It’s no secret that Amazon is the biggest online marketplace in the world. It ships to millions of people across the globe, sending goods to over 100 countries. With so many people shopping on Amazon every day, having your company’s wares on the marketplace is a must.
Unfortunately, many up-and-coming businesses have trouble keeping up with e-commerce fulfillment once they operate on the platform. However, integrating Amazon Seller Central can take the stress out of fulfillment while providing several other benefits to your company. That’s why our team at Streamline Fulfillment is here to tell you everything you need to know about Amazon Seller Central.
Streamline Fulfillment is one of the most trusted third-party warehousing and fulfillment companies. We specialize in high-quality e-commerce fulfillment services for companies struggling to keep up with their online marketplace’s demands. If you need a reliable and experienced third-party fulfillment center to help you improve operations, contact our experts.
What Is Amazon Seller Central?
Amazon Seller Central is a unique web interface third-party sellers use to market their wares and sell their goods through Amazon. It allows smaller businesses to set up shop on Amazon’s online marketplace while giving them other advantages to help their company grow. It’s one of the best ways to market to a global audience and put your products in front of more potential customers.
Businesses using Amazon Seller Central can choose from two fulfillment options:
- Fulfillment by Amazon
- Fulfillment by Merchant
Fulfillment by Amazon puts Amazon in charge of e-commerce fulfillment and the logistics associated with every delivery. Meanwhile, Fulfillment by Merchant gives you control over order fulfillment. Both options have strengths and weaknesses, so always evaluate each one’s benefits to determine which is best for your company.
Amazon Seller Central also gives you a detailed overview of your company’s offers and sales. It makes it easier to manage your goods and sell products to a global audience.
How to Set Up Amazon Seller Central
Sometimes new business owners have trouble incorporating Amazon Seller Central into their operations. Setting up an account and getting accustomed to the app’s features can confuse less tech-savvy company leaders, making it difficult to get started. However, if you follow the six-step process below, you can enjoy everything Amazon Seller Central has to offer in no time.
Step One: Set Up an Account
Once you access Amazon Seller Central, create an account for your business. Simply follow the account setup instructions and ensure you have a strong password to protect your company and customer information. After creating an account, follow Amazon’s authentication process to verify your company’s profile (typically requires two steps).
Step Two: Give Your VA or Employees Access to the Account
Next, give your VA (virtual assistant) or employees access to the account. Your employees and/or VA can help you manage your online marketplace and verify orders to ensure smooth and effective operations.
Step Three: Utilize Business Metrics
After you get your online store up and running, frequently browse your business metrics to learn vital information about sales, operations, and more. Business metrics help uncover weak points within your company, allowing you to change or improve areas when necessary.
Step Four: Provide Detailed Information in Each Product Field
Most customers want to know everything about an item before buying it. Providing detailed yet digestible information about your products will inform the buyer and give them more confidence in their purchase. Always utilize the product’s information field to teach customers about the product, its uses, and other information that might persuade them to buy the item.
Step Five: Familiarize Yourself with Seller Support
Although Amazon Seller Central makes it easy for third-party businesses to run their online store and sell their goods, issues can still occur. Company leaders that aren’t tech-savvy often struggle to keep up with the various features within Amazon Seller Central and feel confused in certain situations. Understanding how to use seller support can help you troubleshoot problems if issues arise, ensuring your company operates smoothly year-round.
Step Six: Never Neglect Customer Support
Having high-quality customer support is crucial for any business. You want to keep customers happy and help them if they have issues buying or using your company’s products. Keeping up with customer support gives customers peace of mind and paints your company in a positive light.
Conversely, failing to provide first-class customer support can aggravate customers and cause them to take their business elsewhere. They can also leave a negative review on your Amazon page, making potential buyers think twice before buying your goods. Even if you don’t meet a customer’s expectations, providing quality customer service can help you keep them as a patron.
Benefits of Amazon Seller Central
Once you step up your Amazon Seller Central account and understand all the ins and outs of the app, you can enjoy its unique benefits. Amazon Seller Central offers multiple advantages to business owners needing e-commerce fulfillment services, making it easier to grow and run a successful enterprise. Below are some prevalent advantages of Amazon Seller Central.
Automated Inventory, Shipping Costs, and Price Syncing
Keeping up with your company’s inventory and prices isn’t always easy, especially after sales and promotions. Fortunately, Amazon Seller Central automatically updates prices, shipping rates, and inventory in Amazon’s online marketplace and the back-end databases. It provides accurate updates and even uploads new products to the store with detailed descriptions wherever you add a new item to the database.
Automated syncing makes managing your inventory and updating price changes easier than ever, allowing your company to run smoothly and more efficiently.
Faster Payment Reconciliation
Reconciling payments for every order purchased through Amazon’s online marketplace is as time-consuming as it is arduous. Amazon’s ever-changing fee structure further complicates the process, frustrating novice business owners. However, Amazon Seller Central utilizes ERP integration that helps third-party sellers complete reconciliation reports more efficiently.
The feature automatically calculates the difference between received and actual payments, taking the stress off your shoulders.
Allows Geographical Expansion While Ensuring You Adhere to Local Regulations
Amazon is a global company with online marketplaces in 20 countries across five continents. It makes it easier for companies to expand their business to other geographical regions they otherwise couldn’t operate in. However, ensuring your company adheres to other countries’ regulations isn’t easy.
Fortunately, Amazon Seller Central updates the back-end ERP to ensure you comply with a geographical region’s regulations. Whenever Amazon incorporates a region-specific rule or new fee structure, the app updates your information to help you stay within regulations.
Makes It Easier to Target Advertisements
Amazon Seller Central makes it easier to advertise to potential customers by collecting the customers’ purchase behavior data and transferring it to the CRM solution. This allows you to target advertisements that spark the patron’s interests based on their previous purchasing data. It can significantly improve customer satisfaction and sales conversations, benefiting your business to the utmost degree.
Makes Order Tracking Easier
Companies who use Fulfillment by Amazon receive daily or hourly notifications about the delivery. It keeps you informed on the shipment’s status, ensuring customers receive their orders promptly.
The Differences Between Amazon Vendor Central and Amazon Seller Central
Many people believe Amazon Vendor Central and Amazon Seller Central are the same things. However, the apps have several differences that separate them from one another.
Amazon designed Amazon Vendor Central specifically for distributors and manufacturers, not third-party sellers. It’s a supplier’s app that sells products in bulk to Amazon. Users must receive an invitation from Amazon to access Amazon Vendor Central.
Amazon sends manufacturers invitations to Amazon Vendor Central once they generate enough demand for their products. If the manufacturer’s products sell well and generate enough revenue, Amazon will send them an invitation to buy their goods in bulk. After accepting the invitation, the manufacturer’s Amazon page will feature a “shipped from and sold by Amazon” tag.
Amazon Seller Central is for third-party companies wanting to sell their products on the Amazon storefront. It doesn’t require an invitation from Amazon, allowing nearly any company to utilize the app to grow its brand. It’s designed for independent, smaller companies wanting to maintain complete control over their online storefronts while utilizing Amazon’s global marketplace.
However, a company can start on Amazon Seller Central and eventually join Amazon Vendor Central once Amazon deems it worthy of an invitation. It’s best to research each app and determine which one works best for your business.
Contact Streamline Fulfillment for First-Class Fulfillment Services for your Online Marketplace
Streamline Fulfillment is your source for high-quality e-commerce fulfillment solutions. Our team can help your company thrive by handling all your company’s fulfillment needs swiftly and efficiently. We customize your services to fit your company’s specific needs, ensuring your business operates smoothly while giving your customers their products without delay.
We’ve helped countless companies improve their fulfillment operations, and we can do the same for you at a price that fits your budget. Give our Streamline Fulfillment team a call at (509) 888-2880 and see what we can do for you today!