For the first time ever, Prime Members who order $10 or more from any small business on Amazon between now and Prime Day, will receive $10 of credit that can be used to purchase anything during Prime Day.
As appealing as this all sounds, however, there were certainly challenges along the way Toyin admitted. Just as many large companies are going through the often-difficult process of digitally transforming themselves, small businesses that want to sell on Amazon have to learn to function in the online digital world as well. “I usedquite a bit,” Toyin said, “especially early on. There were days when I felt like I was back in school.
Iya Foods takes advantage of a service called FBA that allows small businesses to have their products stored in and shipped from Amazon warehouses. “Fulfillment services from Amazon has been hugely beneficial. They let us compete with companies that are significantly bigger than us.” As great as that is, though, the fees for using FBA and other Amazon services, which range up to 30% of the sale “sometimes made me feel like I was working for Amazon,” Toyin acknowledged.
For those small businesses that may be considering the move to online, Toyin suggests getting as much information about whatever category they want to be in. “Learn the competitors and read the reviews,” she commented. “I read every review for every competitor and learned a great deal in the process.”
Channeling the entrepreneurial spirit she said she learned by starting to work at the age of 9 in her family’s business in Nigeria, Toyin added, “If you want to experiment, Amazon is a great place to try.” For Prime members who want to experiment with supporting small businesses like Iya Foods and thousands of others on Amazon, they can check out theUSA TODAY columnist Bob O'Donnell is the president and chief analyst of, a market research and consulting firm that provides strategic consulting and market research services to the technology industry and professional financial community. His clients are major technology firms including Microsoft, HP, Dell, Samsung and Intel.
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