Ready for Prime Day?

#Amazon Prime day will be here soon, predicted to be July 11-12th, and other channels like #walmartmarketplace tend to run concurrent sales. Merchants can also see a bump in their own website sales, so we wanted to share some tips & tricks to be prepared.

Having a strategy for this is much like prepping for Black Friday or even other viral moments. let's make sure you're ready to maximize the opportunity. Make sure all departments are working together to ensure not only proper fulfillment but protection of profitability and creating relationships with the customers so they will return again at full price.

OPERATIONS:

Pull inventory reports - then build your demand plan. If you don't have enough inventory, the increase in sales will only frustrate your customers. If you have enough inventory - fantastic! Proceed to next step.

1. If you are short on inventory, run an analysis on whether it's worth it to bring more in at a faster pace. Can you air freight? Will your supplier charge rush fees? Add all of that into your cost of goods analysis to make sure you're still making your profitability goals.
2. If it looks like it's not worth it to rush more inventory, then assess what you have in stock. What do you have too much of? Can you build that SKU into a BOGO or a bundle?

Amazon or 3PL Inbound - Make sure you have inbounded the right amount of FBA inventory (and with enough time for Amazon's slow as snail pace to get it ready for fulfillment),

1. If not, make sure you have your fulfilled by merchant settings on so the orders can go to your own warehouse instead.
2. Check inventory at 3PL warehouses to make sure there is enough there to meet what sales & marketing is offering.

Warehouse Management - Meet with your warehouse team

1. Set SLA expectations for Prime Day orders.
2. Send projections.
3. Have them run a cycle count to make sure inventory numbers are correct.

Order flow - Make sure your Locations or Order Routing settings will work to send orders to alternate locations if the initial location is out of stock. Set multiple routing cards that are rules based. Take into account:

1. Inventory location
2. Customer location
3. Order size
4. Kits & bundles
5. Sales channel routing

SALES, MARKETING:

Content - create content for all of your sales channels that will attract shoppers.

1. Check with Ops on inventory and structure promotions to use in stock SKUs
2. Create bundles to utilize slower selling inventory or products with a near expiration that need to be moved
3. Create BOGO for the same reasons
4. Run A/B testing

What customers need -

1. Clear communication on what's being offered, provide metrics on value or discount
2. Give options for where they can purchase. Driving traffic to your own website can be more profitable than to marketplaces for existing customers.
3. Marketplace customers may be discovering your brand for the first time, give them a reason to return.
4. Use strategic pricing to maximize profit based on SKU, sales channel and delivery methods

FINANCE:

Run an S&OP - (Sales & Operations Planning)

1. Make sure sales understands Cogs and can price promotions to still protect profits
2. Work with Ops on ordering inventory, freight methods and budget for disruption to make sure profitability is protected

CUSTOMER SERVICE:

Heart & Soul!

1. You are the first voice the customer hears and the last voice whether they're satisfied or not
2. Work with Ops to understand inventory and fulfillment promises
3. Work with Sales to know what's being offered, at what price and what restrictions
4. Breathe! Be patient and remember that you are the one that can create that great experience to get the customer coming back. Customer Experience isn't just an administrative cost, you can drive future revenue.

Use what resources you have to help you along the way as you learn to rock your viral moments. Whether it's for something like Prime Day or another reason for a surge in orders. Keep an eye on your order routing, it can be your best tool right now. Do not let exceptions slip by, you need to know when things need to be fixed. Make sure to have all the tools set up and your Ops and CS team trained on how to use them. If they need help, please contact me and I'm happy to review your Operational SOP's and tools and help get things optimized.

#cx #ecommerce #ordermanagement #3pl #amazonprime