After Amazon Ended The Sale Of Computer Software Through The Amazon Developer Portal, Skylum Software Looked To OperationROI To Provide A Path Forward
The Challenges
Skylum sells revolutionary photo editing software that uses AI technologies for powerful creative editing. They have been selling products on their own website. They were also selling through Amazon’s Developer Portal, which allowed for their software to be downloaded when purchased. Skylum came to us after Amazon ended the sale of computer software through the Amazon Developer portal. In typical Amazon fashion, support did not provide any path forward for selling these products digitally. Understanding the effects of this transition on Skylum’s Amazon sales, we had to come up with a plan that would change how Sklum would sell on Amazon. Our tasks:
- Establish physical products that could be shipped to consumers
- Get physical products to FBA
- Shift paid search budgets
- Review ongoing paid search campaigns
- Establish new promotions to encourage sales
- Increase brand awareness
- Get them enrolled in the new Digital Products program
OperationROI’s strategy to address Sklyum’s struggles on Amazon included listing optimization, getting them enrolled in Digital Products, and improving the brand’s presence
The Solution
The deprecation of the Developer Portal and Amazon not providing any help for software developers during this transition left Skylum scrambling for a solution. They needed us to implement a strategic plan that would address and resolve their issues.
Phase 1: Sell A Physical Product
Selling digitally was still the primary goal for Skylum, unfortunately, we continued getting nowhere with support. We knew we had to pivot and change how Skylum sold products while we determined how to best sell digital products on Amazon.
Our first goal, figure out how to get a physical product to Amazon FBA. After several discussions with Skylum, they were able to produce and package their software within a few weeks. We worked out a plan of action to get products into FBA through Seller Central and we were up and selling again.
Skylum was grateful to be selling again, but sales on Seller Central of their packaged product were weak.
Phase 2: Increase Exposure & Brand Awareness
With the peak of the Q4 holiday season approaching, we got aggressive with paid search campaigns and coupons for December. It was Skylum’s of our best month ever, however, in typical fashion Amazon decided to throw some curveballs and started mislabeling the products as CD’s instead of registration cards like they were set up.
Fortunately, we were able to show Amazon the errors of their way and started off the new year strong. Working with Skylum to strengthen its brand awareness, A+ pages, and a Brand Store was developed.
While building out their brand presence we never gave up on the goal of selling digitally. It took months of support tickets through multiple channels, but Skylum was officially enrolled in the Digital Products program in their Vendor Central account.
Phase 3: Sell Digital Products
After approximately 6-months of support tickets and phone calls Skylum was able to sell digital products, however, Prime Day was now approaching quickly and we had no digital products listed. We were able to get the best sellers created digitally and had them up and running in time for Prime Day. The combined sales of both physical products and digital sales led to their best sales month ever on Amazon.
The next few months were spent letting the physical inventory die down in Amazon’s FBA while ramping up sales pointed to the Windows and Mac Downloadable versions. We then helped Skylum transition from Luminar 3 to Luminar 4, their latest version of their software.
Unfortunately, despite the increase in sales and orders Skylum decided to move its Amazon management back over to its headquarters in Kiev.
Skylum Increased Revenue On Amazon By 337%
After Getting Sales Established On Both Vendor Central and Seller Central orders increased by 240%.
The Results
The results for Skylum from when we took over the account until the left had been great, despite the months of challenges we faced getting their product listed on both Seller Central and Vendor Central. Once we began working with Skylum to address each of their challenges sales and orders increased. The additional optimization of their paid search campaigns, promotions, and working to improve the brand’s exposure, we again saw sales velocity accelerate.
The culmination of our efforts peaked when Skylum was allowed to sell digital products again. Prior to the end of our partnership, overall Amazon sales revenue has increased by 337%. Orders have increased by 240% and ACoS percentage has dropped. They were only a client for about 18 months, but during that period of time, we continued to overcome obstacles while continuing to grow the bottom line. We feel confident we have positioned Skylum for continued growth and wish them the best of luck moving forward.
What Our Client Has to Say
“I hired OperationROI to help grow sales of our digital software after Amazon made some bizarre changes which dramatically dropped our sales. The team dug in and got us “up and earning” again quickly on Seller Central, then kicked in the afterburners with some choice ad spending and a move to all-digital sales over on Vendor Central. Their inside knowledge of the platform is excellent, as was their ability to maximize all aspects of its use relevant to our business. The weekly meetings, reports, and near-instantaneous responses kept me in the know and enabled us to tweak anything if needed – very much appreciate their overall service!”
— Kevin La Rue, VP, Int’l Bus Dev
