We understand the importance of properly managing your inventory on Amazon, and that is why we closely work with our clients to facilitate inventory planning for Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Our team utilizes sales data and projections to create accurate forecasts that help our clients keep their inventory levels in stock. This makes the process much easier for our clients to understand their product demand during their time working with us. Properly managing your Amazon inventory levels reduces the risk of running out of inventory and increase the effectiveness of the marketing strategies that we develop with each of our clients.
Our reporting software provides weekly updates on FBA Inventory levels each Monday with accurate short-term forecasts that keep you on top of your inventory. We want to help our clients make the best decisions about the quantity of inventory to maintain while reducing the risk of facing unnecessary long-term storage fees. Keeping your FBA inventory age and health at optimal levels will maximize your ability to use Fulfillment by Amazon for storing inventory, and possibly even providing fulfillment for your other sales channels through Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment.
Fulfillment Options
A key aspect of inventory planning is determining how your customers will receive their products. The fulfillment option that is selected can have a significant impact on everything from product visibility to shipping costs. The primary options that each Amazon Seller Central user needs to choose between are Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) and Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). However, additional options like Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) give each Seller Central user the option to fulfill products themselves and still receive the coveted Amazon Prime badge on their listings.
Products with the Amazon Prime badge typically have more visibility on search engine results pages than FBM products. However, merchant fulfilled products can be just as successful on the platform depending on the product category and competition with the additional Fulfilled by Amazon fees. Before determining what fulfillment option is best, we walk each client through the pros and cons of all the options so that they fully understand what is involved
Inventory Replenishment
Being able to physically send the inventory into Amazon Fulfillment Centers is just as important as knowing what fulfillment option to select. We’ve onboarded many clients who have not followed the steps properly and as a result lost thousands of dollars of inventory at fulfillment centers which then took weeks or months to get reimbursed for – and in the meantime they still were not selling because all their inventory is gone. We help walk through every single client we onboard to make sure they understand how the Fulfilled by Amazon option works, and the correct way to send inventory into Amazon to avoid any unnecessary delays.
Amazon Vendor Central Inventory
Managing inventory on Amazon Vendor Central is significantly easier than on the Seller Central platform. Amazon utilizes their internal inventory forecasting models and sends purchase orders to your Vendor Central account that you can then fulfill. Determining how the replenishment of inventory will be paid for is negotiated in the Freight terms of your Vendor Central agreements. You will either be prepaid where it is your responsibility to pay for the freight shipping to Amazon fulfillment centers or collect where Amazon pays for the shipping and charges you a Freight Allowance.
Get Your Inventory Management on Track
Don’t allow your company to continue to lose sales opportunities due to mismanagement of your inventory. We have been helping hundreds of brands manage their inventory successfully for years, and we know that our expertise can provide an incredible benefit to your account. Let us help you improve your inventory management on Amazon as part of our holistic account management process.
Contact us today if you need help managing your Amazon inventory more effectively.
