Starting your own coffee business is made even easier when you private label another coffee roaster’s beans. But what if you want to sell private label coffee on Amazon?
Amazon is used by many merchants to sell their products. As a seller on Amazon.com, you receive access to Amazon’s customer base which consists of millions of shoppers every single day.
Selling your private label coffee requires several steps. In this post, I touch on some of the essentials you will need to get started.
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Why Sell Private Label Coffee On Amazon?
The primary reason you would want to sell your coffee on Amazon is for the exposure. Amazon has one of the largest customer bases of any online business.
By selling your products on Amazon, you get to tap into a large customer base which means possible sales on a regular basis.
Another plus is that when you receive positive reviews on Amazon, it entices customers to buy your products even more.
Whether you want to sell your coffee only on Amazon or in combination with running your own eCommerce business, there are some steps that you must take to sell successfully.
Locating a Private Label Coffee Roaster
Your first step, of course, is to locate a private label coffee roaster that you want to work with.
This will take a bit of research on your part. There are plenty of them to choose from. A quick Google search will provide you with more than enough options.
You can also find local coffee roasters in your area and inquire about private labeling. Finding a roaster close to you makes it even easier to reach out anytime you need more information or help.
One coffee roaster to consider that has a lot of experience with selling on Amazon is Joe’s Garage. They are also a private label K-cup manufacturer.
Rules for Selling Coffee On Amazon
There are several requirements for selling grocery and gourmet foods on Amazon.com. It is important that you read through these seller requirements before you start selling on the platform.
Some key requirements include:
- Food must be properly prepared, packaged, sealed, and labeled.
- You must be licensed, or have approval from the relevant government agency for the products you plan to sell.
- You must ensure your products and business operations comply with federal and state laws. This includes laws not described in Amazon policies.
- Enclose and seal food in packaging suitable for shipping. It must keep food from contamination, spoiling, melting, and damage.
- You must ship food with enough of its shelf life remaining. You must not remove or alter the expiration date.
There is an extensive list as well as other details so be sure that you read through them completely.
Choosing a Seller Plan
There are two different seller plans that you can choose from when signing up as an Amazon seller.
You can either choose the Individual plan or Professional plan.
The Individual plan charges $0.99 cents per product sold plus any additional selling fees. This plan is ideal if you sell less than 40 units per month and if you don’t plan to advertise or use advanced selling tools.
The Professional plan charges $39.99 per month plus any additional selling fees. This plan is great if you sell more than 40 units per month, you want to advertise your products, and you want to use advanced selling tools.
You are not limited to either plan so if you need to change later on, you have the option to do so.
What Amazon Will Need From You
Before you sign up, you’ll want to have your personal information ready such as:
- Your federal tax information
- A government issued ID
- Bank account and routing numbers
- Phone number
- Credit card
Listing and Selling Your Coffee
Once you have your seller account all set up, it is time to list your products and sell them s orders come in.
Listing your product will require some key details such as the product name, SKU, UPC, description, product photos, and any keywords you want to use.
Your actual product page will need a title, photos, description, variations (if applicable), and any featured offers that you want to add.
As you receive orders, you’ll be responsible for packing and shipping your coffee to your customers. Amazon will provide you with a shipping credit for every product sold that is dependent upon the shipping method the customer chooses.
Using Amazon FBA to Sell Your Coffee
Another option for selling your coffee is to sign up for Amazon’s FBA program. FBA stands for “fulfillment by Amazon”.
For this option, you ship your coffee to an Amazon fulfillment center. They store your products and when an order is placed, the pick it, pack it, ship it, and handle all customer service.
Getting started with FBA requires you to already have your Amazon Seller account set up. You can set up FBA inside your seller account.
You’ll then need to create your product listings and specify if you want to use FBA. You will need to prepare your products for shipping to an Amazon fulfillment center.
There are specific Amazon packing guidelines you’ll need to adhere to and then it is a matter of printing your Amazon shipment ID labels and sending your inventory to Amazon.
What is great about FBA is that any customer that is using Amazon Prime can receive their product faster.
It will also alleviate the hassle of packing and shipping products yourself as well as having to deal with any customer service issues.
Bypass Shipping Your Private Label Coffee to Amazon Yourself
If you want to save the time of packing and shipping your private label coffee to an Amazon fulfillment center yourself, you can find a coffee roaster that will do this for you.
Joe’s Garage is one such coffee roaster that will handle all of the important details for you. Here are the benefits of using them as your private label partner:
- You can earn grocery category approval with their certification
- They can correctly format and apply your Amazon FNSKU barcode
- Correctly format and display approved Best By date
- Properly label your products for shipment
- Prep your shipment paperwork
- Stock cases and pallets to Amazon’s specifications
Closing Thoughts On Selling Coffee On Amazon
Selling private label coffee on Amazon may seem overwhelming but it is not impossible. Once you’ve sorted out all of the details and have a full understanding of how it works, it will be a smooth process moving forward.
Another thing to consider are all of your fees. These details can be found here and it is important to calculate these fees so that you know what you’ll be spending each month.
Keep in mind that using FBA will have its own set of fees and it can be quite expensive. If you are not moving inventory fast enough, you could end up spending more than you’re making.
Other things to consider are your marketing fees as well. Although Amazon has a large customer base, there is also a lot of competition.
You may need to use Amazon ads to promote your coffee. There is also a matter of requesting user reviews so that your product converts even more.
Selling your private label coffee on Amazon is a great option but don’t forget about owning and operating your own eCommerce store.
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