The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted citizens to their homes in every part of the world. As a result, the demand for essential commodities has grown substantially. To address these challenges, the e-commerce giant, Amazon has stepped in to keep the supply of everyday essentials running. Making the use of Amazon product listings, several local retail stores have connected with the eCommerce platform to take online orders. Understandably, the product listings of essential commodities have high demand in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Amazon sellers who have listed house staples and medical supplies are facing procurement and delivery challenges. At the same time, sellers who do not deal with essential items are staring at a loss in revenue. In this article, we highlight the methods Amazon sellers can use to avert the impact of COVID-19 on their business.
Adapt to new strategies
It’s been several weeks since the COVID-19 outbreak was declared a global pandemic that led to social distancing and country-wide lockdowns. As a result, the demand for certain products sharply increased, leading to a change in Amazon’s order fulfillment policies. With disruptions in the supply chain due to imposed lockdowns, the recent policy changes restricted the FBA inventory shipments of non-essential items.Also Read: How Amazon FBA Can Boost Your Retail BusinessThe move aims at freeing up spaces in the Amazon fulfillment centers to stockpile household staples, groceries, medical supplies, and other essential items. As the people around the world are confined to their homes, they are buying these products to stay safe, healthy, and comfortable. The company is now only accepting shipments of inventory in the following categories:
- Baby Products
- Health and Household
- Grocery
- Beauty and Personal Care (including personal care appliances)
- Industrial and Scientific
- Pet Supplies
Look for alternatives
Since the lockdown due to COVID-19 has forced Amazon to implement changes in their policies, sellers can explore alternative order fulfillment options. The sellers who have product listings that do not comply with the new policy can convert those listings from FBA to Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) or Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM). In doing so, sellers must understand that they have to store, fulfill, and ship orders on their own. For sellers who are unable to handle, they can partner with a 3rd party logistics (3PL) company, shift the inventory to their warehouse, and let them fulfill the orders.Keep a check on the Ad spend
“73% of brands advertise on Amazon, up from 57% in 2019”
Amazon PPC ads are a great way to increase a product’s popularity and boost their sales. However, during these trying times, it is advisable to adjust the ad expenditures due to high demand and limited supplies. Also, having insufficient inventory levels can negatively impact your reputation. While reworking on the advertising budget, take the demand of products and their available stock into consideration. In case of limited stock, turn off the ads, and redirect the budget to run ads of other products with sufficient stock.
