Monthly Archives: December 2016

4 Steps To Decide If You Are Ready To Sell On Amazon

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Progressing from selling on your own website to selling on Amazon can be a massive leap that many enthusiasts dread to take. More often than not, the common argument that is posed by this lot revolves around the ‘I am not ready for Amazon yet’ debate. In the process, the sellers tend to lose out on possible avenues of growth and profits that are best when availed at the earliest.

Basically, there is not much that you need to sell on Amazon. You don’t have to be a millionaire or generate sale by the thousands or millions every month. If you start small, it does not mean that you will be pushed back in terms of visibility. If you have little inventory, it does not mean that Amazon fulfillment solutions or warehouses will not support your cause.

There is a practical and cost effective solution for every issue that may appear burdensome to shaky enthusiasts, which need to be understood and approached at the right time. When it comes to determining the right time, here are 4 steps that can help make up your mind as to whether you are ready for this marketplace or not…

You have stock to sell on a monthly basis:

If you have already been selling in your website for a few months or years, it is indicative of the fact that you have stock to sell on a regular basis. Unlike eBay, Amazon prefers sellers that assure continuity in their efforts. Therefore, with stock to sell every month, you can be convinced that Amazon will have a decent place for you.

You are prepared to face competition:

If you have already bagged sale for your products in your own website, you can be confident that you are prepared to handle competition in Amazon as well. All it will take in your part is to ensure high quality performance based optimized listing in the marketplace and rest will be good to go. In Amazon, it does not matter how big or small you are in volume. If your listing is up to the mark, you can win the race to maximum visibility with only 10 products under your umbrella.

Integration is not ‘just a word’ for you:

If you understand the impact of integration and what it can do in favor of Amazon stores and individual ventures, approaching the platform at the earliest should be your next productive goal.

You are ready to invest before reaping revenues:

Lastly, if you are ready to invest in improved operational processes for smooth, healthy, streamlined and faultless performance especially by engaging professional assistance, you can be rest assured that you are ready to experience a productive future in Amazon.

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4 Inventory Management Facts All Ecommerce Beginners Must Know

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Inventory is the king in all businesses be it in the realm of ecommerce or otherwise. In fact, it will not be wrong to say that the future of businesses especially ecommerce ventures can depend upon the quality of inventory management carried out by the owning entities. In top performing marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, Jet.com, Rakuten etc, approach to inventory control can impact seller performance in terms of visibility, traffic, growth and overall revenues.

Considering its importance, here are 4 integral facts of inventory control that all sellers, especially the newer ones should bear in mind at all times…

Inventory management starts from the source of supply chain

If you wish to gain an infallible and all inclusive control on your inventory, manage the same right from the source of the supply chain. This means, keeping in touch with the wholesalers from whom you get your stock. This should be followed by calculated prediction of demands which should eventually guide you in re-stocking your warehouses as and when required without over loading the same or otherwise.

Poor inventory control can lead to unforgivable errors like overselling

Being out of touch with your inventory or guess working through the course of selling can lead to rather unforgivable errors like overselling / underselling, each of which is intolerable to ecommerce marketplaces especially eBay, Amazon, jet.com and Walmart.com. Sellers who invite such troubles are usually warned or shown the door.

Mismanaged inventory can affect profits

Being out of touch with your inventory can often lead to problems like over stocking of warehouses, losing track of shelved products in warehouses etc. each of which can take significant bites out of any profits so made.

Automation is the key to faultless inventory management

Whether you sell on Walmart, eBay, Amazon or any other marketplace for that matter, you will never be able to establish faultless control on your inventory these days without proper automation solutions. This applies even more in case of multichannel sellers that may be present in two or more marketplaces at the same time.

keeping a tab on how much stock is lying in which warehouse of which marketplace followed by the units that have been shipped, units that are shelved, units that have been returned topped with alerts on low stock etc is easier when controlled through one single user interface and that too without any manual involvement at all.

You also need to understand that ‘Real time’ is more than just two words. If your software solution supports real time inventory management, you can be rest assured that you will continue to maintain your lead through thick and thin.

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5 Rules That Make Amazon Inventory Management Easy

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Amazon as the King of all ecommerce marketplaces is evolving by the passing minute. This is thus, the phase when sellers need to ensure maintaining their basic operational processes at its healthiest, which is a reason in itself to gain proven profitable results in the face of competition and that too, at the earliest. Here are 5 basic rules to manage Amazon inventory that can apply to all sellers at all times and for the best benefits…

Always stay in touch with your supply chain source –

Staying in touch with your warehouses is fine, but if you are not in touch with your supply chain source, it will not be long before your warehouses start to experience low stock, no stock followed by over selling and under selling and every other vice that comes with it. Being in touch with your supply chain source, you can always make better demand predictions that can further help with streamlined and more profitable inventory control approach.

Streamlining is the key –

These are the days when you cannot bulk up your inventory solely because you imagined that demand would go up. The key to include stock based on calculated demand prediction that goes a very long way in managing costs and preventing accumulation of shelved / immobile products. Making higher space allotment for stock of popular products will always work in your favor.

Add updated product identifiers –

If you have heard about the Kiva robots that have already been employed in the Amazon warehouses in California, Texas, New Jersey, Washington and Florida, you are likely to understand why at all you need to focus on adding proper product identifiers to your stock. Basically, the process of product location and fulfillment of orders will be a thousand times smoother if you have been attentive in this direction.

Use integration tools and software solutions –

If you wish to add faultless smoothness in your approach to handling inventory, manage the same with high quality integration tools and software solutions. You cannot survive in Amazon, if your inventory system is not integrated and this goes out especially to midsized and large sellers that have an overload volume to handle every passing month.

Fee calculation tools are imperative –

FBA and other warehouse facilities in Amazon do not come for free. There is an intricate fee structure that needs to be followed for the advantages, which it times can claim a chunk of seller profits. Using fee calculation tools however can help sellers understand how much profit they will make per product at their list price after paying warehouse and FBA fees, thereby allowing them to price their products accordingly to maintain profit levels.

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