If you’re selling on Amazon, you’re likely selling to customers all over the country. When considering expansion, you may be thinking of selling to other countries. However, instead of expanding outward, have you considered selling locally to people in your area?
If you’re interested in selling products to nearby customers through Amazon Local Selling, this is the guide for you. Keep reading to learn more about this program and how you can benefit from it.
What Is Amazon Local Selling?
Amazon Local Selling is a program launched by Amazon in 2021 for brands and sellers that want to sell directly to people near their warehouses or brick-and-mortar locations.
For customers, the primary benefit is that they receive faster deliveries because their purchases don’t need to travel the long way around through Amazon fulfillment centers to reach their doorstep. They can even pick their purchases up at your store if they choose to do so, making things even more convenient.
For sellers, you have the freedom to offer multiple shipping options for local customers, ranging from in-store pickup to Amazon-supported shipping partners. You can even choose to hire your own delivery drivers to send your products to local customers.
Who Should Be an Amazon Local Seller?
Amazon Local Selling is generally best suited for intermediate sellers who already have a foothold on Amazon, as it allows them to expand into markets they haven’t fully explored yet.
Amazon Local Selling can also be a good option for relatively new sellers planning to sell perishables and other items that are inconvenient or cannot be shipped. Instead of shipping those products to faraway customers, customers can simply pick up the items from their store.
That said, it requires a certain level of commitment to be an Amazon local seller, as you need an Amazon Professional account on Seller Central which costs $39.99 per month/month to apply for the program.
Benefits of Becoming an Amazon Local Seller
A sizable financial commitment is required to sell on Amazon Local Selling. However, this can be a beneficial investment, thanks to all the perks you’ll receive. Let’s take a look at some of them:
More Flexibility in Product Choices
Amazon Local Selling brings elements of brick-and-mortar stores to your Amazon online shop, including in-store pickups. Since you have the option of allowing customers to pick up products at your store or warehouse, this enables you to sell items that are typically unsuitable for online retail due to their bulkiness, short shelf life, fragility, or other concerns. You can also get around Amazon FBA’s bulky item fulfillment fees by selling large items through Amazon Local.
Improved Local Brand Awareness
Selling to customers in your area isn’t just convenient; you also have a better chance of offering in-store interactions and forming lasting bonds with customers. This helps you build your brand locally in ways that an online store usually couldn’t. As you make more sales and delight more customers, word of mouth is likely to spread, and your brand will be even stronger in your region.
Potential to Offer Additional Services
Another benefit of being an Amazon Local seller is the opportunity to offer services you can’t perform over the Internet. For instance, if you sell furniture that requires putting together, you can offer assembly services for an extra cost. In addition to earning some more money, you can potentially improve customer satisfaction.
Access to Amazon’s Seller Support
Having access to Amazon’s seller support is one of the reasons people want to sell on Amazon. Amazon Local Selling combines the hands-on experience and local reputation-building of a brick-and-mortar store, but with the convenience and support availability of Amazon sellers. If you encounter issues with your store, you can contact Amazon’s support team for advice and assistance.
Shipping Options Available for Amazon Local Sellers
We’ve mentioned that Amazon Local sellers get access to shipping options that help them reach customers in their area more easily. Let’s take a look at the three main options:
Local Delivery
This is the traditional method, where customers order products and they are shipped to their homes. As an Amazon Local seller, you can either partner with Amazon-supported shipping carriers or self-deliver your products, providing you with considerable flexibility in customer order fulfillment.
Buy Online, Pickup In-Store
Buy Online, Pickup In-Store (BOPIS) is a service that enables customers in your area to purchase items through Amazon and collect them at your storefront. This is one of the fastest fulfillment options available because you can set the pickup time to be as short as 90 minutes.
Standalone Local Pickup
Standalone local pickup is similar to BOPIS, in that customers can pick up items from the store. The key difference is that this option is for products that you typically do not offer in-store, such as bulky items and perishable goods.
How to Become an Amazon Local Seller
You can become an Amazon Local seller by applying for the program from the Amazon website. Before you begin, ensure you have an active Amazon Professional seller account. If you already have one, you can go to Amazon’s local selling page and follow the steps outlined there:
- Define your selling area and submit your Amazon Local Selling application. They’ll reach out to you about the next steps.
- List your product offerings, inventory, and services for your selling area.
- Begin selling locally.
Strengthening In-Store Shopping and Local Delivery Experiences for Amazon Local Sellers
If you participate in Amazon Local Selling, you may need to cater to both online and offline customers. To help strengthen your offline in-store and local delivery experiences and match the service quality of your online store, you can follow these tips:
Provide a Welcoming Storefront
Your store layout and product arrangement technique are likely the first major impressions in an offline shopper’s experience. While it’s true that with Amazon Local Selling, most customers are just there to pick up what they bought on Amazon, making a visually appealing store space is still important.
An appealing store layout encourages the customer to stay after picking up their Amazon purchase. The longer they stay, the higher their chances of purchasing from your store, thereby increasing your revenue.
Offer Pleasant In-Store Service
The storefront is one-half of what makes your store memorable. The other half is its service. Friendly and helpful staff go a long way to creating pleasant in-store services. If a customer likes your store’s service, they may become repeat visitors and even recommend your store to their friends and family.
Implement Accessibility Measures
Some people shop online because they may have conditions that prevent them from going out to stores and browsing. To ensure everyone can access your store to pick up their items, consider implementing ADA-compliant accessibility aids throughout your storefront, like Braille on retail signage, clear and easily readable fonts, wheelchair-accessible entrances, and other similar measures.
Hire Competent Delivery Drivers
If you choose to handle your own local delivery, it’s essential to recruit delivery drivers who are reliable and familiar with the area. Competent, well-trained delivery drivers can ensure that your items reach customers on time and in perfect condition, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and improving the chances of repeat business from them.
Integrating Amazon Local Selling into Your Multichannel Strategy
If you’re already selling on platforms like Shopify, Walmart Marketplace, or your own retail store, Amazon Local Selling can be a smart addition to your multichannel strategy. Instead of replacing your current operations, it enhances them, especially when targeting nearby customers.
Here’s how Amazon Local Selling fits in:
- Diversifies your sales channels: You reduce reliance on any one platform by reaching customers locally through Amazon while still maintaining your existing eCommerce presence.
- Enables local product testing: Use it as a low-risk way to test new product lines or region-specific offerings before rolling them out nationwide. You’ll get customer feedback quickly without shipping products across the country.
- Expands local reach without heavy overhead: Unlike launching a new store location, Local Selling allows you to serve a nearby audience using infrastructure you already have.
To make this work smoothly, consider syncing inventory and fulfillment across platforms using multichannel tools. Platforms like Sellbrite or Zoho Inventory help avoid overselling and make it easier to manage local and national orders in one place.
By treating Amazon Local Selling as one piece of a larger strategy, you can grow more sustainably while better serving your local market.
Conclusion
Amazon Local Selling enables you to sell products to customers in your area more easily through in-store pickups and local deliveries. It’s also a great way to build your store’s brand and gain a local reputation, encouraging more people to shop at your store.
While being well-known locally is beneficial, maintaining a clear online store on Amazon, free from fake and abusive reviews, is equally important. Fortunately, TraceFuse is here to help. Our AI-powered tools can go through your Amazon store page and remove abusive reviews within days. Schedule a demo with us today to learn more about how we can help.
