What to Expect When Selling on Amazon.com – The Drill Down: Amazon Classification

As part of our continuing series around the basics of Selling on Amazon, today we’ll start to clarify what is a mystery to some – the Amazon classification requirements. The way to manage the attributes varies based on the listing option you choose, so this post will provide an overview of the considerations when determining how to best classify your products.

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hy should you spend time classifying your product for Amazon.com sales when you don’t do that elsewhere? This is the question sellers often ask. They want to know what classification is all about. It typically is something you do not see in other selling channels. It seems to be complicated. Why spend the time? The reason is straightforward: On Amazon.com you want to be sure each product is displayed in the correct category and sub-category to provide the buyer with the easiest path to find your products. Rather than being lost among a list of millions, correct classification can place your product right where the buyer is looking.

For example: If you are selling a Junior Wrap Dress and the classification is only dresses, then yours will be among over 100,000 of every type and style of dress. Rather than classifying it as a dress, you’ll choose additional attributes that will link you to Junior Wrap Dresses, and also Wrap Dresses and Dresses – maximizing your exposure when that is what the buyer wants.

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f you’ve been following this “What to Expect When Selling on Amazon.com” blog series, you know that a central theme has been tuning your products for the optimal Amazon.com single detail page. The focus today is to make sure you are on the correct detail page in the correct category. Not only do you want to be as specific as possible, you want to avoid having that dress show up when a buyer is looking for golf clubs! One of the strengths of the Amazon marketplace is the ease with which a buyer can discover the products they want to purchase. There is a complex system behind this ease, of course, involving a robust classification system. Webster’s defines classify as assigning to a category. What this means on Amazon.com: Rather than have every listing show up in a long, unorganized list, each is part of a group of products that are specifically categorized through the use of a set of terms that creates a structure. This structure has proven quite effective as a shopping resource for buyers.

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ow do you take advantage of this powerful feature? Now that you know why, the how involves a bit of research. Think about the product you are selling. Let’s imagine that you are selling trick and novelty golf balls. You will look at the classification guide in Seller Central and determine the best “Item Type” for your product. You could choose to classify those as golf equipment, but that would only present your product among some 16,000 or more different items that are golf equipment. It’s not likely customers will scroll through to find your products.

    

When that trick and novelty enthusiast clicks on Golf Balls, if you’ve chosen Golf Equipment, you will not be among the 511 listed there. Even worse, you won’t be there when the buyer clicks on Trick & Novelty Balls – that one other seller you see that has a product (screen shot below) might get the sale instead. Not every classification is as dramatic, but the point still stands. When buyers are looking, you want to be in the right place at the right time. And when you choose the right classification, your product is also in the related classifications for Golf Balls and Golf Equipment and Golf – this is the way to take advantage of this powerful feature.

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ant to learn more? There are lists of these attributes for each category in Seller Central called Item Classification Guides. Other options include identifying target audience (looking for men’s coats instead of women’s), what a product is used for (indoor, outdoor, occasions, and so forth), and many more attributes about specific products than can be listed here (colors, ingredients, design styles, etc). There are three options for diving into this. The easiest is the online item classification guide (not available for apparel at this time) where you can search for the best terms through an interactive interface. Another option is the Item Classification Guide as presented in a full list. That will provide the opportunity to compare available terms and identify what works best for your product. An additional tool in Seller Central is the Browse Tree Guide. This works in the reverse direction when you know where your product should appear and searching for that browse navigation name will take you to the information about which item type and attributes get your product listed there. When you ask the question, “how do I get my product in the right place on Amazon?” one of the answers is to use all of the classification options available to you. One further tip: it helps to arrange your products by product type when planning your attributes, especially when using bulk upload methods. Take advantage of every opportunity to link your product into Amazon’s search and browse structure to optimize your opportunities to get your product in front of those buyers.

Additional Resource:To start your research, you may want to read the help topic about Using Search & Browse. This provides an overview about how to maximize your exposure on Amazon.com with the correct product information. What goes with data and classification to round out the presentation? Images! Pictures are worth a thousand words, they say, so next we’ll explore why Amazon image requirements might differ from other sales channels and how to manage those to optimize your results.

Cathi C.