Amazon’s advanced fulfillment system is their biggest plus. Amazon has the resources and technology
to provide customers with free and fast, even within 2-hour, shipping. Amazon FBA is a service that
businesses can pay for to have all their order fulfillment needs taken care of. Packing, shipping,
returns, and customer support are all handled externally with Amazon FBA, meaning all you need to
look after is shipping your products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers.
You can use Fulfillment by Amazon to store your inventory at and fulfill your orders from an
Amazon.com fulfillment center. Before you set all this up, you'll need to have an Amazon Seller
Central account. Although you do need to be an Amazon Seller to set up the FBA program, once you
have done that, you can use it across multiple channels. That means if you sell a product through
your eBay or Shopify store or elsewhere, you can use Amazon’s fulfillment services to have the item
shipped to the customer.
Once you are registered at the Amazon Seller Central, what you need to do is the following:
1
Go to Multi-Channel Fulfillment in the FBA settings
2
Submit your order fulfillment requirements
3
Lastly, ship your inventory to an Amazon fulfillment center
Multi-channel management means you have listings in multiple locations. Different marketplaces allow
you to reach unique customers, so listing each of your items on multiple marketplaces is a great way
to boost sales without additional listings. Using Amazon’s Multi-Channel Fulfillment, or MCF is a
great way to leverage your FBA account. It’s simple to link your FBA account to other profiles, like
eBay, Shopify etc. Selling on eBay then becomes a quick and easy way to expand your reach and offer
the professional services of Amazon.
Once you’ve become a seller on eBay, you’ll need to transfer your listings from Amazon. Consider
using order fulfillment software to make the transfer simple and effective. Otherwise, you’ll spend
lots of time copying, proofreading, and checking listings to ensure all the information is accurate
and up-to-date.
The advantages of using the Multi-channel management are the following:
-
Speed
Amazon is a world leader when it comes to fast delivery and dispatch times, which your
customers (even eBay ones) would also benefit from.
-
Increased customer satisfaction
Fast shipping and dispatch times result in happier customers who are also more likely to
leave a positive review, which only boosts your good reputation as a merchant.
-
Access to a global fulfillment network
With huge distribution centers across the globe, you’ll reduce the effort and time involved
in selling internationally, potentially resulting in increased revenue for your business.
Amazon has thousands of fulfillment centers everywhere.
Some important disadvantages you might want to keep an eye out for are:
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Amazon branded packaging
your customer’s orders will arrive in Amazon branded packaging, potentially causing customers
to compare prices on the Amazon platform for future orders. You can pay an additional $1 per
item for non-branded packaging, however this leads to…
-
Lack of brand awareness
Whether orders are being shipped and delivered in Amazon packaging, or non-branded packaging,
either way, you’ll be unable to use this part of the process as a way of boosting brand
awareness.
-
Inventory management
Amazon charges additional storage fees for any products that are held in their distribution
centers for long periods of time. To reduce this risk, you’ll need to sell and move your
products within approximately 6 months.
-
Additional fees
Amazon charges a fee to fulfill orders that haven’t been bought directly through Amazon
itself, plus Amazon reserves the right to increase their fees at any given time.
Once businesses start selling beyond eBay and Amazon, implementing order management software that
integrates with eBay is the most logical next step. You’ll be able to fulfill and ship orders from
one centralized system, and update inventory levels across all your channels as well. Having a
software doing this on your behalf saves a lot of time and effort.
In conclusion, as tough as it sounds, handling a multi-channel seller account proves to be very
effective into boosting your sales and benefiting your business