It was only a few years ago that Amazon introduced Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) as a way of allowing sellers to put the Amazon Prime badge on orders they fulfilled from their own warehouse or storage centre. RepricerExpress has nine reasons why you should be giving this a closer look.
1. You’ll Be Able to Reach Prime Members
By having access to the Prime membership base, you open yourself to the potential of much higher sales. Check out these stats from Forbes about Prime vs non-Prime buyers:
- 46% of Prime subscribers make weekly purchases, versus only 13% of non-Prime members.
- More than half (51%) of US households will be subscribed to Prime this year, an increase from the 45% last year.
- Prime buyers tend to spend up to 4.6 times more than their non-Prime counterparts.
If you’re not taking advantage of these numbers, then you’re either trying to deliberately control your business growth — or you’re doing something wrong.
2. Displaying the Prime Badge Puts You in the Running for a Buy Box
It’s not impossible to win the Buy Box without Prime, but it’s incredibly difficult. You’ll have to make sure all your metrics are just about perfect and have the most competitive pricing (which can put your profit margin at risk). So why not make it easier on yourself? Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is typically the easiest way to go but having that Prime badge with SFP is also a pretty good route.
3. There’s Time to Get Things Right
You don’t have to hit the ground running because Amazon will give you a trial period to master SFP. You’ll have up to 90 days to fulfil 200 orders, and then you’ll be automatically enrolled in SFP. If you’re already good at selling, then getting those 200 orders will be a piece of cake. And if you’re new, then 3 months is ample time to get things right.
Plus, if you don’t manage to get it done within the 90 days, that’s okay! Your trial period resets itself and you get another shot.
4. No Fees Make It Low-Risk and High-Reward
When you sign up for the trial period, you don’t have to pay any fees. That’s a huge weight off your shoulders, knowing that you can operate as you normally would. The guidelines are pretty relaxed as well:
- Ship Prime trial orders on the same day provided the order is placed by your cut-off time.
- Have an on-time shipment rate of at least 99%.
- Have a cancellation rate of less than 1%.
- Use of Buy Shipping Services for at least 99% of orders.
5. You Get to Control Shipping and Handling Fees
With FBA, you’re beholden to Amazon’s fee schedule. But with SFP, you’re free to go with whatever shipping company can save you the most money. Even better, you won’t have to worry about Amazon’s long-term storage fees.
6. Your Inventory Can Be in One Place
If you store items yourself or with a local company, then you can cut out the middle step of having to send stock to one of Amazon’s fulfilment centres. Not only will you save shipping costs (especially on large or heavy items), but you can also keep your inventory exactly where you want without being forced to split some to Amazon.
7. Returns Will Be a Lot Easier
One of the toughest parts about handling returns with FBA is correctly linking specific items to specific returns. It might sound like an easy enough thing to do, but there’s been a lot of fraud with it. However, if you’re in charge of handling returns, then you can implement your own system for staying on top of it.
8. You Can Sell FBA-Ineligible Items with the Prime Badge
Some items are ineligible for FBA, but if you sell them on your own, then you can bypass those restrictions, provided you still comply with the country’s regulations on what can be sold and shipped.
9. You Can Mix and Match SFP and FBM
If you’ve got some items that sell better with FBM, you can keep fulfilling that way and use SFP for other items (like heavy, fragile, seasonal, or high-value items). By combining fulfilment methods, you can maximise your competitive edge and increase your chances of a Buy Box that much more.
Final Thoughts
Reading this should put you in a try-anything spirit, so give SFP a shot. And since you’re already in that mindset, you should give RepricerExpress a try, too. While we don’t (yet) have the wish-making powers of a genie in a lamp, we’re pretty close. But you’ll have to see it to believe it, so sign up now and get started with the first 15 days free.
