden, etc. 

Compare that with Vendo, where you are in control and set your own commission rates, usually ranging between 20-30%. By cutting out the middleman, you can earn up to 10 times more than with Amazon's Affiliate program. Not to mention the increased flexibility you get when setting your own prices.

3. Sell brands and products not available on Amazon

When you join the Amazon Influencer Program, it's important to note that you will only be able to curate and promote products that are listed on Amazon. What this means is that your choices may be limited, as some awesome brands out there choose not to sell directly through Amazon. 

Your own dropshipping marketplace offers much greater flexibility when it comes to the brands that you're able to include. With Vendo, you can stock up your shelves with unique brands and products that won't be found on Amazon.

4. Take control over your branding and user experience 

Amazon's affiliate stores all look the same. They are boring and uneventful. With limited customization options, the shopping experience is Amazon-standard, leaving the user with a feeling of “just another shop” in terms of look and feel. 

All transactions take place within Amazon, so you're unable to control how your customer makes purchases or communicate with them throughout their shopping journey.

Imagine if you could easily customize your store's look and craft personalized messages that reflect your brand's voice. Vendo makes all this possible and much more.

5. Stop promoting Amazon, endorse your own brand

The problem with selling on a generic Amazon store is that you’re ultimately promoting its brand instead of your own. That’s not the case when you choose Vendo - it allows your eCommerce business to be part of the brand building process. 

Start selling under your own domain name and with your own logo, not Amazon’s. Make the entire shopping experience on brand from product discovery, through cart and checkout, up to your branded emails with order confirmation and delivery tracking links.

6. Get paid immediately, not in 60+ days

It can be so frustrating to wait for your hard-earned commissions to come in. Amazon makes you wait over 2 months for the cash to land in your pocket. 

"We pay you commission income on a monthly basis. Approximately 60 days after the end of each month, we will either send you a cheque, send you an Amazon Gift Certificate or deposit your commissions directly into your bank account." - Amazon

On the other hand, Vendo places the funds in your account the very moment that a customer places an order. No more waiting. And cash is king.

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Amazon Shops in need of a redo

Amazon runs an affiliate program popular among content Creators. You can find Amazon stores created by bloggers, Youtubers, Instagrammers and TikTokers in all major categories such as fashion, beauty, fitness, home, and parenting.

And yet, with all the potential of the personal brands backing these shops, most of them look really bad and provide underwhelming buying experience so cannot possibly bring satisfactory financial results to their operators. 

It’s a vicious cycle that can only be broken with a different approach to merchandising and product curation. You haven’t been working so hard to build your audience just to throw it all away with a shop that ruins your reputation.

Here are some examples of what could be done to improve the buying experience for the customers and improve monetization outcomes for the Creators.

Beauty - Beauty by Carla

Carla’s YouTube channel

Carla’s Amazon Shop

Carla Stevenne is an accomplished beauty influencer and makeup artist who has been able to build a wide online presence - her YouTube channel BeautyByCarla boasts 250K subscribers. Carla openly shares her must-have beauty tips with all of them, so they can look their best at every occasion.

Carla's Amazon shop could use some curation and merchandising. It's full of videos presenting products, but all the thumbnails look pretty much the same. So a potential customer looking for a specific item (like foundation or lip gloss) would have to go through all the videos to find what they are looking for. Why not make it easier to discover and buy the products Carla recommends? So much potential to improve sales!

Fashion - La Passion Voûtée

Louisa's blog

Louisa's Amazon Shop

La Passion Voûtée is a popular fashion blog run by Louisa, a Nigerian living in the US who calls herself: a "millennial babe bringing you up to speed with the latest wearable fashion, beauty hacks, and affordable outfit ideas."

Her Amazon shop lacks consistency. You can find there a wide variety of products, from fashion, beauty to suitcases and even electronics. It could benefit from adding product categories. The shopping experience would definitely be better if customers were able to quickly and effortlessly find products that interest them. So much potential to boost sales and influence Louisa’s followers' buying decisions.

Fitness - Heather Robertson

Heather's Youtube channel

Heather's Amazon Shop

Heather is a successful Canadian fitness coach who became famous for her 12 weeks online program that she released with perfect timing just before the pandemic. She has over 2M Youtube subscribers and 360K Instagram followers.

However, the Amazon shop is really minimalistic with no info about who she is and very few products. She could make so much more money from sales commissions if she expanded the assortment and included more fitness and health-related products.

Home - Yellow Brick Home

Kim & Scott's Instagram

Kim & Scott's Amazon Shop

Yellow Brick Home is a blog run by Kim and Scott, a husband and wife design duo from Chicago. Their Amazon page doesn't offer much information about them and why users should trust their recommendations when it comes to home decor. There is no link to their blog or Instagram with over 100K followers. It also features completely unrelated products like dog DNA tests. Again, so much potential.

Switch from Amazon Influencer Program to your own marketplace business on Vendo

• Earn up to 10x more than with Amazon's Affiliate program 

• Curate unique, on-brand shopping experience

• Sell products not available on Amazon

• Get paid immediately, and not after 60+ days

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