Amazon now allows sellers to fulfill some Amazon Prime orders as a variation on the Seller Fulfilled Prime program (also known as Merchant Fulfilled Network or MFN Prime) This means if you are a fast-shipping vendor, you can increase sales of Prime-eligible merchandise while leveraging your own inventory and fulfillment investments. How much of an impact can this make? Internet Retailer notes that Prime buyers spend on average $500 more per year, compared to regular Amazon buyers. They also found that one company, Quick Candles, saw a 20% increase in sales of items newly marked Amazon Prime after their SFP program launched.
While Seller Fulfilled Prime can be a great way to increase order volume and overall revenue, there are several steps you need to take to make sure you are ready for Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping.
- You need to be aware of some of the challenges of the SFP program, which include strict on-time shipping requirements (e.g. 98.5%), the requirement to purchase parcel shipping services through Amazon, and the need for fast status updates as shipments are completed.
- You need to make sure your shipping software supports Seller Fulfilled Prime. With a new Pacejet integration via Amazon Marketplace Web Service, we can provide an Amazon shipping integration with your ERP to make fulfillment and compliance faster, easier, and more automated. We've been working with customers on this new program and you can learn more about the experience of SoTel Systems below.
Why Use the Pacejet Amazon Shipping Integration?
One way to look at the new Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime program is that it's another step forward in an omni-channel strategy that integrates your sales and fulfillment process with new online channels and their shipping carrier partners. With the Pacejet Amazon shipping integration in place, your warehouse teams don't need a special process for Amazon orders that's different or more manual compared with any other order. Whether an order is shipped directly via UPS or shipped via UPS service purchased through Amazon, users can still pack and ship as usual with Pacejet and all of the ERP updates to record and capture shipping data are managed and automated, just like they are with any other order from any other channel.
"The Prime badge helps drive up new sales of our product listings on Amazon", said Pacejet user Aaron Early, Vice President of Operations at SoTel Systems. "What we like about the Seller Fulfilled Prime program is it allows us to further leverage inventory located in our fulfillment locations. Pacejet's shipping solution helps us to integrate fulfillment processing directly with Amazon, automatically transacting shipments with Amazon, printing labels, updating our ERP, and updating Amazon with the shipping status."
Activating Amazon Integration in Pacejet
You can activate Pacejet Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping integration using a process similar to adding any other new carrier choice. The process involves an approval step with Amazon, activation of UPS, FedEx, USPS accounts in your Amazon console, setup of printing preferences, and of course piloting and training with users. You will also need some type of order import solution to load orders received from Amazon into your ERP system (many providers offer options for Amazon orders). Once the solution is in place, users will run familiar workflows to pack, rate, ship orders with Pacejet handling Amazon transactions just like any other carrier integration.
Learn More About Pacejet's Amazon Integration
Are you interested in learning more about how Amazon Seller Fulfilled Prime shipping can help your business? Contact us today.
