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European Fulfilment Network For Amazon Sellers

Leave a Comment / Amazon, Amazon Marketing, Amazon Tools, Amazon VA, seller central /

If you’ve heard about the European fulfilment network for Amazon sellers, then you’re probably aware of Amazon’s global program and FBA services. Becoming a global seller on Amazon is not an easy task and this undertaking comes with its own set of problems. Selling your product in an international market can be intimidating, however, with the help of Amazon FBA and Amazon Global services, this process has become a tad bit simpler. If you’re planning on selling your products offshore, there are three basic types you can consider. European Fulfillment Network (EFN) With European Fulfillment Network (EFN), you ship your products to Amazon’s fulfilment centre, which will then be held in one country. Once an order is placed by a customer, the items will be picked, packed, and shipped by Amazon. You pay only local fulfilment fees on domestic orders. With Amazon’s EFN Network, you can sell on Amazon’s other European marketplaces with cross-border fees. Pan-European FBA With Pan-European FBA, you ship your products to Amazon’s fulfilment centre in your home marketplace. The order fulfilment process is done by Amazon. Amazon distributes your products throughout Europe based on anticipated demand without any cross-border fees. You can also save up to 52% in fulfilment fees. Multi-Country Inventory (MCI) With Multi-Country Inventory (MCI), you can choose which countries you want to ship and store your products. You have to pay local fulfilment fees for sale in the marketplaces you store products. With Multi-Country Inventory (MCI), you can sell on other marketplaces too with cross-border fees. European Fulfillment Network Typically, sellers can choose between FBA & FBM while deciding on the kind of carrier they want to choose for boarding their products offshore. EFN is part of the Amazon FBA program that dictates Amazon cares for the transport and delivery of your packages using one of its local warehouses. If you have a European marketplace seller account that’s registered under FBA, you can store your inventory in Amazon’s warehouses (also known as fulfilment centres), across Europe, and manage orders coming in from your European marketplace using the same local inventory pool. The reason why EFN is beneficial is that it keeps your stock stored in a single space, also known as the local pool, in a single fulfilment centre so that you gain maximum control and flexibility for marketing your goods. Now if you’re planning on selling your goods in a certain country in Europe, EFN allows storage of inventory in multiple fulfilment centres in one country to complete your local and trans-border orders. There are precisely only seven countries that allow the storage of goods within their fulfilment centres. United Kingdom Germany Spain France Italy Poland Czech Republic Pay Cross Border EFN fees When you sell your products to customers of other marketplaces via the European Fulfillment Network (EFN), you have to pay a cross-border fee for each order shipped. Let’s say for example you want a 600g Standard Parcel (non-media item) product across all five European marketplaces and ship your inventory to UK fulfilment centres. The cross-border EFN fee would be €4.39 for orders placed on amazon.de, amazon.fr, and amazon. it, and amazon.es. Standard Parcel 600g Fulfilment Fees Sale on amazon.de Sale on amazon.fr Sale on amazon. it Sale on amazon.es Fulfilment fee for EFN (fulfilling amazon.de, amazon.fr, amazon. it, amazon.es orders from UK inventory pool) €4.39 €4.39 €4.39 €4.39 There is no need to separately register for Amazon EFN because you automatically get this service under the FBA program but it’s important to choose your marketplace. Whichever European marketplace you select enables you to use EFN for all marketplaces as your listings are uploaded with the same SKU. What’s the benefit you ask? Single VAT number that eliminates financial stress for a chunk of your inventory. EFN gives you the flexibility of enlisting your products on all European marketplaces under a single VAT number and you also become applicable for Prime status. The storage fees are higher and it’s apt for a small business, however, if you’re thinking large scale, there are better options under FBA for selling your goods in the international market. But just like the EFN has its benefits, it comes with a set of disadvantages. EU) 2019/1020 Regulation needs most non-EU businesses to have an authorized representative located in the EU. You can read more about this here, a full guide on having an Authorized Representative by  Instrktiv. FBA European fulfilment network functions under Amazon, which means you don’t need to worry about setting up your inventory at the warehouse or supervising third-party logistics. However, the downfall is that you will need to pay cross-border fees applicable from the home country to other shipping countries, which can weigh down on your expenditure. Conclusion While EFN provides fast shipping in Europe, it might take three more days for the shipment to get delivered if your product is to be delivered outside the home country. You must also have a VAT registered number in your home marketplace to be applicable for EFN. Though this option offers Prime delivery, fast shipment works when you’re delivering your product within your home. However, EFN is an excellent option to consider since FBA fees are much lower as compared to using third-party logistics services. There is a lot of work and there isn’t a whole lot of time. At BIE, we have experienced and highly skilled Amazon Human Resources who can enhance your brand presence, improve Q1 sales in 2020, and give you analytical feedback of your conversions. Want to know more about our services? Just contact us for immediate assistance! Request a free consult this instant to avail of our consultation or subscribe to our mailing list to get instant updates for Amazon seller/ vendor central-based tasks. If you need professional help with your Amazon store management, contact us. BIE is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based agency providing human resources to manage all things Amazon. BOOK A FREE CONSULTING CALL

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Source and Sell Private Label Products on Amazon

Leave a Comment / Amazon, Amazon Marketing, Amazon Tools, Amazon VA, Digital Marketing Social Media, LifeStyle, seller central, Technology /

If you are planning to start your own e-commerce business, then to make some serious money, marketing private label products on Amazon is the best option for you. You can also take advantage of the fulfilment programs provided by Amazon such as Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) Program and Merchant Fulfillment Network (MFN) to improve sales conversion. Here’s all you need to know about sourcing and selling private-label products on Amazon. Product Research For Private Label Products The first step would be to brainstorm product ideas and you can get product ideas from just about anywhere. For example, you can visit physical stores and see what’s hot & trending or you can ask regular customers which products make the most sale. You can also get product ideas from Amazon so always pay attention to the “New Releases” section and Amazon Best Sellers page. Keep looking for new products under different sub-categories. Social media is a great place where you can get new product ideas but you will have to do your own research to check what is trending by analyzing viral posts. Find the Target Market For Private Label Products You can sell anything on Amazon, even if there is little to no demand for that product. You can’t sell something that has too many competitors. You can easily come up with a great product idea but you also have to study the market and find out the best product for your audience. If you are a new Amazon seller then it might be your first product or you want to add a new product to your business. Our Amazon Product researchers have observed that many Amazon sellers waste their money on finding out what the best product to sell is. While searching for your winning product, you need to take care of pricing, shipping, availability for sourcing, product demand, seasonality, and competition. Find the Right Product Suppliers Now that you have an awesome product idea that you want to sell, you have to research product suppliers and manufacturers. For the perfect Private Label products, you have to research marketplaces like Alibaba, and IndiaMart which give you great product ideas. You can sort your results by minimum order requirements, materials, and price. You also get an idea about costs and other charges through this process. If you still can’t get the best supplier and manufacturer for your desired products, then Google is always there for you. Use the product name first as your search term and then mention the private label supplier at the end. Finalizing Logo Design and Packaging Once you get a few good suppliers, don’t order the products immediately. Request for a quote and samples first. You have to compare price quotes of multiple suppliers and also make sure that the products are up to your standards. There will be charges you incur such as shipping costs, import duties, and any other fees. Once you source the product, branding, design, and packaging come next. You can put your logo on the packaging and the product itself. Since it is a private label product, you have to make sure you design the product differently and not like the products already in the marketplace. When it comes to design, there are a lot of things to cover. For example, it might be a sample design with just a label or logo. Depending on the products, you might also have to do a full-scale package design that includes instruction booklets, an ingredients list, and other elements. Make sure the branding is done professionally as it plays a major role in your marketing and sales. At BIE, we have many services that enhance the brand and we have professional graphic designers on our team who guide you through the design process. Figure Out Your Fulfillment Strategy For an Amazon seller, product ratings matter a lot, and your shipping and fulfilment process has a direct impact, on your ratings and reviews. There are so many options available by which you can fulfil an order. But before making any decision, make sure you consider the costs of everything. There will be many costs such as shipping, picking, packing, warehousing, and logistics. You can fulfil your order in-house, that is on your own, or you can ship your private label products to Amazon’s warehouse, and the order will be fulfilled by Amazon. Nowadays, many Amazon sellers choose the Fulfilled-by-Amazon (FBA) program to fulfil their orders. It’s easy to get more sales using FBA and customer service is provided by Amazon. You can use third-party fulfilment centres or ask your private label product supplier if they offer fulfilment services. Basically, drop shipping. Whatever strategy you choose, keep in mind, ratings, and also make sure your supply chain works systematically. Amazon Product Listings Your next step is to ensure your product gets listed on your seller account on Amazon. Make sure you use high-quality and professional product images only. At BIE, we have an e-commerce product photography service where we offer you professional product images. The title is the most important element of your Amazon product listing. Make sure you use the brand name first in your title as it is a private-label product. After the brand name, make sure you use the keywords and search terms that the users could search. Your product title will define what you’re selling so make it as effective as possible. Once the title is done, including all the benefits and features of the product in the bullet points, is crucial. Here you can put some keywords that you want to target. Lastly, make sure you put all the information about the product in the description. The product description is the place where you can instruct the buyer and help them to make a purchase decision. The product description is your sales copy that will decide whether the product will sell or not. Sell Your Products and Start Advertising Once the listing is done, you can add more products and start selling. You

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Amazon FBA Product Research Guide 2021

Leave a Comment / Amazon, LifeStyle /

Millions of active users use Amazon as a portal to find and sell products to customers worldwide. However, it can be very challenging for new Amazon sellers to select suitable products to sell on Amazon. Every well-established Amazon seller has gone through the problem of choosing a bankable product. To make a huge profit as an Amazon seller, you need to carry out a proper market evaluation. It becomes crucial for Amazon sellers to perform Amazon FBA product research before diving into it. Things to Consider before doing Amazon Product Research: Niche selection Brand restriction Competition Selling fees Profit margin calculation Why Amazon Product Research is Important for Amazon Sellers? If you are an Amazon seller, Amazon Product Research will help you select the best product to sell on Amazon and help identify the pain points of your customers. It will also help track customers and improve product descriptions. Now, what do we mean by “best product”? Well, the best product should be something that generates high sales with a huge profit margin. The product should also get positive reviews from customers consistently. You can conduct your research either manually or by using a range of automated tools. Start Your Amazon Product Research with Amazon Best-Sellers Page Amazon portal is an excellent source for product research. You can carry out product research manually by checking Amazon’s Best–Sellers Page. The Amazon Best-Sellers page displays items that generate the highest sale in each category and subcategory.  Don’t Forget To Scout for Potential Customers Amazon’s Best Sellers page helps to spy on potential competitors by giving access to their product listings externally. If you understand how ASIN optimization works, have a look at their website if they have one. Look at their ratings, reviews, and product descriptions, to get an insight into their best-selling product. This process might require manual intervention but it does allow sellers to be more involved in the current rankings on the Amazon marketplace especially if you’re aiming for a place on the bestseller page. Automation is the quickest way to conduct product research You can conduct your Amazon Product Research automatically using automated tools. Some of the best-automated tools for Amazon Product research are Jungle Scout, Unicorn Smasher, AMA One or AMZ Tracker, Keyword Inspector, and Amachete. These tools don’t need manual effort and are the quickest, if you’re at a loss of time, and don’t have virtual assistance. Don’t forget the “Customer’s Also Bought” Section The “Customer’s Also Bought” section appears on the Amazon page whenever a customer checks out their items from the cart. This section displays the lists of products that other buyers consider while purchasing the previous item. You can also focus on the Sponsored Products and Frequently Bought section for better insight. Checklist For Product Research: Identify your customers Determine your customer’s needs Select the right product category Identify your customers Keep the right pricing for your products Some exceptional ways to generate a product idea: Amazon’s Best-Sellers list Amazon Basics Amazon Storefront Amazon’s Movers and Shakers Amazon’s Customers Also Bought section Amazon’s Sponsored Products Amazon’s Frequently Bought Together section Search for products on Pinterest Explore Shopify Stores Ebay’s Trending List Don’t Commit These Mistakes in your Product Research At Any Cost! Selecting a very small niche It’s important to select a niche that generates high sales and has a good profit margin. So, choose an active market wisely to sell your products. Don’t select products where profits are uncertain. Low pricing of products Don’t set up your products for an extremely low price by seeing your competitor’s prices. Doing so will deliberately destroy your income. Your pricing decision should be different from your customers. Selling Private Label products Don’t select an undifferentiated product to sell on Amazon. You can’t sell private label products like BBQ globes, Yoga mats, and Silicon Wedding rings.  Not calculating the profit margins New Amazon sellers commit this mistake. Newbies underestimate the impression of Amazon’s fee on the products they want to sell. It is vital to use a proper FBA calculator to calculate profit margins. Not improving the product If you find that your competitors have a lot of negative reviews and bad ratings for the products of your niche and you still can’t improve on that, you are committing a huge mistake.

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Amazon’s Vendor Purge – Is It Really Bad News?

Leave a Comment / Amazon, LifeStyle /

In a huge strategy shift, Amazon is reportedly going to purge small vendors, reserving Vendor central only for biggies like P&G, Sony, Lego, and other massive names. This news on the vendor purge came as a rude shock to many suppliers when Bloomberg first wrote about it last month. Much has been said and discussed since then and we have now arrived at a point where it is almost finalised and everyone is waiting for the official news to roll over. Why is Amazon doing this to vendors? “Third-party sellers are kicking our first-party butt. Badly,” – Jeff Bezos wrote in his Annual shareholder letter. This is not just a statement but a thoroughly researched statistical analysis put in simple layman’s language. Ask me how? In 2018, nearly 58% of Amazon’s total sales came from third-party sellers. In the present year, this is estimated to go even higher. This made Amazon think about pushing small vendors below $10M in annual sales to the seller central platform. Seller central is more profitable for Amazon It is hard to believe but Amazon is not making as much as we would like to hear from the Vendor central. Amazon has to hire more vendor managers and spend more on the logistics – for the fulfilment and shipping of first-party products. The cost will go further once Amazon implements its One-Day shipping program. Seller Central on the other hand is relatively easy in terms of logistics and Amazon gets a share of every single sale that is made. Small Vendors are posing a risk With the increase in competition, there is a rapid increase in counterfeit/ unauthorized products as well. With so many small vendors, Amazon is finding it difficult to properly vet, inspect, and dismiss the products that do not meet the quality standards. This directly or indirectly impacts the business model and affects customer satisfaction. Amazon had stopped issuing POs to thousands of such small vendors a few weeks back and kept them on hold until they reviewed their products. The third Party is less demanding This might sound surprising, but the third-party sellers are smarter – they put in extra effort and are self-sufficient with their own pricing, forecasting, marketing, and shipping. They strive to drive more traffic to the marketplace and provide exemplary customer service. Ultimately, Amazon gets a cut out of every sale by simply lending their marketplace and growing along with the millions of other sellers. Vendor Central, on the other hand, is a lot of work. They need to demand forecast, negotiate, buy, manage inventory, take care of logistics, and provide customer support. Amazon is simply unable to allocate that kind of human resources. Also, Amazon sells products at loss, in an attempt to win the “Buy Box” at times. There are tons of vendor manager posts unfilled since 2018 and that explains why first-party businesses growing double digits every quarter is long gone. So what’s going to happen to the small vendors? I would say it is a welcome move for vendors as seller central is in its best shape now than ever before. If you are a vendor, do not feel threatened by the sudden policy change. The transition to seller central is going to be rewarding. Far superior reporting Control over pricing Inventory control No chargebacks If you are a Private Label seller and have got Brand Registry done, you have access to Enhanced Brand Content, which is pretty much similar to A+ content in Vendor central, and you can also create your storefront page. In addition, there is a new Brand Analytics tool which is very similar to the Retail Analytics dashboard in vendor central but with limited metrics. Coming to campaigns, in seller central, you have sponsored products and sponsored brand ads. While product display ads are still not on the third-party platform, there is not much your missing out on as you can make the most out of these two. With Amazon’s new selling plan, you can reach customers in 10 countries for just $39.99 per month. Isn’t that good news? How to prepare yourself for the transition? Set up a seller central account Consider the FBA program to enjoy Prime benefits Work out on product profitability and re-price accordingly Optimize your listings as there is going to be more competition now Redefine your marketing strategy Take Away Never put all the eggs in one basket. If you haven’t explored other marketplaces, it is high time you stop relying only on Amazon. Walmart, ETSY, eBay, and Opensky are great marketplaces where you can list your products and expand your business. If you need any professional help for your Amazon store management, get in touch with us. BIE is a Vancouver, British Columbia-based agency providing human resources to manage all things Amazon. BOOK A FREE CONSULTING CALL

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How To Prepare Your Products For FBA Shipment

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Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is a great way of outsourcing all your backend operations to Amazon. Amazon does all the warehousing, fulfilling, shipping and customer service, leaving you with enough time to spend on marketing and promotional activities. FBA simplifies business operations in many ways, however, it is not easy to prepare your products for an FBA shipment. Let us take a detailed look at how to prepare for the Amazon warehouse. 1. Convert to FBA If you are already on Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM), you need to change it to Fulfillment by Amazon in Seller Central. For this, go to “Inventory” and “Manage Inventory”. In the “Actions,” drop-down menu, select “Change to Fulfillment by Amazon”. Note – You need not necessarily include all the SKUs in FBA. You can choose to have some in FBA and others in FBM as per your convenience and logistics requirements. 2. Choosing Your Preferences Right Once the products are set to FBA in “Manage Inventory”, you need to set your preferences – either FBA Prep Service or the Stickerless Commingled Inventory. FBA Prep Service – This will be the best choice if you don’t have the manpower to prep and label your products on your own. Of course, Amazon will take a small fee per unit prepared. But it will free up a lot of time on manual work which you can alternatively spend on ranking your products better. Stickerless Commingled Inventory – Opt for this if you are fine with inventory mixing with the goods of other sellers who sell the same product. This is not an option for Private Label sellers. The only advantage of this option is to spread out inventory across different warehouses to enable faster picking and shipping of your products from the closest fulfilment centre to the customer. 3. Creating a Shipping Plan The next step is to create a shipping plan for items that you are planning to send to Amazon’s warehouse for this particular shipment. The shipping plan asks for the “Ship from” address – the address from where you will be sending your goods to the warehouse. It also asks for the packing type. There are two options for the packing type: individual products and case-packed products. Case packed is to be chosen if you are selling a bulk number of units packed as a whole in a single case rather than selling individual units. 4. Labeling Products After creating your shipment plan, the next step is to print the labels to be applied to the product. Every label contains the barcode and the SKU title that is being prepared for shipment. Once you select “Prep by merchant”, you may click on the “Print labels for this page” which will automatically generate a PDF with all the barcodes for the number of labels that are printed. These barcodes are unique and specific to your shipment. These are used to track your products and shipment by Amazon. Print these labels on stick-on paper in order to easily affix them on the product boxes or bags. 5. Preparing Your Products Here comes the most important and tedious manual job. Getting products to be FBA-ready is the most important task because if you have not packed them as per Amazon FBA standards, they will be turned away and you need to bear the cost involved in shipping them back and repackaging them. Here are guidelines for getting it right the first time. • It is mandatory to have a visible and scannable barcode/ label pasted on the exterior of every unit. • Labels/ printed barcodes are to be covered by the Amazon printed label. • A unique SKU number on every label is needed. • If the product has multiple parts, everything has to be put together inside a single package with a single unique label and not in different packages. There are also different guidelines to pack different types of products. Loose products: Loose products can be bagged in a poly bag and secured with non-adhesive tape. Sets: If your product contains bundles or sets, it is best to put them in a case together or marked assets with a label reading “Sold as set. Do not separate”. Boxes: If your product comes in a box, it doesn’t need any additional packaging. Just ensure the box is secured well on all 6 sides to pass the 3-foot drop test and doesn’t collapse. If it does, then it has to be put in a poly bag to be extra secure. Poly Bag: Poly bags are mostly used for loose products. Make sure your poly bag is: • Transparent • Sealed • At least 1.5 mils thick • Has a scannable barcode sticker on the exterior • Not more than 3” past the dimensions of the product Case-Packed: This is when you are selling a large quantity of the same type of product together as a single unit as opposed to selling individual units. Here are guidelines for case-packed products: • Matching SKUs and labels are mandatory for all products in the box. • There should not be more than 150 units per case. • Every case-packed box in a shipment must contain the same number of units inside. Now that you have prepared your FBA shipment, drop off the package at your nearby UPS store and keep your fingers crossed while you wait for Amazon to receive it. It will take anywhere between 1-2 weeks for Amazon to receive your package and acknowledge you with an email confirmation. Once it is in Amazon’s warehouse, your products will go live and are eligible for Prime. Write to us in the comment section if you need any more information on this. Good luck and Happy selling!

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