Complete guide for Marketing and E-Commerce Managers on how to sell food on Amazon Italy. Discover the best practices to optimize product pages, create an effective Brand Store and implement winning advertising campaigns.

The analysis developed here aims to be a useful guide for Marketing Managers, E-Commerce Managers and sales people in the Food sector in Italy, who are about to undertake or are interested in undertaking a path on Amazon Seller Central and/or Vendor.If you are a small brand looking to make a name for yourself, there are endless things you can do. You can work with restaurants or hotels to promote your products in their establishments, advertise on TV, social media or billboards. If you are a more established brand, you can use supermarkets, getting a dedicated section in their flyers or a floor display with your products and branding.

Alternatively, you can promote and make yourself known on the most famous marketplace in the world, attracting the attention of buyers from international chains. Monetize immediately and you can track the results of your campaigns in terms of orders and revenue generated.

We were at CIBUS in Parma this year and spoke with over 100 E-Commerce Managers and Marketing Directors. As a result of these conversations, we felt the need to create a definitive guide on how to sell food products on Amazon while maintaining a great profit margin.

In this guide we will see the best practices to follow to sell food on Amazon in Italy and abroad:

1. Product Sheet Optimization (PDP)

2. Main Image - What an Image Should Have to Convert into a Sale

3. Secondary Images - How to Convince the Customer

4. Brand Store

5. Variations - Increase Profitability on Amazon with Up-Selling

How to Sell Groceries on Amazon: Strategies, Optimization, and Best Practices to Increase Sales

In this section we analyze the current situation of Zuegg in Italy, taking into consideration factors such as the brand's presence within the marketplace and the quality of its adverts in terms of textual and multimedia content.

Keyword Search Zuegg

Typing the keyword “zuegg”, that is the name of the brand, you can see how the brand is well positioned organically for its branded keywords. But this is normal because on Amazon they are the only ones to have the word ZUEGG in their products.

An important note to make is the lack of sponsorship campaigns aimed at brand protection, or rather the protection of the brand for the keyword “zuegg”.

In fact, we can see how HERO is implementing a Sponsored Brand campaign with the aim of “attacking” market share towards Zuegg by capturing the attention of consumers who search for the word Zuegg on Amazon. Since Zuegg is one of the main players in Italy in the jam sector, it is good to be among the first search results when a potential consumer searches for that specific type of product and the specific brand.

What could ZUEGG do better?

• Start Sponsored Brand & Sponsored Display campaigns protecting “Zuegg” branded keywords such as “Zuegg Jam”, “Zuegg Juice”, “Zuegg” in order to protect its market share on Amazon and prevent competitors from stealing almost certain sales. 

Importance of Brand Store on Amazon

An Amazon Store (or colloquially called a Brand Store) allows sellers (Sellers and Vendors) who have registered their brand on Amazon's Brand Registry to create their own “miniature” e-commerce website on Amazon.

The brand store is a free marketing tool, a space on Amazon exclusively dedicated to the brand, built with an intuitive graphic interface and easy-to-use templates, with no programming skills required.

But do Amazon Stores really help improve sales performance?

Yes. Amazon internal data has shown that:

• Stores with more than 3 pages can increase shoppers’ dwell time by an average of 83%, creating a significant brand awareness opportunity;

• They help increase sales per visitor by up to 35%;

• An adequate communication strategy that includes the periodic updating of the brand store content due to seasonality, new launches or promotional events (such as Prime Day) has the potential to record 21% more repeat visitors, with a positive effect on loyalty.

Zuegg does not have a store on Amazon, which is not a good thing considering the size of the brand.

Zuegg Revenue Estimates On Amazon Italy

Zuegg's turnover on Amazon Italy is quite limited: the products that bring in the most revenue at the moment are the 4-piece single-portion packs and the x-piece jams (for example 6 pieces). Zuegg has many resellers who sell on Amazon that prevent the account from growing within the Amazon Vendor channel. The presence of many resellers impacts the metrics and KPIs that Amazon Managers monitor such as LBB% (Lost Buy Box%)

For example, single products have not managed to generate 1000 euros in turnover in the last 30 days, unlike the main competitor, HERO Light, which in the last 30 days alone has generated a turnover of 18000€+.

Product Page

Taking into consideration a product of the Zuegg brand, you can notice that the product page is bare and lacking the minimum requirements provided by Amazon. Amazon has specific requirements that if followed correctly can lead to a greater possibility of organic ranking on the search engine of the largest Marketplace in the world. 

AMAZON MAIN IMAGE: primary image, is correct. It could be improved by adding fruit outside the jar to make the taste of the jam clearer and more intuitive to the eyes of the Amazon buyer.

OPTIMIZED IMAGE EXAMPLE

SECONDARY IMAGES: They need better development, as the minimum number to have is 5 to 7 images and an explanatory video of the product. The images must portray the characteristics, nutritional values, dimensions and above all the benefits that the customer will obtain from purchasing this specific jar of jam: an example is to add a buyer persona tasting the jam with a relaxed and satisfied face or to show recipes to make with the family.

DESCRIPTIONS AND TITLES: The title and bullet points are not optimized at their best, in fact the title must contain a maximum of 200 characters and the bullet points 250 characters and in this case we do not exceed 100 characters; the title and bullet points must contain information that makes it clear in less than 5 seconds what I am going to buy and what I will receive as soon as the transaction is completed;

PRIMARY & SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES: It is vital to include nutritional values ​​and allergens in the “information on this item” section, we are talking about a product that can cause discomfort for consumers allergic to specific ingredients present in the food.

Amazon Competitor Analysis - Zuegg Vs Hero

Amazon Product Page Analysis

Hero has a very optimized Product Detail Page PDP, what is striking is the use of a main image that occupies all the space made available by Amazon. What is missing in the main Image is the insertion of a main keyword such as Marmellata Frutti Rossi in the artwork next to the writing 8x350g. The title is complete and presents keywords in the SEO field, the same goes for the bullet points.

The secondary images can be improved on many aspects though. There are some images that almost repeat themselves and I don't see any reference to taste. I don't know what to expect from this jam, why does it make it better than Zuegg? When selling food on Amazon and online the taste factor is a very important aspect and you have to try in every way to convey it to the consumer in the most direct way possible.

Content A+

Content that does not replace the product description, but that visually enriches the product page to give the consumer more details and information and also the possibility of inserting a series of other products to increase the average cart receipt.

Selling Food on Amazon must be a multisensory experience trying to make it as similar as possible to buying in the supermarket. Unfortunately HERO here did not meet my expectations and here's why:

POSITIVE POINTS

1. Great Text - Image Balance. It is important to include text within the Content A+ in order to optimize the listing in SEO.

2. Upselling module used correctly with the possibility of adding alternative products of the HERO brand to the cart.

NEGATIVE POINTS

1. Using only 4 A+ Modules instead of 5 or more.

2. No Video

3. Images can be improved to make them more eye-catching.

4. Lack of alt text in images

PREMIUM A+ EXAMPLE 

Hero unlike Zuegg has a showcase on Amazon. Their work on the marketplace is definitely visible and the numbers prove them right.

How to Increase Profitability on Amazon

As anticipated in the previous paragraph, the profitability of a product sold is given by the contribution margin that it can generate after covering the expenses and here it is of significant importance to evaluate how to sell products on Amazon, considering the costs and related commissions.

From the Hero Light product page in the previous paragraph you can see that they do not sell just one pack or one jar of jam, but they aim to sell packs that contain multiple pieces, multiple jars in a single order.

This is not an isolated case in fact many food brands that sell on Amazon are adopting the option of selling multipacks.

It is no coincidence that most of the turnover generated comes from the combination of products united in what is called “Variation”, that is, several products of the same type that differ only in one variable, which in this case can be the taste, as shown in the image below.

This involves:

• Greater profitability characterized by an increase in jars sold 

• A higher average receipt 

• A faster and less expensive product turnover: because the more you can sell a product quickly, the more the logistics management and storage costs decrease

• Launch sponsored advertising campaigns that have a more affordable cost per click due to higher margins and consequently a higher return on advertising spend.

Amazon Hero Light Revenue Estimates Analysis

Hero Light generates approximately 40,000 to 50,000 euros in revenue on Amazon Italy each month through the variations in the catalog. 

Zuegg, being a very well-established brand in Italy, can aim to generate around 60,000 euros per month by implementing the practices described so far, namely:

• Optimizing your product catalog with best practices

• A+ Content Creation/Optimization

• Brand Store Creation/Optimization

• Creation/Optimization of Advertising Campaigns for Brand Protection

• Creating/Optimizing Product Catalog Variations

• Using textual keywords in the title, bullet points and content to optimize SEO (Search Engine Result Ranking).

To summarize, what strategies and guidelines do you adopt to sell food on Amazon?

To summarize with something similar to a checklist to follow in order to have everything under control if you happen to manage an Amazon Vendor or Seller channel for food products:

1. Product Sheet Optimization (PDP)

Main Image

• High quality and minimum resolution of 1000x1000 pixels

• Clear and representative visual content of the product

• Pure white background (#FFFFFF)

Secondary Images

• Use between 5 and 7 images

• Show benefits and uses of the product

• Product dimensions visible

• Nutritional information and ingredients

• Lifestyle images (e.g. people using the product)

• Product Explanatory Video

Titles and Descriptions

• Descriptive titles with relevant keywords

• Maximum 200 characters for the title

• Clear and detailed bullet points, maximum 250 characters each

• Complete descriptions with essential information and keywords

2. Amazon Branded Content

Content A+

• Balance text and images to optimize the page

• Use A+ modules to promote related products (upselling)

• Include engaging videos and images

• Descriptive Alt Texts in Images to Improve SEO

Brand Story A+

• Create a section dedicated to the brand's history

• Use high-quality images and engaging text

• Highlight brand values, mission and history

• Include customer testimonials and reviews

• Update periodically with new information or relevant events

3. Brand Store

• Create a Dedicated Amazon Store for Your Brand

• Use Amazon's intuitive graphical interface and templates

• Update regularly with new seasonal content, product launches or promotional events

4. Advertising Strategies

• Launch Sponsored Brand and Sponsored Display campaigns

• Protect branded keywords (e.g. "Zuegg jam", "Zuegg juice")

• Use keywords like "how to sell on Amazon" and "how to sell food on Amazon".

5. Change Management

• Offer products in multiple packs

• Create product variations for different tastes

• Increase profitability and average cart value

• Reduce management and storage costs