As all ecommerce sellers know, the global supply chain issues are going to make fulfilling orders this Christmas very difficult. Amazon have recognized the strain that their sellers are under, and in order to alleviate this they are introducing new measures to support their sellers. Firstly, Amazon are increasing the inventory space at their fulfilment centres. They are also introducing a new service called Amazon Upstream Storage in order to streamline the inventories of Amazon sellers. Let’s take a look at these new measures and how Amazon sellers can take advantage of them this festive season.
Global Supply Chain Issues A Hot Topic This Festive Period
The global supply chain issues have been present for quite some time now. The reasons for this include a shortage of workers, shipping delays and disruption at ports. Partly, this is due to the blockade at the Suez canal earlier in the year, but more recently we have seen congestion at ports in America with cargo ships floating in the Hudson Bay for weeks at a time.
We have also seen congestions at ports in the UK. This is partly due to businesses and customs operatives still struggling to adapt to Brexit regulations. Furthermore, we can’t forget the affect the pandemic has had on the demand for ecommerce. All of these issues have resulted in major delays all over the world. Unfortunately, Amazon sellers are not exempt from these problems.
So How Are Amazon Trying To Help Their Sellers
Amazon are well aware of the supply chain issues that their sellers are facing. The first thing they have done is attempted to convince consumers to do their gift shopping earlier. We have seen evidence for this in the shape of their ‘Black Friday-like’ deals earlier in the year. The hope was that this would spread out the festive shopping period, making fulfilment easier.
On top of this, they have also introduced new measures to support their sellers. These measures were mentioned in the introduction. We believe that Amazon sellers will benefit greatly from the new support. Let’s take a closer look at this support.
Increased Storage Space At Amazon Fulfilment Centres
Amazon have made it common knowledge for a while now that they were investing heavily in their fulfilment network. In 2021 alone, amazon added 10 new fulfilment centres across the EU and UK. In September, Amazon launched operations at 7 new fulfilment centres. In addition, they even added more space at their existing centres.
As a result of this, Amazon have notified sellers in one of their latest announcements that they have increased their restock limits across many of their fulfilment centres. This will be invaluable for their sellers leading up to the holidays. Sellers are advised to review their inventory health and to ensure they are optimizing their FBA selection.
Amazon Upstream Storage Introduce To Support Amazon Sellers
This new service is mainly focused on helping sellers bringing their inventories over from China and Hong Kong using Amazon’s Global Logistics capabilities. The hope is that the new service will help sellers streamline the replenishment of their inventories at Amazon fulfilment centres.
The benefits of the new service include affordable bulk storage and speedy replenishment of inventories at an affordable price. The service is fully automated and will automatically move inventory from upstream storage into Prime-ready fulfilment centres. The service is being called Amazon Distribution on some parts of Amazon’s website, and they have also referred to the service as STAR in some of their communications with sellers. You can find out more about FBA changes in our article regarding Amazon FBA changes to consider before Black Friday.
We Specialize In Supporting Amazon Sellers
As usual, we would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our long history of working with Amazon and eBay sellers means we can offer you expert advice.
As well as helping with your Fulfilment, we would be more than happy to help you register for the OSS and help you with all your VAT compliance needs in case your account faces any issues. So please do not hesitate to give us a call on 0161 637 1080 or send an e-mail to enquiries@jpaccountant.com for a quote today.
