One of the best ways to increase the reach of an online business is to expand to new Amazon marketplaces in different countries around the world. If you’re already established with Amazon.com or another Amazon Marketplace, selling on Amazon Canada could be a worthwhile extension to get your products in front of more customers.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get the best results when you sell on Amazon Canada.
Why sell on Amazon Canada?
The ecommerce landscape is competitive so it’s important to ensure your business is available wherever there are potential customers. In 2021 alone, Amazon Canada generated more than US$9,817 million in net sales1, more than double its nearest domestic competitor, Walmart.ca. With 15.9 million unique Canadian visitors each month2, there’s plenty of potential for your business when you choose to sell on Amazon Canada.
If you’re already established on Amazon.com, getting started with Amazon Canada is a very simple process and one of the best ways to expand into another closely aligned English-speaking market.
How to link your existing Amazon account to the Canadian store
If you’re running an Amazon store in the US through Amazon.com, linking your account and setting up a Canadian store is easy. We have a separate guide on how to sell on Amazon.com if you aren’t set up in North America already. If not, you’ll have to sign up for an account eligible to sell in Canada as every region you sell to needs a separate account. Fortunately, Canada, North America and Mexico are considered one Amazon region. Sign up for one and you’ll be able to sell to all three countries via a North American Unified Account.
Canada, North America and Mexico are considered one Amazon region. Sign up for one and you’ll be able to sell to all three countries via a North American Unified Account.
A North America Unified Account on Amazon allows you to easily swap between selling on Amazon.com, Amazon Canada (Amazon.ca) and Amazon Mexico (Amazon.com.mx) with just one account. To check if you have a North America Unified Account, click on the language switcher at the top of the Amazon Seller Central page to see if all three countries are listed. If not, you can request a support ticket to have one approved.
Once you have a North America Unified Account, you can link all your accounts together on the Sell Globally page located within Seller Central and manage them from a single location.
Amazon’s Build International Listings (BIL) will help you set rules for your listings and prices between regions. You can automatically adjust product pricing on Amazon Canada in relation to the currency you use for your source marketplace and in accordance to exchange rate fluctuations.
How to transfer your Amazon customer reviews to your Amazon Canada store
If you’ve been selling through Amazon for a while and have an established customer base with positive reviews to match, you’ll naturally want this to carry over to the Amazon Canada marketplace to show you’re a trustworthy seller.
Again, looking at the Build International Listings (BIL) tool, you can easily transfer product listings from another Amazon Marketplace to Amazon Canada. Through BIL, any customer reviews from existing product listings will carry over. However, any past search results and bestseller rankings will not transfer between Amazon marketplaces.
Once you begin accumulating reviews through Amazon Canada, your transferred reviews will no longer be shown.
Localizing listings for Amazon Canada
Starting an Amazon Canada marketplace from another English-speaking region gives you a headstart, although it’s important to note many Canadians also speak French. Also, Canadian English is not exactly the same as American English and can share similarities with British English. Make sure you do your research.
Taking the time to localize product listings shows attention to detail and that you care about the market you’re selling to, which could make a difference between a sale or an abandoned cart.
Canadian English is not exactly the same as American English and can share similarities with British English. Make sure you do your research.
Find bestselling categories for your Amazon Canada store
Before you make a start on your Amazon Canada store, take the time to research the best products to sell as they may differ from other Amazon marketplaces. While the bestselling categories generally attract the most competition, selling what’s popular may help to net the best search results.
Sticking to the product lines you know you sell well in other markets may be the best place to start, before you expand into areas that follow local trends.
What’s popular will change according to seasons and trends so it’s important to research the bestselling products on a regular basis.
What’s popular will change according to seasons and trends so it’s important to research the bestselling products on a regular basis. Various Amazon and third-party tools can help you to stay on top of bestseller categories. Amazon also shares annual events calendars that list the best products to sell at different times of the year.
Using Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) for your Amazon Canada store’s shipping
Once you’ve prepared your Amazon account to start selling on Amazon Canada and have identified the best products to sell, the next step is to sort out your shipping processes.
An option to consider is Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA), which helps to automate much of the work involved in shipping customer orders. This means your products will be stocked in Amazon’s local warehouses, and customers subscribed to Amazon Prime can order with the fast and free two-day shipping option. This avoids delays due to stock and shipment arriving from another Amazon centre or your own overseas store.
FBA does incur additional fees for your business, which vary depending on the physical dimensions and weight of your products. The Amazon FBA calculator, available through Seller Central, provides estimates of the fees involved so you can determine if FBA is profitable for your business.
Other options include managing purchase fulfilment through your existing internal processes, which allows you to have complete control, or enlisting an alternative fulfilment partner.
How do you get paid and manage fees for your sales on Amazon Canada?
Amazon Canada fees, such as advertisements and seller fees, are payable via credit card or, once you start selling products, can be deducted from your earnings. Your account with Amazon Canada is settled every seven days, after which the payment from sales can take up to 5 business days to reach your nominated account. To find out when and how much you will be paid, go to the Statement View in your Payments Report section in Seller Central.
Currency conversion for Amazon Canada revenue
To optimize profitability for your business when selling across overseas markets such as Amazon Canada, it’s important to consider currency conversion and fluctuations in exchange rates.
Revenue through Amazon Canada is paid in Canadian dollars (CAD), which you’ll want to convert into your home currency at some stage. The default option is to use the Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers. It will convert revenue into your local currency in your nominated account. However, using the Amazon Currency Converter for Sellers means you will receive the exchange rate at the moment of funds transfer, which may not be an ideal time based on what’s happening in the currency market.
Use a Multi-Currency Account for Amazon Canada to manage conversion rates and fees
Although using Amazon’s default payment system may be easier than opening domestic bank accounts in every region you do business, it also means you have less control over when to convert your international revenue.
With a multi-currency account, you only need one account to manage multiple currencies across the world. You can also manage payments in currencies local to your various Amazon stores, paying suppliers and other fees without the costs that come with unnecessary conversions. This could mean more revenue for your business.
An multi-currency account lets you choose when to convert international currencies. You can even set rate alerts to notify you when the exchange rate will result in a strong return on your currency conversion, helping to maximize your Amazon Canada sales revenue.
Advertising to grow your business on Amazon Canada
To grow your business, Amazon offers several advertising options you could consider.
Before you look into paying for advertising, make sure your Amazon Canada store page is neat and tidy, offering the best possible online shopping experience for your customers. Once you’re ready, Amazon has three different paid advertising options on its website to help increase your business’ reach. Amazon’s internal data claims 74% of customers use the store to discover new products or brands. Here are some of the ways to help you get discovered.
Sponsored Products: ads for specific products designed to get your wares on search results through either manual or automatic targeting, paid on a per-click basis.
Sponsored Brands: displays a preview of your Amazon Canada store in the form of a prominent box showing three products and a headline selected by you. This option lets you set keyword targets and an overall advertising budget.
Sponsored Display: if you want advertising outside of Amazon Canada and also on ads across other websites, this is the option for you. Amazon’s data indicates stores using Sponsored Display advertisements see up to 82% of sales from new-to-brand customers.
IMPORTANT: This third party content provided by OFX has not been reviewed or endorsed by Amazon.
Sources:
1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/271450/monthly-unique-visitors-to-us-retail-websites/
2. https://ecommercedb.com/store/amazon.com
IMPORTANT: The contents of this blog do not constitute financial advice and are provided for general information purposes only without taking into account the investment objectives, financial situation and particular needs of any particular person. OzForex Limited (trading as OFX) and its affiliated entities make no recommendation as to the merits of any financial strategy or product referred to in the blog. OFX makes no warranty, express or implied, concerning the suitability, completeness, quality or exactness of the information and models provided in this blog.
