In an e-commerce world where every detail counts and innovation beacons stand tall as the table, bringing forth the items. From Nairobi and now based in Salt Lake City, Sylvia Kapsandoy is the founder of USimplySeason.
Originally from Nairobi, she founded USimplySeason in Salt Lake City as a flavored spice blend retailer. Amazon customers are raving about the variety of spice offerings by USimplySeason that echo taste from across the globe, like Jamaican jerk, Ethiopian berbere, and Indian garam masala. Some of these rags-to-riches success stories come from businesses such as homegrown spice fields, whose many operations today empower several home-based businesses in giving their customers a range of spice blends around the world.
All that against the fact that there was something else altogether, the Amazon FBA program—a game-changer for many a Sylvia, and she said it proved to be a sound platform when it came to logistics, customer service, and returns. Well, such an approach to work lets innovators and entrepreneurs orient around most things that they are best at—innovate and grow their businesses. The world has more than 9.7 million sellers using the service, with an impressive 94% of these using Amazon FBA.
It is worth noting that, at least in 2022, Amazon FBA was perhaps a giant source of company revenues: from third-party sellers alone, it brought in at least 117.7 billion US dollars. There are countless examples of modern tendencies today that can add to the list of plenty of opportunities in modern world business, and among them, one should mention selling on the Amazon marketplace.
Born out of very personal motivation, this online retailer was a venture borne to Sylvia when she found that “healthy, flavorful meals really could help her family and its health issues”. As many as 70% of the Amazon sellers wish to be their own boss and be bound by very personal motivation on the back of multi-sided flexibilities—be it time, be it making a name for themselves in the e-commerce world.
The one mainstay that accompanies Amazon FBA is the operational efficiencies outside of it. It helps them tap into a wider customer base of Amazon and also the opportunity for its new advertising tools and A+ content pages that will help them reach more customers, hence improved selling experience. One more really compelling fact is considering that Amazon has over 12 million SKUs with them, of which they attribute that 35% of their sales are for cross-selling potential.
It means a huge opportunity is there to grow your brand exposure. Revenues of the company amounted to a whole $513.9 billion compared to last year. Pushed by internet shops and third-party sellers, the largest global online seller seems on the verge of creating history in their own right—their treasure trove is reportedly the first to go over a half trillion dollar valuation. Such a dynamic platform and strategic advertisement and with an emphasis on customer satisfaction, it is a fertile ground for businesses like USimplySeason.
Slyvia started in 2013 with the production of healthy spices meant to tell a story of merging tradition, innovation, and health. I was after something that showed how food can become integrated into life every day, from food that was medicine to being able to easily cook great meals for his family.
Having been in business for more than 10 years, here are my top 4 learnings and advice to other small business owners who’d like to sell in Amazon’s store.
Customer Connection: Amazon FBA centre allows much greater interaction with the customers, whose feedback was so important for the further development of products for USimplySeason. The very dialogue has improved the product quality and brought a sense of vision and mission.
Operational flexibility: With Amazon handling the logistical functions, Kapsandoy and her team were free to “expend” their energies in a direction of creativity and product development. So her products became available and affordable to more customers than ever before.
Marketing expertise: Using the full range of advanced marketing solutions from Amazon, specifically all-in-one advertising suite and smart automated tools for A+ content pages, Kapsandoy’s company could easily target audiences, the largest and most diversified ever, that can only ogle in wonder at the originality of these exotic spice blends.
Foundation Understanding: To novices, Kapsandoy requires the understanding of the fundamental reasons why they are doing business. It is indeed that understanding of your ‘why’ that goes into authentic branding with the power to influence people.
Vikas Saini is the founder of Creator Wings Marketing agency. He has been known for his deep knowledge and work in the field of digital marketing and content marketing niche.
