A Seller’s Guide: Structuring Your Organization for Amazon Marketplace Success

Amazon Marketplace helps customers find, buy, deploy, and manage software, data, and professional services solutions from thousands of Amazon Web Services Partners. When Amazon Marketplace launched in 2012, it was a place for builders to find Amazon Machine Image (AMI) based solutions quickly without engaging with sales teams. Since 2012, Amazon Marketplace has grown beyond AMIs to include containers, machine learning (ML) solutions, professional services, and software as a service (SaaS) products.

According to a Canalys study, enterprise software sales through cloud provider marketplaces are projected to reach $85 billion by 2028. Organizations looking to capitalize on this shift in customer buying preferences need to adapt their operations to take advantage of cloud marketplace capabilities. Companies who are successful in Amazon Marketplace coordinate multiple departments and stakeholders while integrating Amazon Marketplace into existing business processes. Additionally, successful organizations overcome knowledge gaps across teams by training their teams on the technical requirements and how transaction processing flows in Amazon Marketplace while making sure their Amazon Web Services marketplace presence aligns with overall business strategy. They address these challenges systematically for successful participation and growth in Amazon Marketplace, particularly as buyer profiles diversify from technical builders to line-of-business leaders and executives.

Planning for success

As Amazon Marketplace has evolved, so too has the approach to building successful co-selling relationships. Today, Amazon Marketplace is positioned as the preferred transaction vehicle for business-to-business (B2B) software for our Amazon Web Services sellers. In the past, you could register as a seller and list your solution in Amazon Marketplace with a few teams like alliances, product, and sales. The question becomes: How much faster could your Amazon Marketplace business scale if you engaged all crucial teams from day one and secured the executive visibility needed to drive rapid adoption? Success in today’s Amazon Marketplace requires a comprehensive, well-coordinated strategy that extends beyond traditional departmental boundaries.

The following graphic illustrates key teams that should be engaged from the outset of your Amazon Web Services relationship and Amazon Marketplace journey. These include partnerships, marketing, operations, product, enablement, sales, and finance. Although not exhaustive, this list represents critical stakeholders in your Amazon Marketplace success. As your presence grows, you might identify additional teams to involve. Crucially, executive buy-in is essential for building a sustainable and successful Amazon Marketplace business. This top-down support acts as the binding agent so that all teams remain aligned while your Amazon Marketplace footprint expands. Without this executive sponsorship, coordinating efforts across diverse departments becomes significantly more challenging.

Figure 1: Amazon Marketplace: Key organizational departments

In the next sections, we explore how each of these teams contributes to your Amazon Web Services relationship and why their early and ongoing engagement is crucial for marketplace success.

Partnerships

Alliance teams serve as the cornerstone of Amazon Marketplace success, leading your organization’s engagement within Amazon Web Services Partner Network (APN) and spearheading co-selling initiatives with Amazon Web Services field sales teams. These teams are your frontline champions, often being the first point of contact when Amazon Web Services asks about your marketplace availability during co-selling engagements. Whether you’re already listed in Amazon Marketplace or considering it, sales teams play a crucial role in evangelizing and promoting marketplace opportunities throughout your organization.

Beyond internal advocacy, alliance teams drive the development of robust channel partnerships with Amazon Web Services consulting partners and coordinate engagement across key internal teams. Success in Amazon Marketplace requires strategic focus on building strong executive relationships, maintaining technical integration support, implementing measurable partner success metrics, and developing comprehensive partner enablement programs. These elements collectively promote sustainable growth in Amazon Marketplace.

Marketing

Marketing plays a crucial role in aligning your Amazon Marketplace presence with your overall strategy. Their responsibilities include managing product listing pages to reflect your brand messaging and integrating Amazon Marketplace into your go-to-market (GTM) strategy. They must also raise awareness among Amazon Web Services customers about your Amazon Marketplace availability and treat Amazon Marketplace as a new sales channel in marketing campaigns. Even for high-touch sales solutions, including Amazon Marketplace in your GTM strategy is vital. It helps customers recognize Amazon Marketplace as a procurement option for your products. Marketing should also be involved in lead generation through Amazon Marketplace. If you offer free trials, demos, or custom pricing, make sure these tactics are implemented in your Amazon Marketplace listings, with marketing overseeing the lead flow and follow-up process. By fully engaging your marketing team, you can maximize the potential of Amazon Marketplace as a powerful sales and visibility tool.

Operations

Operations is an ambiguous term, but you need to think about your daily operations for anything related to your products and the sales of those products. The most common teams here are sales operations and finance operations. Your sales and finance operations teams need to be aware of Amazon Marketplace and how to create transactions and understand how cash flows from Amazon Web Services to your organization. We hold live events called Ops Squad and RevOps Squad that are great events for these teams to attend and learn about the operations aspects of using Amazon Marketplace.

Product

The product teams are important for several reasons. Most importantly, they need to be aware that you’re listing your products in Amazon Marketplace and what technical requirements they’ll be responsible for completing and maintaining. Gaining their buy-in is essential to creating the product listing that not only resonates with Amazon Web Services customers but also matches the products your customers are buying from you today. For instance, if your company website offers a self-service, pay-as-you-go option, but your Amazon Marketplace listing only provides long-term contracts, you’re potentially losing customers who prefer to test your product before committing to extended agreements. To maximize your sales potential, aim for consistency between your direct sales approach and your Amazon Marketplace offerings.

Enablement

Enablement teams are not only a key stakeholder, but it’s a key pillar of being successful in Amazon Marketplace. Your enablement teams need to know that you’re selling in Amazon Marketplace so they can work to create content for your sales, finance, and executive leaders. Building educational content for your teams is key to educating your teams so you can reduce friction when it comes to using Amazon Marketplace as a new sales channel. Make sure content is regularly refreshed and included in all your standard enablement sessions, including new hire onboarding. The earlier you educate and the more you refresh, the more confident your teams will be with using Amazon Marketplace.

Sales

Sales teams, sales leadership, and your chief resource officer (CRO) or head of sales are key to your success. You can educate and train sales teams to the best of your ability, but if they don’t have goals and a top-down push from your sales leaders, sales team adoption can be tricky. A great event for revenue leaders is our CRO Symposium which can be found in our live events. When it comes to sales compensation, being comp neutral is a positive and can help reduce friction and gain adoption with your sales teams.

Finance

“We closed a deal, but when are we going to get paid?” I hear customers say this often, and when they do, it’s typically because finance teams aren’t educated or might not even be aware that you’re using Amazon Marketplace when you close your first transaction through Amazon Marketplace. As you start to plan your Amazon Marketplace strategy, make sure you include finance teams and make sure they’re aware of how transactions flow so they understand when to expect payment for deals completed through Amazon Marketplace. The RevOps Squad in our list of live events is great even for your finance teams.

Conclusion

Thriving in Amazon Marketplace demands a well-coordinated effort across your organization, with executive sponsorship as the cornerstone of sustainable growth. Success requires securing early executive buy-in, aligning cross-functional teams around clear objectives, and investing in comprehensive enablement programs. By maintaining strong Amazon Web Services relationships, implementing scalable operational processes, taking advantage of Amazon Marketplace resources and partner programs, and regularly reviewing and optimizing your Amazon Marketplace strategy, you’ll be positioned to capture emerging opportunities.

Your executive team is the glue that binds these elements together, providing alignment as your Amazon Marketplace business expands. Whether you’re launching or scaling your existing presence, this executive commitment remains crucial.

Act today: Whether you’re already selling on Amazon Marketplace or considering it for the future, review your teams to ensure they align with the key roles outlined in this post. Secure an executive sponsor for your Amazon Marketplace initiatives, and don’t hesitate to reach out to your Amazon Web Services account team for guidance. They can provide valuable insights tailored to your specific situation, whether you’re optimizing existing operations or preparing for your marketplace debut. Remember, your cloud success journey begins now. With the right strategy, leadership, and Amazon Web Services support, you’ll be well-positioned to capitalize on the growing opportunities within Amazon Marketplace.

Resources

The following are some great resources to bookmark and share with all your relevant teams, especially enablement because they work to create content to educate your teams about Amazon Marketplace.

• Amazon Marketplace Resources Hub
• Amazon Marketplace Operational Tutorials
• Best practices for driving traffic to your Amazon Marketplace listing
• Best practices for receiving, accepting, and distributing Private Offers in Amazon Marketplace
• How Amazon Marketplace sellers can use the COSS framework for a successful sales strategy
• Empowering Amazon Marketplace Sellers to Streamline Operations with New Features Announced in 2024

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