How to keep your e-commerce alive for Amazon FBA sellers
In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Amazon FBA sellers are facing another crisis that threatens their businesses. Due to stock overloads, particularly for products being stockpiled by panicking consumers, Amazon FBA are freezing deliveries of new stocks for many, many retailers – for at least the next few weeks.
As it stands, new delivery slots will become available on 5th April. However, we don’t yet know whether that will apply to all FBA sellers or just some product areas.
Here are five ways to keep your FBA business going
- Don’t panic
Easy for us to say, right! We haven’t just found out that the last of our stocks in FBA storage are our sole form of income for the coming weeks.
Being powerless to restock your popular lines is a disaster for many small businesses, and the drop off in sales and reviews could have long-lasting impact on sales performance.
However, there are lots of things you can do to diversify and be creative, and we are here to help!
- Fulfil yourself – Direct fulfilment
This might not be an option for every business, and the postage costs could be an issue, but one option is to switch to self fulfilment.
If you have your stocks to hand, using Fulfilment By Merchant (FBM) may be the best short term solution whilst Amazon FBA are not taking in new deliveries.
- Switch to Seller Fulfilled Prime
Again, this option might be suited to some, but not all, businesses. If you already fulfil via FBA you know about the Amazon pricing structure and qualification criteria for SFP.
If you choose this option, we can’t stress strongly enough how crucial it is to keep up with the dispatch deadlines! Miss one, and the solution to keep sales moving could result in problems with your account, so make sure you can commit.
- Use a fulfilment house / 3PL partner
Good 3PL providers can take over your dispatches immediately and seamlessly, as soon as you get your stocks to them. They can also help collect or organise delivery of stocks to their warehouse.
This is a perfect option if you cannot manage the volume of sales yourself (or have other more urgent business to attend to!).
Website integrations make this a very simple solution; your fulfilment house integrate with your e-commerce site, and automatically receive, process and dispatch your client orders, usually immediately on order approval.
You can use your own postage or courier accounts, or ask for their rates – or compare to see which is the cheapest option.
- Take a hiatus
This is almost definitely business suicide for some companies, but if you can’t find a way to fulfil products yourself (or they are drop-shipped), and you know that the turnaround times for Prime are not possible, you could choose to take a break.
If you do this, our advice is to communicate with your customers and make sure you know it is only temporary until trading returns to normal.
Whatever the right solution for your business, if you need help with fulfilling your orders, managing your stocks, or coping with sudden changes in logistics, please give us a call.
If we can’t help, we will be more than happy to put you in touch with somebody who can!
Need some help?
If in doubt, give us a call! We are always happy to offer advice and suggestions.
LG Fulfilment manages a variety of products, including those requiring tailored storage and dispatch solutions. We pride ourselves on offering simple solutions for our client’s problems and making sure that every item reaches the customer in perfect condition.
LG Fulfilment Ltd is a full service 3PL Fulfilment provider, with immediate space availability, with pick pack, value added and transport services
Located in Hastings, we have direct access to A21, A27, A259 and onward to M20 Folkstone and Dover (Calais France), ideal for cross-channel warehousing, logistics and Brexit warehouse space contingencies.
Contact us to discuss any fulfilment enquiries – we specialise in finding solutions for outsize, unusual shape or dimension packages:
Tel: 01424 559169
Email: enquiries@lgfulfilment.co.uk
