Amazon, the number 1 Internet Retailer in 2016 according to the Top 1000 Guide, recently announced that over 2 BILLION items were shipped to customers through its’ Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service.
That, according to Amazon, is a 70% increase in growth and double in volume since 2015. They also grew 50% more during their holiday period, November to December. The reasons are pretty simple, there are more advantages for buyers to buy products that are fulfilled by Amazon and when there are more advantages there will be more purchases.
What is Amazon FBA?
Simply put, Fulfillment by Amazon allows sellers to store their products at Amazon’s fulfillment centers. By doing this you can store more products to sell and ensure your customers fast and accurate deliveries as Amazon also picks, packs, ships, and provides customer service for these products.
What’s more is when a seller uses Fulfillment by Amazon, their products qualify for Prime shipping. Prime is flagged on products and is seen by those shopping under the Amazon Prime membership, and roughly 45% of US Amazon consumers use Amazon Prime.
Why Is FBA So Successful?
Amazon Prime
Customers love using Prime and with more people signing up for the membership it is important that your products can be fulfilled with Prime. During the holidays, especially, amazon users are looking to get their orders filled fast and delivered to them on time.
Sellers have noted that during the holiday season their products that are not fulfilled by Amazon are marked with a label that they will not arrive until after Christmas. Even if the company can deliver it faster, and get it there on time, Amazon will tell the customer the opposite because there isn’t a guarantee as there is with Prime. This means that with FBA you will sell more products sold that non-FBA products.
Seller Fulfilled Prime Program
Amazon has grown its seller fulfilled prime program within the last year which allows sellers to flag their products as eligible for Prime two-day delivery but allows the seller to ship the item themselves. In the last year, Amazon has added more than 6 million items to that Prime-eligible list all over the world including the U.K, France, Germany, and Japan.
The positive with this method is that your products can be lower in cost when it comes to shipping. You have full control over the shipping and the expenses associated with it which gives you a competitive advantage over those only fulfilling orders through Amazon’s warehouse. So, although being an FBA member guarantees more sales non-FBA members still have an opportunity to sell through Prime without being associated with the FBA program.
How to Join the FBA Program
So becoming an FBA seller has it’s perks, mostly increase in sales to Amazon Prime members. Signing up is easy and if you are a struggling Amazon seller it may be something you want to look into.
Join The FBA Program today:
- Sign-In to your Amazon account
- Go to the Manage Inventory page and select a product you would like to include as an FBA listing by selecting the checkbox in the left column.
- From the Actions pull-down menu, select Change to Fulfilled by Amazon.
- On the next page, click the Convert button.
- Follow the directions for creating your first shipment.
Once you’ve created your first shipment you can send your products to Amazon:
Send your products to Amazon
- Upload your listings to Seller Central.
- Let Amazon fulfill all or part of your inventory.
- Print PDF labels provided by Amazon or use FBA’s Label Service.
- Use Amazon’s discounted shipping or select your own carrier.
From there Amazon will store your products, rank them with price and show their eligibility for Prime, pick and pack your products, and ship them.
Watch Your Amazon Sales Increase
With Prime as an option on your products, you should see an increase in sales, especially during the holiday season. If you are running this as a trial take down your numbers before FBA and see if there have been any increases in your numbers in a year’s time. If so, you will understand first hand why so many products are sold through FBA.
Strategies for FBA
When selling on Amazon’s Seller Central, it always good to understand the FBA program and which products from your catalog would best fit this program. If you don’t have a strategy for Amazon FBA, perhaps it’s time to get some help from the pros. The team at OperationROI can help, as they have been working with Amazon FBA for years and have different strategies to help you hit your target goals. Contact us today at 1-888-277-5429 or by filling out our contact form to learn more.
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