Amazon is pushing Prime Day from mid-July to sometime in August or later, Reuters is reporting, due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, further impacting already distressed third-party sellers as restrictions on processing nonessential orders through Fulfillment by Amazon are just now being eased.
Amazon has temporarily suspended fulfillment of non-essential items through FBA through April 5, due to high coronavirus-related demand. Meanwhile, retail and DTC brands are closing their doors, while UPS assures customers their deliveries are safe, and major e-grocery delivery app downloads are setting records daily.
Walmart has launched a fulfillment service for sellers on its marketplace, similar to Fulfillment By Amazon, leveraging its vast logistics network to provide storing, picking, packing and shipping returns processing and customer service for a fee and entice more sellers onto the platform.
Amazon is telling 3P sellers they can’t use FedEx Ground for Prime deliveries this holiday season, citing performance issues, according to the Wall Street Journal, saying the policy will remain until there are improvements. UPS and other carriers stand to benefit in the short term if they can find room in their networks.
As a direct-to-consumer brand you’re facing mounting margin pressure, loss of brand integrity and changing consumer expectations. And it feels like every month there’s a new channel you need to be in. Even so, selling through FBA and SFP can prove lucrative. To help you succeed, here are some order management best practices.
Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) remains very popular among Amazon sellers, with over 650,000 using it in the U.S., but it’s not the right solution for everyone. So how do you make that decision? Executives from Complemar, Motor City Distributing and Tech Armor discussed the pros and cons at this year’s Ecommerce Operations Summit.
Shooting across Amazon’s bow with its FBA program, Shopify is going all-in on ecommerce fulfillment, tapping 3PL partners to provide two-day delivery across the U.S. for merchants on its ecommerce platform, many with physical stores, while letting them keep customer data and a branded packaging experience.
Amazon is offering third-party sellers on its marketplace discounts of up to 75% to use its warehouse space in an effort to make more inventory within reach of one-day shipping for its new Prime promise. This will allow Amazon to place more items closer to customers to meet the new Prime guarantee.
To succeed, retailers and ecommerce companies need to meet heightened customer experience demands. That means offering fast shipping, free returns and same-day delivery, if possible. Learn insights from industry experts on ways to optimize your fulfillment network and focus your technology investments to compete and win.
Given the rapid pace of change, how forward looking are your operations and fulfillment strategies, and are you pursuing the right ones? Ecommerce Operations Summit (April 9-11, Columbus), is an excellent way to evaluate emerging trends. Here are some highlights we found in the conference agenda, and why they’re beneficial.