The retail giant recently launched a Heavy and Bulky FBA program in five European countries, including the UK.
Selling bulky items on Amazon can be a tiresome endeavor. Sellers must deal with increased fees, as well as many storage and shipment difficulties. But that’s about to get easier!
This new game plan increases the maximum weight and dimensions quota. It also expands FBA services for heavy and bulky items in the UK. Heavy and Bulky FBA is an opportunity for large appliance Amazon sellers cannot miss out.
To get the word out there, we’ve prepared a guide to walk you through the benefits that this new Amazon service may bring to your business.
Heavy and Bulky FBA Program: Big Changes
As of April 1st, Heavy and Bulky FBA service is available in the United Kingdom. The program is quite a positive change for UK sellers who want a larger market share.
Heavy and Bulky FBA allows brands to store and ship more oversized items in Amazon warehouses. Plus, the service also lets customers choose the following delivery service types:
- Scheduled. Customers select a specific time and date slot to receive a product.
- Room of Choice. Carries deliver a package to a specified room in the customer’s home.
The program works as a domestic fulfillment service. That means Amazon sellers must create specific FNSKU codes for every store they wish to sell.
As we said, the service is now available in five countries: Germany, Spain, France, Italy and the UK. However, due to Brexit regulations, EU sellers can’t store inventory in Amazon UK warehouses.
How to Enroll in the Program
There are specific criteria to join the New Amazon UK Heavy and Bulky FBA Program. Sellers interested in service must excel in the following areas:
- Delivery Estimate Accurate (DEA). Your delivery error margin must fall below 4%. That means you must have 96% of successful, on-time deliveries.
- Valid Tracking Rate (VTR). This metric measures your use of valid tracking numbers to provide detailed tracking information. Optimal VTR is 95%
- Eligible Products. You must sell items that meet the required weight and dimensions, or stock that requires special handling.
Sellers also have to rely on carriers that provide full tracking for customers. Here’s a list of UK carriers available for the program:
- UK Mail
- Amazon Shipping
- UPS
- DHL
- Expert Logistics
- DPD
- Yodel
- DX
- Panther
Note: The European Fulfillment Network and Pan-European FBA is not currently available for Heavy and Bulky FBA.
Set Up FBA
The new Heavy and Bulky program requires sellers to use Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA)
FBA frees you from shipment hassles and renting a warehouse. You only have to upload your product listings to the marketplace.
Then, just prepare your items, and send them to an Amazon fulfillment center. The retail giant will take care of picking, packing and shipping.
You only need to worry about enough product in stock. pay for storage and orders fulfilled by Amazon. Plus, you will enjoy the following perks:
- Your products will be Prime-eligible
- Pay only for storage and orders fulfilled by Amazon
- You get better scores because of Amazon’s guarantee
- Returns go back to Amazon warehouses
Apply for the Program
When you meet all requirements, you can apply to the Heavy and Bulky FBA Program. Amazon will contact you within five business days.
Amazon will inform you about all product eligibility requisites and tracking options.
Heavy and Bulky FBA Program Criteria
We’ve reviewed the changes that Heavy and Bulky FBA brings to the table. Now let’s look at the criteria sellers must meet to enroll in the service.
Product Eligibility
Product enrollment for large products is the same as the regular FBA Program. However, they are not eligible for the usual preparation and label services.
Large items must also meet specific requirements to be eligible for the Amazon FBA Heavy and Bulky service.
We’ve listed the UK dimensions and weight criteria, as well as the fulfillment fees for Heavy and Bulky FBA.
Source: Seller Central
You’ll have to pay £0.24 per extra kg on products heavier than 60kg. Sellers must also pay a £15 referral fee, on top of regular FBA fees, for each product sold through Heavy and bulky FBA.
Learn more about FBA Product Restrictions here.
Note: You can stilluse the standard FBA channels to list items that don’t meet the Heavy and Bulky criteria.
Shipment
Sellers should meet all FBA packaging and preparation requisites before sending stock to Amazon. Here are the guidelines to address:
- Pack every item SKU within a single carton. The warehouse won’t accept products that require assembly.
- Create individual Amazon barcode for each Heavy and Bulky FBA item.
- Inform carriers of items’ Pallet, Bill of Lading and Vehicle requirements before shipping.
- No palletization is required, as long as an item falls below the ‘dimensions and weight’ threshold.
- You can unpalletize larger products if they are clampable, and marked as such in the package.
- Carries must inform Amazon about loose-loaded goods and clampable items.
Always prepare your items correctly for shipment. Otherwise, Amazon will reject storage at its fulfillment centers.
A Few Extra Tips
If you think the New Amazon Heavy and Bulky FBA Program could be a good fit for your business, then keep in mind the following tips to improve your seller experience:
Cost Differences
Break down all the cost changes and fees required. You are entering a new market niche. So, you need to reassess your category-based and marketing budgets for large items.
Inventory
Lack of stock could make youth product listings go down. Plus, customers may leave bad reviews when an offer isn’t available.
Proper inventory management will help you to keep stock in the warehouse, and sales flowing.
Area Selection
It’s best to target local areas when selling heavy items. Be mindful of prices, competition and dynamics to select the better-suited areas for your business.
Clear Listings
Detailed product listings boost search ranking and sales. Point out the benefits of your products, with clear images.
Also, remind customers their options to receive a heavy and bulky item through FBA. For example, state that two people can deliver the product to a specified location.
Final Thoughts
Amazon is always creating new services to improve sellers’ performance in the marketplace. That’s the idea behind the Heavy and bulky FBA service. The New Amazon Heavy and Bulky FBA program allows sellers to expand their catalogs. This means greater opportunities to increase their Amazon market share.
Now, sellers of bulky appliances have a better chance to improve their performance in the marketplace.
Yes, the Amazon FBA Heavy and Bulky program does require higher fees than regular FBA listings.
But with the proper stock, research and planning, this could be a very profitable option for Amazon UK sellers.
Author
Esteban Muñoz is an SEO copywriter at AMZ Advisers, with several years’ experience in digital marketing and e-commerce. Esteban and the AMZ Advisers team have been able to achieve incredible growth on the Amazon platform for their clients by optimizing and managing their accounts and creating in-depth content marketing strategies.
