Remote Fulfillment with FBA: Complete Guide
Are you an Amazon seller? If yes, then you must gain knowledge about remote fulfillment with FBA. When you are using FBA or fulfillment by Amazon program, you can expand your market with narf (North American Remote Fulfillment). In this program, a seller needs to send their ordered product to Amazon to store the product in their warehouse and keep it for sale on the Amazon website. The sellers also sell their country-based products to other countries' markets.
Fulfilled By Amazon account has the potential to quickly grow your potential customer base. If you need to learn how remote fulfillment with FBA works, keep reading to get better guidance. +
What Is Remote fulfillment and How Does It Work?
Remote fulfillment with FBA is a process of using Amazon's FBA service so that products order can be fulfilled that are not stored in the fulfillment centers. It allows a business to outsource the ordered products' packing, processing, handling, and shipping to a fulfillment center or a third-party logistics provider or 3PL. This remote fulfillment helps businesses pay more attention to other aspects of their operations, like marketing and product development. At the same time, the third-party logistics provider will look after the logistics.
This remote fulfillment process begins with shipping the products to the third-party logistics provider's warehouse. After that, the 3PL takes the responsibility to store the product until a customer place an order. When they receive the order, the third-party logistics provider will pick, process, and ships the product to the customer directly on behalf of the business.
There is a need for strong integration and communication between the business's eCommerce platform, the shipping carrier's tracking system, and the 3PL's warehouse management system, or WMS. It makes sure that the customer gets the right information about their delivery status and order. Many benefits are associated with remote fulfillment to businesses, which also include improved efficiency, scalability, reduced overhead costs, better customer experience, and many more. However, Amazon's remote fulfillment is also associated with some drawbacks.
Pros and Cons of Remote fulfillment with FBA
Amazon's remote fulfillment process has pros and cons that businesses should be aware of before making any decision, so let's glance at it.
Pros of Remote fulfillment with FBA
Get Access To The Customer Base Of Amazon
Amazon has more than 2.45 billion new monthly visitors, so it is an excellent opportunity to use FBA to tap into its vast customer base. The business can easily list its products on the Marketplace of Amazon by using the fulfillment by Amazon program. It helps the company to expose itself to millions of potential customers. If you are a new Amazon seller, it can offer significant benefits to expand your customer base.
Reduced Shipping Costs
Another significant advantage of using the fulfillment by Amazon program is that it provides discounted shipping rates for your business, reducing the product's shipping cost to customers. As this amazon program manages the handling and shipping of products, companies can save infrastructure and labor costs for managing their logistics operations.
Prime Shipping
Using the fulfillment by Amazon program offers prime shipping to customers, which is an excellent advantage for your business. Prime shipping helps provide a premium shipping service that guarantees one-day or two-day delivery for eligible products. It has been identified that prime shipping can be a powerful marketing tool for your business because customers trust prime shipping, and they are willing to pay extra for the ordered product.
Multi Channel fulfillment
With the FBA fulfillment program, a business can receive multichannel fulfillment that helps them use FBA to fulfill orders from different sales channels like marketplaces or websites. It can also offer a consistent customer experience to the business in other channels and streamline its logistics operations.
Market Testing Opportunity
It has been identified that many Amazon sellers would prefer to set up their business across different parts of the world due to storage and shipping costs. In addition, there is no guarantee of selling their product in the market as the risks are high. But, choosing a North American fulfillment program can help your business to available your products to Amazon customers in other parts of North America and other nations. This program ensures that there are no extra storage fees or shipping fees.
Inventory And Storage Management
The FBA fulfilled by Amazon program also offers inventory and storage management services, which is beneficial for your business with limited space or no warehouse. Here, FBA helps businesses to manage inventory levels and store the ordered products in their own warehouse, which ensures that products are available and in stock for purchase.
Ideal For Large Catalogs
With the use of the North American fulfillment program, it is possible for sellers to sell more products. It allows the sellers to enroll their catalog to help the customers choose the products that work well in their location. Here, you do not require to rely upon testing small products at a time. Simply, you need to enroll in the program and check what the local market is looking for.
Increased Potential For Sales
If you want to increase your market reach, joining the North American fulfillment program can be more effective for your business. Amazon is a larger eCommerce platform with a global reach, and such a program helps sellers expand their business reach outside of their country.
Related: What is a fulfillment Expert?
Cons of Remote fulfillment with FBA
After knowing the pros of remote fulfillment with FBA, let's move on to understand its cons.
Service Fees
Using FBA fulfilled by the Amazon program has drawbacks that are associated with the service fees. It has been identified that FBA charges certain payments to the sellers for fulfillment, storage, and other services that can affect the business's profits. In addition, the Amazon program has set up a rule that if the business's product does not get sold within a given timeframe, it will charge long-term storage fees. Such kinds of policies associated with the FBA program can frustrate the seller.
Limited Control Over The Process
Using FBA has another potential drawback, where the business needs to have control over the FBA fulfillment process. The business has limited control over the packaging of products or the speed of delivery as the FBA program is handling the products and shipping. It can be frustrating for sellers who want to offer a specific experience to their customers.
Rising Competition On The Amazon Marketplace
A business can get benefits from the products listed on the Amazon platform, but still, they are competing with other businesses on the same eCommerce platform. It can be a critical situation for the sellers to attract customers and stand out to sell a commodity product.
Storage limits
It has been identified that Amazon has limited storage in its warehouse that can only store some of the products of your business with the FBA program. As a result, the seller has to look for alternative storage elsewhere, which can be time-consuming and costly.
Inventory Restrictions
Amazon has given strict guidelines for the storage of products type in their warehouses. For instance, product types like oversized items, hazardous materials, and perishable goods are not eligible for fulfillment by the Amazon program. It can limit the products that a business can provide through the service.
Returns
It has been identified that Amazon handles all customer service and returns issues with this program. It can be convenient for the sellers as it results in increased return rates that can be more time-consuming and costly to manage.
Related: What Is B2B Fulfillment?
Cost of Remote fulfillment with FBA
It has been identified that many factors are contributing to the cost of remote fulfillment with FBA, which may include a storage fee based on the duration of storage and the size of storage, additional fees for optional services like removal and labeling, and a fulfillment fee based on shipping destinations and the product type. These costs differ subject to change and product category. Thus, it is crucial for the sellers to carefully evaluate their pricing strategies and expenses to ensure profitability with this program.
Step-by-Step Guide to Enrolling for Remote fulfillment with FBA
Amazon has involved a straightforward process in enrolling in the FBA program. Let's get into the step-by-step guide to enrolling in FBA.
Create a seller central account.: You must create a seller central account if you are new to the Amazon fulfillment program. You can visit their website and click on the register now button to proceed to the next step.
List your products: You need to create a product list carefully of what you want to sell on the Amazon platform. You can do this using a bulk upload tool or a manual process.
Enroll in FBA: Next, you need to process enrolling in the FBA program by simply clicking on the "Fulfillment by Amazon" tab in your seller central account. Before proceeding, you need to carefully read the instruction so that you can create your FBA account safely.
Prepare your products for shipment.: After enrolment, prepare your product for shipment to the fulfillment centers. It would help if you focused on labeling the product with a unique barcode provided by amazon and pacing them by following the guidelines.
Create a shipment plan.: You need to select some products that you want to send to the fulfillment center by creating a shipment plan. But remember to specify the product quantities.
Print shipping labels: Before sending your product to the fulfillment center, you need to print the shipping labels.
Monitor your sales and inventory: By opening your seller central account, you can be able to monitor your sales and inventory.
Pay FBA fees: You must also pay FBA fees, including fulfillment, storage, and other optional service fees. After that, you will receive an invoice for your payment.
Remote fulfillment with FBA FAQs
What is the difference between remote fulfillment with FBA and FBA export?
Remote fulfillment with FBA is a process of using Amazon's FBA service so that products order can be fulfilled that are not stored in the fulfillment centers. Here, the seller ships the product to the customers, but Amazon takes responsibility for packing, process and shipping the order. On the other hand, FBA export is a service that helps sellers to provide their sales products on international marketplaces. For instance, the order is placed on the global market, and Amazon will take care of the order packing, processing, and shipping to the customer situated outside the seller's country.
Who covers import fees with remote fulfillment FBA?
A seller is responsible for covering import fees with remote fulfillment FBA. It is because the seller takes care of the product shipping to the customer, which must import requirements and comply with the customs regulations of the destination country.
How Does Amazon Manage Import Duties Via Remote Fulfillment?
Amazon seller takes the responsibility to ensure that all applicable taxes and import duties are paid so that customer can get the shipping products in their countries. Amazon offers an estimated import fee to their seller to create an item listing that can be fulfilled remotely. The sellers must pay the fees by accurately calculating the amount.
Related: What Do I Do When Sales Spike I Can’t Keep Up With Order Fulfillment?
Conclusion
Remote fulfillment with FBA is a great way to optimize business operations and efficiency, allowing for easier customer order processing. It eliminates the need for businesses to be personally involved in each purchase fulfillment, enabling companies to scale up operations as needed. There are an array of strategic benefits that come with FBA, such as increasing visibility of customer orders and giving businesses the chance to expand their customer base by reaching different geographical markets. The possibilities that come with FBA have revolutionized how businesses meet their customers' needs and provide better product delivery options while reducing customer service headaches. Whether you own a small business or a large corporation, remote fulfillment with FBA can help unlock your potential to increase sales, streamline deliveries and make customer satisfaction top priority. Now is the time to give your business a competitive advantage through FBA – so don't wait any longer! Need help fulfilling Amazon orders? Contact Simpl today and take your business to the next level!
Recommended: What Is Direct Fulfillment?
