Using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment

Growing Your eCommerce Presence Using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment

Amazon currently is the largest eCommerce platform and provides incredible opportunities for small sellers and large businesses alike to reach millions of potential customers. The platform has grown, and continues to grow, at incredible rates. Total reliance on one sales channel will set your business up for failure. We advise and work with our clients to build their Amazon presence, but to also explore setting up new sales channels with eBay, Etsy, Jet or a Shopify webstore. All sellers can easily open up new sales channels by using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment.

What is Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment?

The fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service from Amazon provides sellers the ability to use Amazon to fulfill their orders on other platforms as well. Multi Channel Fulfillment, as it is known, allows businesses to outsource all of their fulfillment to Amazon. Sales that occur on the Amazon platform are automatically fulfilled (as they normally are in FBA), but sellers can submit order fulfillment requests for sales that they have received on other platforms. Amazon charges sellers fees for the shipping & handling. It does not get a referral fee as it does on the Amazon platform.

Multi Channel Fulfillment allows sellers to select standard, expedited or next day shipping options. You can also specify if they want the order to be fulfilled in an Amazon box, or a plain box that does not have any branding. You are responsible for handling all of the customer service and returns for orders fulfilled using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment.

How do I set up Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment?

All Amazon FBA sellers are already set up with Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment as an option. A few fields need to be completed by the seller before they can start using this option. In the Seller Central account, go to settings and select Fulfillment by Amazon. There are many different options on this page. Scroll down to Multi-Channel Fulfillment Settings and select edit. Enter your brand’s name in the Packing Slip – Merchant name field. In the Packing Slip – Text field you can type any additional information that you want to give to your customer.

How do I create a fulfillment order with Multi Channel Fulfillment?

Creating fulfillment orders for Multi Channel Fulfillment is very easy:

1. Go to your inventory page and find the product that needs to be fulfilled.
2. Select “Create fulfillment order.” Populate the fields with the information of the customer who ordered the product. Order ID field can be populated or left blank and will be automatically created. You can update the quantity of items being shipped at the bottom of the page.
3. Select continue to advance to the shipping options. There are two options on this page to complete. The first option is the fulfillment action. Select ship this inventory if the payment has already processed and is ready to go. You can select hold if you want to create the order and wait for the payment to complete. Update the status to “Ship this inventory” once the payment is processed.
4. Finally, select the shipping option that you want to use and select “Place Order.”

Strategy for Using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment

Now that we have discussed what Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment is and how to use it, let’s talk about some of the strategies you can employ to take advantage of this. The most common way to take advantage of this fulfillment option is to create a Shopify storefront. Shopify is an easy to use platform to build an online store for your brand. Creating your own website for sales means that you will need to drive traffic there. The primary ways this will be achieved is through SEO and paid advertising. SEO is a complicated process, but the easiest way to start getting traffic is to install a blog on your store and create social media accounts. Create content for your blog and build a following by connecting with customers who may be interested in your product. Use these customers to create targeted advertising campaigns and drive more potential sales to your page.

A lower cost alternative strategy is to create selling accounts on eBay or Etsy (if your product fits that platform). Listing products on both platforms is an easy process and the fees they take compared to that of Amazon are low. Another great thing is that price arbitrage can exist for your products between these platforms. Prices in one product category on Amazon can be quite low due to competitive offerings or sellers racing to the bottom. You may be able to list and sell your product for higher on a different platform that may not be as competitive.

Using Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment is a powerful tool to drive additional sales. We believe it is important to diversify your sales channels and have more sources of revenue than just Amazon. The simple strategies that we’re highlighted above will be discussed in greater length in the future. Think about how your business would improve through creating new sales channels and start taking advantage of Multi Channel Fulfillment from Amazon.

Contact AMZ Advisers if you are interested in growing your businesses’ sales

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