Today’s guest will share with listeners the truths and myths of selling on Amazon and making a fortune – he is Ed Hauck.  Ed is an expert on direct to consumer and today he will answer the question – “is Amazon the reason so many retail stores are closing their doors?” Why are retailers dying? Amazon is a here to stay – it is a game-changer which is not going anywhere, and blue Ed claims it isn't killing brick and mortar and has essentially become the Google for products.  There is a rule that if the product is not on Amazon, then the product isn't; the statement holds through because most consumers will go to Amazon first – not necessarily to price shop – but to read the reviews, learn about it and if it's available locally they buy it.  According to Ed, for consumers under thirty maybe 90-95% of their spending has moved from brick and mortar to Amazon; there are always those people who are willing to pay a few extra dollars for a product if they can have it tomorrow rather than driving to a brick and mortar store to get it. How do people get their products onto Amazon? There are two ways to sell on Amazon:  one is called Sellers’ Central, and the other one is called Vendor Central.  Most small entrepreneurs start with Sellers’ Central which is a place for you to open up a store – a branded store with your name on it – for that, Amazon takes a percentage of the retail price of everything you sell through them.  Vendor Central is for more established brands, and Amazon will take 40-50% of your retail price -- they purchase it from you, inventory it, and will own that inventory unless they return it to you. How do you get noticed on Amazon? It’s  a difficult situation if you are marketing somebody else’s branded product because it means you are going to be in a price war with someone else.  So the best way to do this on Amazon is if you have a proprietary brand or product and that allows you to create somewhat of a unique store where people can find your product.  To become a player in the category, you have to work on getting your SEO to make sure you’re showing up at the top of search pages.  There are other ways such as pay-per-click, but you have to invest money to get your product up higher in the product category. What’s the next step for an entrepreneur? If you haven’t already built an e-commerce website then the place to start is Amazon; you do need your site though to support the brand and the product.