?? FBA reimbursement policies: What is changing?

Hot off the Amazon Grill???

Building a Winning Amazon Storefront in 2024: Key Elements to Focus On

A storefront is an avenue to creating unique customer experiences inside Amazon. Driving sales, building customer affinity and more. It's like your own mini-website or virtual shop that customers can enter and leave as they please.

So what should you do to make them stay on and make a purchase?

What can you do to grab their attention instantly?

What are the best practices for building a winning Amazon storefront?

Our latest blog addresses this, using real-life examples and data from storefronts that you can take some inspiration from!

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Nerd Lounge ??

Customer Review Insights

There is a useful section hidden in plain sight inside the Product Opportunity Explorer area of Seller Central (Growth > Product Opportunity Explorer) that allows you to read collected and synthesized reviews, positive and negative, for your own and even competitor's products. It's called Customer Review Insights, and it's free! I bet you're not using it, so here are 3 of our favorite use cases for it:

1. Use reviews to help you write ad copy - Take what customers have highlighted as the best parts of your product and use it to convince new shoppers to buy. Highlight key benefits and features, clear up questions and concerns shoppers may have. What they see in the headline copy will be mirrored in the product reviews.
2. Product page content enhancement - Read into customer's concerns and delights and use that to improve descriptions and FAQs on the product detail page. Emphasize those that have the most positive attention and explain with the facts to dispel bad reviews.
3. Mining for keywords - Terms and phrases repeatedly mentioned may be the same that shoppers are using to search. Cross-reference them against your active keywords and check for gaps. Try running them in existing or new campaigns and monitor results.

Happy review crunching!

Save The Date???

Amazon Dates to Remember

• August 9 - Prime Big Deal Days’ deals submission cut-off date?
• September 6 - BFCM deals submission cut-off date

Amazon Accelerate (September 17th-19th, 2024) in Seattle, Washington

Amazon Accelerate, the premier annual conference for selling partners, is a must-attend event for Amazon sellers looking to propel their businesses forward. This three-day event offers the first look at new product announcements, in-depth learning sessions, vibrant networking opportunities, and personalized support from Amazon experts. Attendees can connect with peers, learn from senior leaders and industry experts, and explore the latest tools and innovations designed to help them succeed. Highlights include inspiring general sessions, practical breakout sessions, and opportunities to engage with affinity groups and Amazon programs.

More Info >>

Amazon Latest Feed ??

• Amazon is rolling out a new advertising fee that will affect various marketplaces, including Canada and Turkey. While many announcements focus on Canada, the additional costs are not limited to this region, so it's essential to check how these changes may impact your advertising budget globally. Elizabeth Greene

• The beauty industry achieved outstanding growth in 2023 with a 15.8% increase in sales, driven by trends such as the clean movement, ingredient-focused products, and a push for inclusive beauty. Key drivers included a rise in consumer demand for natural ingredients and SPF products, with Gen Z playing a significant role in shaping these trends. Mansour Norouzi

• Amazon’s AI assistant Rufus boosts conversion rates by automatically answering shopper questions using information from product details and reviews. Make your product detail pages as detailed as possible. ??Himanshu Verma

Amazon Trending Tidbits???

Understanding the new Amazon FBA Refund Updates

Amazon is updating its FBA reimbursement policies, effective November 1st, 2024, to automate reimbursements for lost and damaged items, although manual filing is still required for certain claims. Starting October 23rd, 2024, new timelines will be enforced: claims for lost or damaged items must be filed within 60 days, customer return claims between 60 and 120 days, removal claims for items lost in transit within 15 to 75 days, and all other removal claims within 60 days of delivery. These changes necessitate adjusting processes to meet the new deadlines, as missing these time frames could impact profitability. Using a reliable reimbursement service provider can help ensure that all potential reimbursements are recovered.?

The most important piece is this: until October 23rd, 2024, claims can still be filed for up to 18 months. So you have until October 23rd to clear that backlog.

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Amazon is building a sports media empire. What’s next?

Amazon has become a key broadcaster for the NFL and NBA, securing rights to playoff games for both leagues. According to the Washington Post, Amazon will pay nearly $20 billion over 11 years for NBA and WNBA games, including six NBA conference finals, the annual playoff play-in tournament, and three WNBA Finals.?

Jay Marine, Prime Video Global Head of Sports, emphasized that this deal is a significant investment, marking Amazon's strong presence in sports broadcasting. Amazon has steadily built its sports portfolio, which includes the NFL, NASCAR, WNBA Finals, Champions League, and grand slam tennis events in Europe. The company also has a stake in the YES Network and has proposed investing in regional cable sports networks. Despite offering more than NBC for the Big Ten's Saturday night football package in 2022, the conference chose NBC due to concerns about streaming accessibility. Marine envisions Amazon as a major sports broadcaster globally, targeting both top-tier sports and emerging properties like women's sports. This might help sellers open up new avenues for product placement, sponsorships, and targeted advertising and each a highly engaged audience.

Live sports broadcast remains the one important example of when watching live truly matters and people will pay top dollar for the experience - all while being a valuable captive audience for advertising.

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1% of U.S. Amazon Sellers Sell Outside the Continent

Despite Amazon's push for cross-border e-commerce, most U.S. sellers remain focused on domestic sales, with only 12% selling on Amazon Canada and 5% on Amazon Mexico. Sellers often utilize the Remote Fulfillment with FBA service to reach customers in these countries without physically moving their inventory. Marketplace Pulse research indicates that while Japan, Germany, and the U.K. represent Amazon's largest international markets, less than 1% of U.S. sellers operate there. Contrasting with the higher presence of international sellers in the U.S. selling internationally involves dividing imports for different markets rather than re-exporting, as facilitated by FBA's fulfillment services.

Although Amazon's global marketplaces combined are as big as Amazon in the U.S. in size, they are often more competitive on their own as the number of shoppers is smaller. Each active seller in the U.S. enjoys greater traffic than those in smaller marketplaces, despite Amazon's claim of a unified market experience across its 22 platforms.

At Pathfinder, we work with a number of US brands that have successfully expanded to the EU marketplaces, so we know it can be done!

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Thank you for reading!

- Brent

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