Amazon have announced 150 tools and services have been launched since the beginning of the year to help independent small and medium-sized businesses grow their sales in Amazon’s stores.
Tools such as Sold by Amazon help sellers manage the pricing of their products in Amazon’s stores, while fulfilment tools like Target Inventory Levels allow sellers to manage their Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) inventory and, in turn, increase sales.
New tools and services, along with infrastructure, programs, and people, are part of the more than $15 billion Amazon are on track to invest this year to empower independent small and medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon’s stores.
Independent third-party sellers – primarily small and medium-sized businesses – made up 58% of all physical gross merchandise sold in Amazon’s stores in 2018 and their sales far exceeded $2 billion on Prime Day in July this year. These businesses have created an estimated 1.6 million jobs worldwide.
Amazon said they spend billions of dollars every year to help small and medium-sized businesses around the globe succeed in Amazon’s stores. In addition to infrastructure, personnel, tools, and services, investments go towards programs such as Amazon Storefronts, Amazon Handmade, Amazon Launchpad, Amazon Business, Fulfillment by Amazon, Amazon Global Selling, Merch by Amazon, and Amazon Lending, which help small businesses grow.
New tools and services – from inventory trackers, pricing tools, sales reports, and product branding and marketing tools, to educational videos and webinars – help level the playing field for small and medium-sized businesses and lower barriers of entry for them to start selling in Amazon’s stores.
Delivered through Seller Central, the business management command centre, these tools and services give small and medium-sized businesses access to valuable sales and inventory insights as well as resources to help them manage and grow their business with Amazon. Types of recently introduced tools and services include:
Fulfilment and inventory tools
The Target Inventory Levels tool launched in the U.S, the U.K, Italy, Spain, France, and Germany to help merchants obtain better insights into their FBA inventory. Achieving suggested inventory levels increase sales through more 1-Day delivery eligibility and qualifies selling partners for lower storage fees.
Appstore and third-party tools
The Amazon Marketplace Appstore expanded globally into Europe, India, Japan, and Australia. The Amazon Marketplace Appstore helps sellers identify trusted third-party applications that complement Amazon’s free tools and help them streamline their business operations. With more than 200 apps available, selling partners can find tools and services across a range of categories including pricing, advertising, and inventory management.
Pricing management tools
Sold by Amazon, a free, opt-in service, helps selling partners save time and increase sales by automating prices so they can consistently and effortlessly offer customers great prices. Selling partners have peace of mind that they will never receive less than the established price for a product, even if the product is sold to an Amazon customer for less.
Business reports and analytics tools
The Product Opportunities dashboard can help merchants find new product opportunities that align with how they want to grow and scale their business. To do so, this tool generates customized reports based on business analytics and data that provide curated guidance for selling partners, like purchasing trends and requests for quantity discounts, which help inform their decisions for how to grow their selection. Selling partners using Amazon Business can use the new Marketplace Business Opportunities Portal reports to find more product listing opportunities for their business.
Seller University
An improved, redesigned Seller University portal helps selling partners find relevant educational content easier. In addition, Amazon launched a feature in Seller Central that gives selling partners personalized guidance about additional selling programs and features that they can experiment with to accelerate their growth. Each recommendation includes rich educational content (including Seller University videos) to help selling partners learn more about the programs.
We have contacted Amazon to get a list of 150 tools and service but were told that the “press release calls out the most interesting new tools and services.” However, Amazon said they can provide additional information on the new tools and services sellers are specifically interested in. Are there any specific tools you’d like us to enquire about, which you particularly need to drive your business forward?
3 Responses
Yeah, where’s the tool that prevents Amazon from stealing our sales data for their own benefit effectively using it to develop copies of our products which they then not only sell cheaper, but also somehow miraculously re-assign the “Amazon Choice” badge to their own version (previously assigned to ours).
Could do with that tool imo.