November 2012 Fulfilment by Amazon Merchant Update
The busy end of year is fast approaching. Are you ready? We're here to help with a few tips about preparing inbound shipments correctly so they are processed quickly and setting up alerts to help you best manage your inventory and optimise your sales.
Plan for a Successful Festive Season with FBA
Good timing can make your end-of-year sales, and we want you to have your best festive season ever. Ship your inventory to Amazon early to take advantage of the peak shopping days. Plan to get the majority of your inventory into Amazon Fulfilment centres around mid November and send small replenishment shipments as needed throughout the selling season.
We also strongly urge you to comply with best practices, some of which are set out below for a smooth festive selling season:
For your inbound shipment creation:
Remember you can optimise your sales with FBA:
We will ship most items until very shortly before Christmas.
- Many late purchasing customers trust Amazon to deliver by Christmas Eve and will therefore place a last minute order. Your FBA orders can be combined with those from Amazon retail resulting in one cost saving order for the customer. As a result buyers will often add FBA items to their Amazon order
- With Christmas gift cards, the last week of the year can see a lot of continued ordering activity so don’t let your top selling inventory run dry
Forecast well and ensure you don’t run out of stock
If you were selling on Amazon last year during peak, we recommend you compare September sales with the changes through November and December. You can view your sales in graphical form on the Business Reports Sales Dashboard (sign in required) in your Seller Account by selecting Year to Date in the date drop-down selector, or you can download the Customer Shipment Sales Report in the Fulfilment Reports section of your Seller Account by leveraging the exact dates drop-down selector.
You should also review last year’s sales for out-of-stock information. If you went out-of-stock last year on your products before December 22, you likely lost sales during Amazon’s peak season and will want to ensure this does not happen by carrying buffer stock to cover potential demand. Remember, you can set up replenishment alerts in your FBA seller account to quickly identify low inventory and can therefore maximise your sales at one of the busiest times of the year. To set up these alerts simply go to:
1. "Inventory" - “Manage FBA Inventory”
2. Select the products you would like us to alert you about
3. In the dropdown menu, select "Set Replenishment Alerts” then click "Go"
4. Select “Set Alerts”
5. Enter the stock level at which you wish to receive an email alert for each item
If not already done, do activate your Export Settings so customers outside your home marketplace can still order on Amazon.co.uk and get delivery throughout the EU – at no extra charge to yourself
Your media and non-media FBA items listed on Amazon.co.uk can be shipped to customers in 9 or 26 EU member states and for media items to customers additionally ordering from virtually anywhere in the world.. To activate this option:
- Visit https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/gp/ssof/knights/items-list.html.
- Click “Change Export Option” and select 9 or 26 European Countries or for media items a third option for worldwide shipment can be chosen.
Gain flexibility and optimise your inventory when you use Multi-Channel Fulfilment and EU Export for Multi-channel
Especially at this busy time of the year, you can take full advantage of the option and flexibility to fulfil domestic on and off Amazon orders as well as international on and off Amazon orders EU wide from one single local inventory pool located in an Amazon Fulfilment Centre. This means you could reach more customers by listing your existing FBA inventory on other online channels at home and Europe wide or just on your home marketplace but for delivery to customers throughout the EU.
When an item sells on another channel, just tell us what to ship and to whom and whether it should go standard or expedited delivery for domestic orders and we will do the rest. Once you submit a multi-channel order, you will see the estimated delivery date which can then be shared with the customer. You can also custom brand the packing slip which accompanies your orders.
Reach tens of millions of potential new customers on Amazon EU wide
When you list some of your best selling items on one or more of Amazon’s other EU marketplaces (Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.it) and use our European Fulfilment network to deliver your orders, you can easily extend your market reach to tens of millions of potential new customers and enjoy increased sales and reduced costs. You can find more information about selling internationally in our EU Import and Cross-Border Sales Information document
Growing your business internationally has never been easier with Amazon’s European Fulfilment Network (EFN) and an added advantage is that your orders are fulfilled from the same single local inventory pool.
As we approach the festive season, we’d like you to sell more of your products through EFN - and we’ve created a special offer to help you save more:
EFN Promotion: Save 10 % on EFN Fulfilment Fees when you sell on Amazon.fr!
From 22 October 2012 to 31 December 2012, for all your products fulfilled through EFN for orders placed on Amazon.fr, we will apply a discount of 10 % on your EFN fee. And best of all, there is no limit to how much you can save during the promotion period. List your products on Amazon.fr today and start enjoying your savings. For further information, please check our EFN Fee Promotion Page.
Facilitate your inbound shipment creation by using the New ‘Duplicate an FBA Shipment’ function
If you frequently send the same products to Amazon fulfilment centres, you can now quickly create a new shipment of inventory based on an existing shipment by clicking the "Duplicate Shipment" button.
To get started, go to the shipment summary of any shipment and click the "Duplicate Shipment" button at the bottom of the screen. Just enter the name of your new shipment and click "Create Duplicate Shipment." The same Merchant SKUs, quantities, and shipping preferences will be applied to your new shipment. You can add or remove products and change quantities or settings as needed.
We wish you much success optimising your sales on Amazon and with FBA this festive season.
Yours sincerely
The Fulfilment by Amazon Team
