New Deal Gives Amazon Aggregators Access to New Warehouses &
4 Million Additional Square Feet of Warehouse Space

Chicago, IL (June 7, 2022) – SEKO Logistics announced a partnership today with ecommerce logistics company MyFBAPrep as their preferred Amazon FBA partner. The new deal will include co-branded products and expands SEKO’s offering to include Amazon FBA fulfillment services. The partnership gives MyFBAPrep’s client roster of Amazon Aggregators access to SEKO`s global fulfillment warehouses and an additional four million square feet of new warehouse space globally.

In addition to adding to their US footprint, SEKO brings a network that reaches into Europe, Canada and the Asia Pacific regions. SEKO will help support MyFBAPrep’s cross-border ecommerce expansion into additional markets including Australia, Japan and China. Each SEKO warehouse is strategically placed in close proximity to major ports and airports – allowing for a maximum of 24-72 hour delivery windows facilitated via modern facilities run by top talent with expertise in Amazon prep, ecommerce fulfillment and logistics solutions.

“We are excited to partner with MyFBAPrep as they are a great fit with our overall ecommerce strategy and further our mission of being small enough to care and big enough to scale globally. Through this strategic partnership, we’ll be able to combine our extensive industry insights while leveraging MyFBAPrep’s technology-enabled platform to seamlessly service a new cohort of the largest Amazon aggregators and Amazon sellers that are driving the ecommerce market to record highs. We look forward to expanding our Amazon capabilities with MyFBAPrep,” said David Emerson, SVP Ecommerce at SEKO Logistics.

“Amazon private label aggregators have raised over $12 billion in institutional funding and acquired hundreds of Amazon brands in the last year. This partnership with SEKO creates a truly global solution that allows these aggregators to quickly add top-performing warehouse nodes, consolidate their footprint and scale their brands, while reducing supply chain complexity,” said Tom Wicky, Co-Founder and CEO of MyFBAPrep. “With this new partnership, we’re doubling our global footprint, while still being able to offer our customers the same level of five-star, white-glove service that we’re known for. No one else is doing what we’re doing in the Amazon FBA space and we’re excited to take our business to the next level with SEKO.”

About SEKO Logistics

We provide a suite of logistics services which enable you to use your supply chain as a competitive differentiator. As a customer centric organization, we are powered by the expertise of our people and our in-house-developed, best in class, configurable technology. It is this combination which gives SEKO its strength. With over 120 offices in 40 countries worldwide, SEKO’s unique shareholder management model enables you to benefit from our specific industry sector expertise, coupled with vital in-country knowledge and unparalleled service at the local level.

About MyFBAPrep

MyFBAPrep is the leading eCommerce warehouse network for Amazon aggregators, enterprise-level brands and top Amazon sellers. Operating a global network of more than 50 warehouses and seven-million-square-feet of operating warehouse space, MyFBAPrep offers a full suite of ecommerce 3PL services including Amazon wholesale and private label, direct-to-consumer (DTC) fulfillment, and B2B retail. Powered by its SaaS technology platform Preptopia™, sellers get access to unified billing, analytics, business intelligence reporting tools and real-time inventory views across multiple warehouses in the network. The company provides FBA Prep automation, modern robotics item picking, and a dedicated account management team. Based in Coral Springs, Florida, MyFBAPrep moves over $1 billion in Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and processes over 10-million units annually.

This is a guest post from the Flxpoint team. Flxpoint is an enterprise ecommerce operations platform that enables merchants and brands to unify and automate every aspect of their ecommerce operations, and scale without manual processes or custom development slowing down.

When asked about the biggest daily challenges they face, 43% of retailers ranked inventory management as number 1. That being the case, a distributed order management system can effectively help businesses address this.

In this article, we’ll introduce what a distributed order management (DOM) system is, walk through the benefits of DOM, and the key characteristics you should consider when choosing one.

What is an order management system (OMS)?

An OMS is a platform that lets you structure and automate purchasing and fulfillment processes not only for you, but also your customer. It streamlines your business so products can easily find their way to your buyers.

Given how complex and intricate eCommerce is today, your OMS should be multifaceted and have the ability to handle business processes such as:

• Receiving orders and processing payments,
• Managing your inventory and its locations,
• Tracking your suppliers for purchasing and receiving,
• Shipping and tracking customer orders,
• Overseeing customer service, such as product returns and refunds,
• Generating sales and inventory reports,
• And providing forecasts.

With it, you should also be able to monitor everything from sales to fulfillment, plus glean insights that allow you to develop and measure key performance indicators (KPIs) which can aid in formulating strategies for your business.

What is distributed order management (DOM)?

DOM, meanwhile, is an approach that involves optimizing fulfillment so that you’re not only delivering customer orders in a timely manner, but also sustaining minimum expenses — a cost reduction that’s felt by you and your buyer.

This method works via a DOM system, which enhances your overall supply chain by automating aspects of your business operations such as:

• Order routing, splitting, and shipping
• Inventory management, forecasting, and reordering

Overall, DOM systems streamline your business without negatively affecting the customer experience — which is its most vital characteristic.

Why to use a distributed order management system

Here are the crucial benefits you can get from utilizing a DOM system.

1. Enable multi-channel selling

Consumers nowadays want the ability to buy products from various channels. 73% of them shop through more than one and 64%, meanwhile, move across devices to search for what they want and complete their purchase.

Also, according to a Shopify report, businesses that sell on multiple channels generate 190% more revenue than those who only rely on one — which is a massive difference. However, doing so can be very complex and a DOM system simplifies it in various ways.

Track inventory by sales channel

Multi-channel selling isn’t easy, or possible, if you don’t have a system to track orders against inventory — especially if your channels share a pool of inventory. Supply chain executives, in fact, said that managing inventory across channels is their company’s third-biggest challenge.

With a DOM system, you can keep track of your inventory levels for each of your channels. That ability makes it easy to do the following:

• Update and refresh your stock across channels
• See which products or SKUs perform best for each channel, allowing you to allocate inventory accordingly
• See which items sell the most according to region

Automate order fulfillment

A DOM system not only unifies your sales channels, but also your supply chain. It even automates and handles order routing, splitting, and shipping — which streamlines fulfillment overall. Here are other things a DOM system can do for you:

• Process payments for different destinations and currencies
• Transmit order information to distributors or 3PLs
• Automatically print shipping labels for in-house fulfillment

With all of these handled, your customers on each channel receive their purchases in as little time as possible.

2. Minimize human error

With all the automation a DOM system can provide, you can eliminate repetitive tasks — like manual data entry — which are prone to human error. Also, automatically collecting, uploading, and syncing data into a system frees up time for high-value work.

In fact, according to a survey, almost 60% of workers estimate they could save six or more hours a week with automation. They could use that freed-up time for other priorities, like helping your business grow its revenue.

3. Optimize your inventory management systems

A DOM system offers you digital connectivity, which provides real-time updates and insights into your inventory, allowing you to see the full picture. It makes inventory management easier and lets you:

• Set inventory thresholds, so you’ll be alerted when certain products hit specific levels — which also tells you when you should restock or stop purchasing.
• Get a glimpse of where your products and customers are, allowing you to strategically locate and streamline your distribution and delivery system.
• Identify bottlenecks in your operations, so you can optimize your inefficient processes and automate manual ones.

Another vital characteristic of this connectivity is the abundant data you’ll be able to tap into — and that carries over into the next benefit.

4. Get detailed insights into your business

A DOM system’s end-to-end visibility and traceability can give you access to plentiful information such as:

• Which workflow stage your inventory is in. Let’s say you know your goods are in the order fulfillment stage. This lets you provide customers information about their purchase.
• How your goods move. You see which seasons and geographic locations specific items are moving fastest, giving you an idea about consumer behavior.
• Your inventory levels for each channel. This allows you to stay on top of how much you have on-hand.

The plentiful information your DOM system provides also lets you see which of your channels perform best and the trends they have, allowing you to make data-driven strategies and decisions.

You can make forecasts, then plan, purchase, and allocate inventory accordingly. From there, you can develop tactics for maximizing profitability and minimizing your costs.

What to look for in a distributed order management system

Here are the key competencies you should look at before selecting a distributed order management system.

1. Integrations

DOM systems are ultimately designed to bridge your different sales channels and inventory sources — which means connectivity is everything. Does the order management system integrate or work with the tools you use in your business?

Let’s say you have an eCommerce website and also utilize an ERP system. Your DOM system’s ability to properly connect with these two can effectively reduce the need for any manual input and human errors, which can also eliminate any future issues.

Also, when selling through multiple channels and using various tools, your data will be coming from different sources. Proper integrations ensure that the data you gather from all these sources is not only correct, but also aligned.

2. Capabilities

Basically, a DOM system should meet your business needs. Here are some common questions you should ask when choosing a system: “How many orders and inventory locations can the DOM system keep track of?” or “What are the limitations of the software?”

If the answers you get don’t fit your requirements, it’s time to look elsewhere. To give you more specifics, however, here’s a quick breakdown of crucial features you should consider.

Inventory management

For this aspect, your system should provide you a consolidated view of your inventory across channels — which simplifies managing and monitoring your stock. It should also have order routing algorithms, allowing you to fulfill orders through the best facilities and shipping options.

Overall, you should have access to data across inventory management and fulfillment so you can maximize profitability, minimize costs, and get orders to customers on time.

Multi-channel features

It should be able to handle your business’s points of sale — both online and in-store. If you’re selling internationally, also make sure your system can support orders and currencies for countries you sell in.

Client database

Your DOM system should be able to consolidate your customer’s information and activity — like their purchase history. This gives you insights on consumer behavior, allowing you to provide a more tailored service.

Accounting integrations

Try to find a DOM system with integrations that also simplify your accounting processes. The ability to feed data — like your income, liabilities, and expenses — straight into your ledgers and journals frees up lots of time and reduces the risk of any human error.

3. Real-time updates

Providing up-to-date product information and availability to you and your customers is a must for every system. It’s not useful or sustainable if you don’t have real-time updates, especially as you scale. Without real-time data, you’ll be facing the risk of running into two key issues:

Prevent overselling or stockouts

This can happen when an item is already sold out, but your system didn’t update inventory counts in real-time. Since it isn’t marked as out of stock, your customer will end up ordering an item you can’t fulfill — which ruins their experience and your brand’s reputation.

If you don’t have enough inventory, you won’t be able to serve both new and existing customers. Overselling and stockouts are such a huge problem, in fact, that they cost retailers $1 trillion every year.

Overstocking

Having too many goods on-hand, however, can also damage you financially. This increases the probability of you stockpiling old or aged inventory that depreciates and loses value over time. You’ll also incur storage fees which, depending on your fulfillment solution, can get expensive.

Amazon FBA sellers, for instance, have to pay a monthly fee for inventory storage. This monthly expense accrues as you store more items. In addition, there are also long-term storage fees and overage fees that Amazon charges.

4. Ease of use

To see if the DOM system is easy-to-use, ask yourself the following questions:

• Can your team learn to use it?
• Do you employees need to have technical know-how?
• Is the user interface intuitive or does it cause confusion (which will cause mistakes)?

If you can get a positive response to these three questions, then the DOM system you’re looking at is a superb choice. This means, if you have to train yourself and your team, all you’ll have to worry about is learning the system itself.

Your employees will no longer have to undergo training for learning manual processes and requirements, freeing up lots of time. And since your system automates these, it also effectively minimizes any chances for human errors.

5. Good customer service

When things go wrong — how good is this tool at helping you detangle issues and troubleshoot? A system that enables you to handle such instances is vital for ensuring that they don’t happen again.

For example, are there any bottlenecks in your inventory management or fulfillment that led to your customer’s order arriving late? Your DOM system should allow you to pinpoint and address such issues.

Besides that, your system should be able to support omni-channel returns and exchanges — when they receive a damaged or wrong item for instance — allowing you to offer a seamless customer experience.

Wrapping up – A DOM system streamlines your business, but it should be a good fit

A distributed order management optimizes many aspects of your business operations. By doing so, it also reduces costs and maximizes your profitability without having a negative impact on the overall customer experience.

Just make sure that, before choosing a DOM system for your organization, you consider your business’s needs and see if the system fits these key criteria:

• It should seamlessly integrate with your channels and business tools, thus unifying a large chunk of your operations.
• Besides features for inventory management, your DOM system should possess key competencies for sales and customer service.
• Your chosen system should feed you data in real-time, allowing you to avoid inventory issues such as stockouts and overstocking.
• Lastly, it should be straightforward and intuitive — therefore minimizing any chances for human errors, plus saving time and resources you could spend for training.

This is a guest post from the Payability team.

Growing a business is one of the most challenging and rewarding journeys a person can embark on. Every phase of business growth comes with excitement and requires significant investment. While each one is different, all businesses share certain similarities in their life cycles, from the early stages of development to an initial public offering (IPO).

One consistent, long-term need that small businesses share is cash flow. Every stage of growth requires an injection of capital, either from business profits or outside investors –– sometimes from both.

Read on to discover the different growth stages where merchants should inject capital into their business to propel growth.

3, 2, 1, Launch! –– Acquiring start-up Capital

Most businesses start as an idea dreamed up at someone’s dining room table. While the initial funding will come from the owner’s pocket, the time eventually comes to secure outside funding to spark initial growth. People often acquire launch capital for small businesses from small loans or by calling in favors from family and friends.

The launch phase is when a small business grows from an interesting idea into a legitimate venture.

Securing early funding with a minimum viable product

During this phase, small businesses conduct market analysis and product testing to develop a minimum viable product (MVP). The MVP is the product or service that provides the foundation of the entire business model. In the long term, every new product line stems from the original MVP.

A business’s MVP sets the initial trajectory for long-term growth and transformation. A proven MVP paired with a strong business plan will attract investors during the first stages of expansion. This early injection of capital allows small, private companies to expand marketing and advertising budgets to generate word-of-mouth for their products.

To grow beyond the start-up stage, entrepreneurs need more than an idea –– they need proof. To prove the merit of their business venture, most entrepreneurs choose to test their MVP in the market, gathering accurate market data to present to potential investors. Robust market performance data sets them up for the next stage of business: the growth phase.

The growth phase –– Acquiring venture capital for business development

During the growth stage, a small business evolves into a brand. This requires investment in staff, technology, equipment, inventory levels, and more. That’s where growth funding comes in. While start-up funding fuels initial product development, growth funding provides the cash flow for marketing and operations.

In this stage, a business owner (or hired representative) presents the MVP along with a detailed business plan to angel investors, venture capitalists, and other private investors to secure growth funding.

Small businesses can secure early growth funding through many avenues, but it typically comes in the form of cash flow aids, private investors, or loans.

Angel investing and venture capital

Private investors — including angel investors and venture capitalists — are typically individuals with large amounts of cash who will invest in small businesses in exchange for a portion of the ownership. On the upside, these investors offer a swift capital injection for a growing business. On the downside, as part owners, they have the power to challenge the company founder’s decisions — or even eject the founder from the company entirely.

Small business loans

Entrepreneurs with solid business plans and existing cash flow can acquire small business loans from credit unions and investment banks. These loans provide an injection of capital while leaving the founder in control of the company. On the other hand, small business loans are difficult to qualify for, require lengthy credit checks, and often take a long time to deliver funds.

Capital advance

A capital advance is one of the swiftest and easiest ways to generate cash flow for small businesses. It’s easy to qualify for and provides quick funding for small companies. However, a capital advance typically requires a record of business success and so isn’t available for unproven companies.

Using growth capital to fund early business development

The growth stage is when small businesses refine their marketing campaigns and find their voice. During this time, brands will test different types of packaging, come up with standard procedures for inventory flow, and study and react to marketing trends to maintain a business edge and capture greater total market share.

In the growth phase, a business will face heavy competition as it works to prove its value to consumers. The company may consider adding new product lines, purchasing sponsored ads, or investing in staff and technology to improve customer service. Stellar customer experiences will fuel word-of-mouth advertising to build trust and drive conversions. At the same time, strategic marketing will generate leads and keep the brand at the forefront of consumers’ minds.

Success during the growth phase of a business’s life cycle will set the stage for the next level: the maturity phase.

The maturity phase –– Increasing market share by building a reputation

During the maturity phase, a business is finally able to study its cash conversion cycle (CCC) metrics and make improvements according to performance data. At this point, a company should have several months or years of data to review and respond to, along with a strong team and standard operating procedures.

A mature business should carefully analyze its CCC data to determine how long it takes (and how much it costs) to acquire new customers and move finished products. Critical analysis will reveal optimization opportunities in staffing and procedures — and expose any operational inefficiencies. Discovering and capitalizing on these opportunities is essential to attracting additional investors.

In the maturity phase, a business with healthy synchronization between marketing, sales, and operations will consistently outperform a company with asynchronous goals and inefficient communication.

Funding a mature business

A mature business acquires growth funding from two primary sources: profit reinvestment and public investors. While some businesses, such as Publix, grow to multi-billion-dollar corporations without ever “going public,” the largest companies in the world — for example, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon — are often publicly owned. Becoming a publicly traded company is a complicated process that we won’t explore here, but it is an option for large, thriving businesses.

For most mature small businesses though, profit reinvestment will drive future growth. This means the owner will have to decide between saving profits, paying profits out as wages, or investing profits in expansion.

Supply chain analysis and inventory management are key

After a small business makes a name for itself, inventory management and demand forecasting are critical to avoid inventory stockouts (as many companies learned the hard way throughout the COVID-19 pandemic).

Careful supply chain analysis based on market research and past performance can result in market share gains during busy seasons like the holidays. A business that approaches each quarter with a strategic growth plan that integrates cash flow, supply chain, and marketing will reap significant success.

For example, in 2021, holiday shopping started earlier than ever due to a combination of pent-up pandemic demand and global supply chain issues. Many businesses secured their holiday stock levels in advance and launched their holiday campaigns as early as September. Businesses that acted quickly in 2021 saw increased total sales throughout the fall and winter, despite the first historical year-over-year decrease in Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.

Reducing business costs drives additional growth

For a mature business, reducing costs is a primary way to maintain growth. One of the best examples of a mature business achieving this comes from the grandfather of American industry, John D. Rockefeller.

Rockefeller regularly audited his costs for opportunities to reduce his operating expenses. In one famous story, Rockefeller noted his production line sealed each kerosene can with forty drops of solder.

Wondering if he could do it with less, he experimented and found that, while 38 drops occasionally resulted in a compromised seal, 39 had the same success rate as 40 drops. The new sealing procedure, implemented at scale, saved Rockefeller a fortune in materials and labor.

Diversification creates new growth opportunities

Product innovation (and adding new product lines) is another principal way to grow a mature business. Some businesses may opt for in-house research and development, while others may acquire competitors or adjacent businesses.

A great example of a highly diversified, mature company is Coca-Cola. Coke started with a single product, then slowly expanded into additional soft drink offerings. Eventually, the brand branched out into other types of beverages:

• They reached water drinkers with AHA sparkling water and smartwater.
• They attracted health-conscious consumers with “Simply” beverages, fairlife products, and Honest Tea.
• They enticed athletes and physically active consumers with Powerade and vitaminwater.

Coca-Cola has driven business growth and drawn investors for over 130 years by constantly experimenting and innovating.

Creativity and efficiency drive growth during the maturity phase

The maturity phase is all about optimization. After several years of operation, a mature business will examine itself for weaknesses and risks. Companies that commit to ruthless optimization will continue to attract investors, even over a century after their initial public offering.

Businesses that don’t continue to grow during the maturity phase will enter the final stage of business growth: decline.

The decline phase –– How to save a declining business

Descent is the final stage of the business life cycle. When a business enters decline, it must pivot or close. A company will present many subtle signs of stagnation before entering decline, for which business owners should always remain vigilant.

Declining revenue is a warning sign

Declining revenue is never a good sign for a business, but it doesn’t always signal the end. For example, major black swan events like wars or pandemics can cause enormous losses over one or several quarters. However, if net income continues to drop for a year or more, it’s time to investigate your revenue streams.

Perhaps a competitor has begun to threaten your dominance, like upstart rental company Netflix did to Blockbuster, the former reigning champ of movie night. Maybe technology and shifting consumer sentiments have transformed the market; for example, the rise of eCommerce led to the demise of many major retailers who resisted the change.

Decide whether to exit or evolve

At this point, an owner needs to decide either to exit the business — through sale or dissolution — or evolve. Depending on the company’s size, this decision can affect anywhere from dozens to thousands of employees.

Business owners who are ready to let go should implement a careful exit strategy to ensure they stay on the right side of federal business laws.

How to renew a declining business

Renewing a declining business is similar to starting from scratch. The owner must draft a new business plan, attract investors, and make hard decisions about their trajectory. As part of the renewal campaign, the business may pivot its goals entirely, replace staff, or even make deals with competitors, much like Apple did with Microsoft before it became the biggest company in the world.

While it isn’t easy to revitalize a dying business, it’s possible for a company to convert even major failure into success.

Grow your business with cash flow aids from Payability

If you’re ready to enter the next stage of business growth, Payability is here to help. Payability provides versatile funding solutions for eCommerce sellers.

Its Instant Access provides daily marketplace payouts for eCommerce businesses, while Instant Advance provides instant funding of up to $250k for small business growth. Don’t let slow money hold your business back; accelerate your success with eCommerce funding tailored to your needs.

Payability’s solutions are swift, easy, and flexible and offer benefits for all kinds of eCommerce businesses:

• Easy approval — No credit check required! Apply online and get funded in as little as one business day.
• Free, fast transfers — Access your money on your schedule with Instant Transfer, Same Day ACH, or wire.
• Earn cash back — Get up to 2% cash back on every purchase you make with the Payability Seller Card.

Payability is ready to help you grow your business. Get started today!

MyFBAPrep’s very own Taylor Smits joined the Riverbend Consulting Amazon Seller Happy Hour this month, to talk about all things FBA – from outsourcing, to prep, to all things in between.

Check out the recording below!

How to stay in stock on FBA

Staying in stock is vital for every business, no matter the season. Taylor explains how MyFBAPrep helps Amazon sellers ensure they don’t lose out on sales by keeping inventory replenished with smart fulfillment strategies.

Amazon scales, but FBA does not

Logistics is not most sellers’ core business, nor do they want it to be. Taylor discusses when it’s time to outsource FBA prep, from signs within the business to signs at home (ie. when your partner gets mad at the inventory sitting in your kitchen).

Why outsource FBA prep

Amazon sellers can quickly go down a rabbit hole of spending too much time on labeling and stickering their items in-house, and realize they “want to get their life back.” FBA prep can quickly get time consuming and distract from the main business, which is what sellers wanted to focus on in the first place.

Merchants don’t want to focus on FBA prep

MyFBAPrep takes something that’s difficult to scale completely off the plates of our clients, then give their time back so they can go focus on the business they signed up to run in the first place.

Outsourcing logistics to experts

Look for a fulfillment partner who can boast expertise in the field. Amazon FBA prep is changing constantly, and eCommerce logistics are getting increasingly complex. Merchants should aim to work with a company that can also help guide strategy, and ensure compliance.

Hiring and personnel during COVID-19

In addition to it being stressful and time-consuming to manage an in-house logistics team, the pandemic has also made it more difficult to hire and maintain warehouse staff for many merchants.

How to choose your eCommerce logistics partner

Look for FBA knowledge and expertise. A warehouse needs to have experience dealing with your specific items, for example bulky or heavy items.

The importance of having a good account manager to client ratio

Your logistics company should always have someone who knows FBA prep and the process in your warehouse, and able to get eyes on your inventory.

How can multi-channel sellers ensure on-time delivery

Taylor discusses seller strategies he’s seen successful merchants employ in order to stay in stock and deliver reliably (such as looking at other ports and staying informed).

The future of growth in eCommerce

Diversification, omni-channel selling, Walmart Fulfillment Services, DTC websites, and more are all on sellers’ minds.

What does the supply chain of 2022 look like?

Can sellers expect more congested ports, sky-high freight prices, and slow deliveries? Taylor breaks down what to expect in the world of eCommerce logistics and supply chains next year.

This is a guest post from Hammad Nafees, Content & Outreach Specialist of ZonGuru. ZonGuru is an all-in-one Amazon toolkit that helps private label sellers with product research, niche evaluation, competition analysis, listing optimization, inventory tracking, customer review acquisition, and running day-to-day operations of their Amazon business. Their tools provide data from across 10 Amazon marketplaces, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, the UK, Italy, France, Spain, Australia, Germany, and India.

What’s the most important part of building a successful Amazon business?

Some would say acing your PPC campaigns. Others might side with listing optimization, and the list goes on. But for us, sourcing takes the win. It can literally make or break your product.

The price point, quality, sales, and profit margin of your product — all are dependent on where you source your product from. If you source a cheap, low-quality product, you might get a higher profit margin, but your customers will be quickly disappointed, sales will drop, negative reviews will crop up, and your store will ultimately crash.

Similarly, if you source a high-quality, but expensive product, you’ll either have a high price and won’t be able to compete in the market, or have a low margin and may not make enough to keep your business afloat.

Therefore, the better your sourcing, the better your chances of success.

So, what options do you have when it comes to sourcing a product for Amazon?

You can go local and find manufacturers in your country/region, or you can search internationally. While working with a local supplier may seem to have the advantage (i.e., lower communication barriers, keep track of production more easily, faster turnaround times, and, of course, convenience), most successful sellers actually source their products from overseas.

In this guide, we’ll talk about the benefits of international sourcing and some places to source from.

Benefits of international sourcing

Businesses thrive with international suppliers. Just like local production, overseas sourcing has its own benefits. Below, we’ve highlighted the ones you can’t overlook.

1) Cheaper rates

Let’s kick things off with everyone’s favorite perk: saving cash on their purchases! Reduced production costs are one of the prime benefits of global sourcing.

Many foreign suppliers and manufacturers offer their services at a competitive price due to cheaper labor, especially in low-cost regions. This can be a great way to maximize your business’ bottom line if you’re on a tight budget.

By cutting down on expensive production and labor costs, you’re able to allocate that money elsewhere.

Additionally, you can assure yourself of the quality standards of these products by pre-ordering samples. This is crucial, especially for selling on a marketplace like Amazon, where quality control is a high priority.

Besides these, there are other aspects that tip the scale in favor of sourcing overseas.

2) Access to technology

Often, businesses are forced to outsource because domestic suppliers lack cutting-edge technology or specialized knowledge to stay competitive.

Most sourcing destinations have devoted significant portions of their finances towards manufacturing. Their production plants are equipped with the most up-to-date technology globally, which plays a vital role in maintaining the quality standards of products.

3) Greater variety

Some countries  simply have better resources, both in terms of labor and raw materials, to make products that may not be available elsewhere. From exotic footwear to bamboo cups, you can find anything and everything.

You can also ask suppliers in these countries to personalize your product according to your specifications, which helps you establish your USP while selling on Amazon.

4) A wider pool of potential suppliers

Everyone wants to get hold of quality products while spending the minimum necessary. This is where you can leverage different online marketplaces and handpick suppliers that meet your requirements.

No need to rush into making a decision. With international suppliers, the ball is in your court.

5) More resilient logistics

When you have multiple suppliers you can rely on, your business is more flexible and resilient to disruptions in the supply chain. Instead of going completely out of stock if one global region is cut off from your warehouses, you can start sourcing additional units from your alternative suppliers.

You can also optimize your global logistics for speed and cost. For example, if you’re seeing that shipping lanes from a certain country are delivering more quickly, you can shift to that manufacturer temporarily until other congested routes clear up.

Where to find suppliers internationally

Now that you know how sourcing internationally can benefit your Amazon business, let’s dive into where to source your products from.

With over 193 countries on the world map, you have plenty of options to find what you need. But which ones are best for international sourcing?

Well, we have a list to help you out.

1) China

Probably the most popular sourcing destination. China offers an extensive variety of products you can have manufactured at cheap rates. Let’s take a quick look at the pros and cons of this manufacturing giant.

Pros:

• Mass Market
• Expansion capabilities
• Cheap manual labor
• One-stop solutions like Alibaba make it easy to sift through suppliers
• Production leader across all sectors

Cons:

• High U.S. tariffs
• Chinese suppliers have become competitors rather than manufacturers in recent years for Amazon sellers
• Language barrier

Websites for finding Chinese suppliers:

• Alibaba.com (China)
• 1688
• DHgate
• Made-in-China
• AliExpress

If you feel sourcing in China has become saturated, or you’d prefer venturing into a more niche market, here are some other countries you can shop in:

2) Vietnam

Located in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is an up-and-coming sourcing hub for many Amazon suppliers. It can be cheaper than China if done right. Here are the benefits of choosing Vietnam:

• Its geographical location: Vietnam has a large number of seaports, which provides shipping convenience and helps avoid shipping woes.
• Multiple trade agreements: Vietnam is a politically stable country with numerous positive trade relationships. This means trade is faster and smoother compared to most countries.
• Fit for small businesses: Since Vietnam has a developing market, local factories and manufacturers are open to accommodating small orders, which makes it an excellent choice for small and medium-sized businesses.

Vietnam is famous for exporting goods like textiles, clothing, leather items, footwear, plastic and rubber items, wooden products, furniture, headgear, and briefcases.

Websites for finding suppliers in Vietnam:

• Alibaba.com (Vietnam)
• Vietnam Export
• Sourcing Vietnam
• Bizviet
• TradeKey
• Vietnam B2B Direct

3) India

Known as the home of exotic spices, India is much more than that. It’s earned a name for itself in textiles, metal tools, chemicals, jewelry, ceramic cookware, and footwear. Let’s look at why you should source from India:

• Skilled labor: India has a large workforce, with most of them both experienced and skilled. This means you gain a shorter lead time and relatively less hassle regarding the end product.
• Easier communication: While communication in other Asian countries could become difficult at times, that’s not the case in India. English is a widely spoken language in the country, and most of their contracts are in English as well.
• Access to raw materials: In India, raw materials are abundant, so the goods are more likely to be authentic with low costs.

Websites to find suppliers in India:

• Alibaba.com (India)
• Exporters India
• IndiaMART
• Tradeindia 
• Global Sources

4) Thailand

The Thai market has steadily grown over recent years. With many trade agreements and a booming infrastructure to facilitate trade, it’s a market worth checking out.

• Strong network of factories: Thailand has a large network of factories, warehouses, manufacturing units, etc., that cater to a variety of goods.
• Quality production: Equipped with the latest technology, modern machinery, and skilled workers, products sourced from Thailand are commonly of high quality.
• Ease of business: Not only does Thailand have good trade relationships, but the local people are respectful and value others’ time and commitments. You can easily find long-term suppliers in Thailand.

A huge chunk of Thailand’s exports consist of rubber, fishing products, machinery, automotives, jewelry, handmade goods, and more.

Websites to find suppliers in Thailand:

• Alibaba.com (Thailand)
• Thailand Sourcing
• Thaitrade
• RannThai

Conclusion

We’ve discussed the benefits of international sourcing, countries you should look out for, and a few marketplaces to help you get started.

After reading this blog, we hope you’ll be able to make informed decisions on which country to source from, knowing how it can cater to your Amazon business needs. Find your destination, research suppliers on the marketplace, negotiate your price, and start selling.

Ready, set — source!

This is a guest post from the Linnworks team.

Takeaways from Linn Academy 2021 Keynote with Linnworks CEO Callum Campbell

We’re living in the middle of the effortless economy, and convenience is king.

The retailers who come out on top are the ones who understand their customers (including how they discover and buy products) and set up their back-office operations to facilitate convenience for the best customer experience.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, changes have occurred at an unprecedented pace. Brands have had to rewire their operations over the last 18 months while operating at full capacity, with no idea of what was around the corner.

While some of the initial chaos has subsided, the greater commerce acceleration is still settling in. The decisions businesses make in the next 12 months will determine how successful they’ll be over the next decade.

In this article, we’re taking a closer look at some of the biggest shifts we’re seeing.

The great commerce acceleration is here

The eCommerce industry is experiencing a massive change which started as a result of the pandemic and has led to global supply chain challenges of unprecedented levels including skyrocketing container prices, product shortages, and shipping delays. It’s in a watershed moment, which can be unsettling for organizations.

However, it’s in moments like these where the biggest opportunities exist.

Commerce is accelerating on all fronts: the market, the enterprise, and the ecosystem.

1) Market acceleration

The rise of the effortless economy is changing the way consumers (and the market as a whole) access products. Everything revolves around customer experience and convenience.

While you used to have to drive to a brick-and-mortar store, where you could only buy what was in stock there, today, you can browse a nearly endless selection of products on your smart device and have something delivered the same day — often without even visiting more than one website.

This is commerce as you go, and we’re seeing an acceleration of the market in this direction, from Amazon to social commerce.

In fact, in a recent study Linnworks conducted earlier this year, 76% of respondents said convenience was now their top priority when selecting a retailer.

2) Enterprise acceleration

Another shift we’ve observed is the acceleration of the enterprise. In an effort to stay relevant, the enterprise has to transform in response to what’s going on in the market layer. This means a deeper investment into digital channels.

The pandemic and the second-order effects due to global supply chain challenges and new consumer expectations have created a heightened sense of urgency among brands and retailers. They’re moving fast to invest in this new infrastructure so they can stay connected with their customers, remain relevant, and not miss out on revenue opportunities. After all, whoever is closest to the customer wins.

This means investing in two key areas;

Multi-channel distribution

This starts by establishing total commerce control, which means having a clear picture of your entire inventory and order management pipeline regardless of which warehouse a product may be housed in, how long it has been in stock, and whether it was sold on your website, Amazon, Walmart, etc. This enables you to provide a more seamless and convenient customer experience.

Brand building

Brands are now an eCommerce businesses best competitive weapon against generic alternatives and cheaper options. Building a reliable brand means building a loyal customer base, which provides more business resilience. Brands can also earn a higher margin when they cut out the middleman and sell directly to consumers, and they are able to gather more first-party customer data, which reduces customer acquisition costs and makes them less reliant on third-party marketplaces and paid ads.

3) Ecosystem acceleration

The third trend we’ve noticed is the acceleration of the ecosystem in the form of huge investments into the technology and service providers that support the market and enterprise.

This is particularly true when it comes to anything tied to personalization (i.e., first-party data collecting) or reducing friction at checkout. So, we’ve seen an explosion in buy now, pay later payment apps as well as technology designed for multi-channel selling or optimizing product/customer data.

A total commerce approach drives growth

All of these factors converge to what Linnworks coined as Total Commerce. Total Commerce is all about empowering merchants to sell wherever their customers are and giving the business a seamless way to connect orders and inventory in every sales environment.

This means Linnworks Total Commerce is at the center of your business, enabling multi-channel distribution at scale, so that you not only have a single source of truth for inventory, shipping, and order management across all of the channels you sell on but you also have access to more first-party data about your customers.

Conclusion

The greatest stories of the 2020s will belong to those retailers who don’t give in to fear, and instead embrace the changing market, enterprise, and ecosystem dynamics, including:

• Embracing the effortless economy
• Investing in total commerce to provide a seamless customer experience
• Reducing customer acquisition costs with first-party data
• Personalizing the buying experience
• Reducing friction at checkout

Watch the session on the great commerce acceleration.

Webinar recap — As Q4 approaches, it’s crucial sellers take steps to implement strategy. Whether that’s increasing inventory, optimizing ads, or taking steps to prevent additional costs, it will make and save you money. While much of this can be handled manually, the wealth of digital tooling on the market often makes it faster and more cost-effective to automate.

This webinar was put together via a collaboration between Kaspien and MyFBAPrep, featuring Taylor Smits from MyFBAPrep, Jeremy Rossow, Digital Marketing Manager at Kaspien, and Richard Taylor, Agency Manager at Kaspien. We discuss the following tools and how they apply to your Amazon business this holiday season:

• Tool #1 Preptopia
• Tool #2 AdManager
• Tool #3 Channel Auditor

Who are the hosts? MyFBAPrep 4:04

MyFBAPrep is an FBA prep, warehousing, and distribution service providing end-to-end logistics. The service leverages a network of 50+ warehouses across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., German, Italy, and the Netherlands. MyFBAPrep offers solutions for FBA, FMB, and direct-to-consumer, with end-to-end eCommerce fulfillment across multi- and omni-channel.

Who are the hosts? Kaspien 6:03

Kaspien blends eCommerce SaaS with brand agency, life cycle management, and one-on-one brand assistance to provide one of the only full-service (end-to-end) brand life cycle management solutions. Kaspien originally launched as a retailer and has since become one of the largest 3P retailers on Amazon. We designed our tooling in-house to meet our own needs, and later developed it as SaaS services for the marketplace. That means all Kaspien tooling is by sellers, for sellers.

Tech Tool #1 MyFBAPrep Preptopia 8:40

Preptopia is an FBA prep management tool designed to help consumers tackle scaling to meet demand. That’s especially crucial in Q4, when holiday demand can send sales skyrocketing, even without increases in ad spend. If you prep your own goods, you might not be able to keep up or meet strict Amazon guidelines and deadlines.

Sourcing to a prep or 3PL partner resolves this issue, but doesn’t provide the kind of transparency you need to stay on top of business. And, moving to warehousing on your own means shifting your core business from selling to warehouse management.

Preptopia combats this problem by delivering insight and access into the FBA prep process. That means:

• Live prep status, when it’s prepped, what the status is, what’s picked up, when it’s in FBA, when it’s shipped out
• Pricing clarity, in the form of a single, aggregated invoice for all involved 3PLs from our network of 50+ warehouses
• Create and manage shipping plans with real-time tracking, even to Amazon

This is achieved using the Seller Partner API for end-to-end communication with Amazon so you can see every step of the process, from creating the labels, to pallet weights and more.

The tool itself also offers a complete dashboard of SKUs, orders, inventory, suppliers, active warehouse locations, and units in storage. Warehousing data is consolidated to a single dashboard, no matter how many locations you have. However you can filter by PO, down to the unit, quantity in the prep process, etc. Plus, with filtering to sort by warehouse, stage, date, vendor, etc., you can check and track specific units and orders.

That full transparency and control will give you the insight and scalability you need to increase volume for Q4 seamlessly – without overburdening pick-and-pack, or losing oversight of the full shipment process.

Tech Tool #2 Jeremy at Kaspien 22:28

Kaspien’s AdManager is designed to scale Amazon advertising with automation not available in Seller or Vendor Central. Kaspien developed the tool in-house for its own use. Automation tools for advertising can also help you tackle issues like Amazon’s increase in advertising costs (CPC is up 50%, ACOS is up 22% YoY, and 1.3 million new sellers joined Amazon in 2020). And, ad spend normally doubles for Q4; during this period, ads get more expensive, but you can also drive considerably more revenue. Making ads sustainable, manageable, and scalable for this period is critical.

How? AdManager uses a four-part solution to optimize how you bid on keywords, to manage bids based on ACOS, and to control when ads run, essentially shifting attention away from day-to-day updates and towards overall strategy.

Campaign Structure 27:07

Optimizing ads means optimizing at the product level, which requires a reliable campaign structure. It’s ideal to use keyword isolation so you can highlight which keywords are doing well and move them into specific campaigns when they do well, remove them when ACOS gets too high, and continuously experiment with new keywords.

That’s a lot if you do it manually. After all, you have to set up four campaign types for sponsored product ads (Exact, Phrase Match, Broad, and Auto), and then continuously review Excel reports to assess performance and move keywords where they perform the best. This kind of campaign structure isn’t scalable with manual ad management, but with AdManager, it’s a simple matter of clicking through a Wizard and allowing the app to do the work.

Once you set up a product, the program infers that you’re also using broad and phrase match to expand your keyword list. This type of categorization allows for Search Term Optimization (see below) to have maximum impact per product, per keyword.

Day Parting 30:24

If you know what time of day users shop, you can tailor ads to that. AdManager gives you full insight into sales and ad performance by the hour each day of the week. You can then remove ads from low-performance or high ACOS settings, optimizing ad spend without changing keywords or ads.

When we applied this tool ourselves, we saw a 40% reduction in ACOS in the first six weeks.

Search Term Optimization 32:12

AdManager continuously reviews and mines search term reports from Amazon Advertising. You set standards for ACOS (high and low) and the app automatically adds and removes keywords from the campaign when they either cost too much or meet performance thresholds to drive profit. For example, you can set a standard to move any keyword with ACOS under 30% into the campaign. Of course, you can do this manually, but AdManager does it automatically at a period set by you, and without any human intervention, saving hours of reviewing Excel sheets.

Dynamic Bid Optimizations 33:32

Create custom bid management rules to bid keywords up or down automatically throughout the day. AdManager allows you to set up bid rules on any combination of 12 performance metrics to oversee how much you spend. That means you can control how much you budget per campaign based on values like ACOS.

Spend More on Amazon, Wisely 35:36

Impressions go up anywhere from 100%–200% during the final months of the year, so it’s always a good idea to increase ad spend. AdManager allows you to do so using rules that prevent ad spend from increasing unless the ad is profitable. So, you set a target ACOS, and AdManager will ensure your ad always scales to keep driving sales, so long as a profit can be made.

Setting that ACOS cap adds security to holiday ad budget increases, because you’ll always know where ad budget is allocated.

Tech Tool #3 Channel Auditor 40:49

Channel Auditor is a Kaspien tool designed to identify and file FBA cases to request refunds. That’s especially important as you move into the end of the year. For example, as Amazon sales go up, so does FBA inventory — and the rate of mistakes. That can be lost inventory, overcharging for fulfillment and storage fees, under-reimbursing for past cases, or mishandling inventory. Amazon often doesn’t handle or reimburse these cases on its own – you have to apply for and open a case.

Channel Auditor is only available in the U.S. for Seller Central, and for cases less than 18 months old. That means if you implement it now, it applies for the 2021 and 2022 holiday seasons.

In addition, Channel Auditor uses a combination of algorithmic review and identification of potential cases and manual submission of cases. Our team manually writes up and submits cases to Amazon, ensuring the highest quality submission, and thus the greatest chance of winning the case. Importantly, Amazon doesn’t allow automated case submissions.

Once submitted, we manage and track those cases – as well as offer real-time dashboards to sellers – until the case is fully reimbursed. And, it’s free until you’re paid. We charge a 25% (negotiable) fee on all won cases, not an up-front subscription. To date, we’ve recovered over $7 million in reimbursements for FBA sellers.

Case Study 46:59

One of our brands in the health and personal care category began using Channel Auditor, and within one month, we’d recovered $5,000 for them. Within five, they’d filed 150+ cases, eventually recovering $13,000 with a 75% success rate.

Polls From the Audience

How you currently sell on Amazon 2:14

• Seller Central – 75%
• Vendor Central – 8%
• I Don’t Currently Sell on Amazon – 17%

Which of the following is the most important when you think about outsourcing your logistics? 22:08

• Access to multiple warehouse locations – 57%
• Monitoring all inventory in one portal – 57%
• Outsourcing the entire fulfillment process – 43%
• Multi-channel fulfillment – 57%
• Faster turnaround times – 57%

Do you plan to increase Amazon advertising spend this Q4? 40:01

• Yes – 64%
• No – 18%
• N/A – 18%

How are you currently seeking FBA reimbursements? 52:08

• I make my cases manually in Seller Central – 50%
• I use a service provider or software – 40%
• I am not. Please help! – 10%

End of Webinar Thoughts

Justin 37:28

There’s still time to get your Q4 Amazon strategy in place. Make sure you optimize how you’re running ads. Many sellers are afraid of $99/month fees, but chances are, it’s more cost-effective to use the automation. And, if you’re short on  time and have high volume, agency services are available to ensure your budget is well spent.

Taylor 17:29

Order more inventory than you think you need. You’ll also want to get your inventory into storage and fulfillment centers as early as possible. Don’t worry about stocking too high. January is often the second best month of the year for Amazon sellers, so anything you don’t move in December will likely go in January. Plus, with massive lead times from China right now, overstocking is a better business decision than under, because if you sell out on December 4, you’re done for the year.

You’ll also want to create FBM listings to back up your FBA listings so that, if you do stock out with FBA, you can continue fulfilling those listings and avoid losing traction in the marketplace.

Richard 47:47

Most Amazon sellers’ FBA inventories drastically increase during Q4, as does Amazon’s propensity for errors. Make sure you have solutions in place to request reimbursements when issues do go wrong, because even though FBA has the inventory, sellers are still responsible for fixing the issues.

Q&A 52:12

[UPDATE: Wish Wholesale has since been absorbed by Wish.com and is no longer available. However, Wish remains an excellent place to do product research]

Webinar recap — Whether you’re a long-term seller with hundreds of existing SKUs or researching bringing your first product to market, it’s challenging to source new products and bring them to Amazon. Cycles of product research, market validation, and competitor research can take months or even years depending on the product, during which time, competitors will move in and often take over a niche. Amazon’s fast-paced, competitive marketplace means moving quickly and sourcing products as fast as you can.

The Wish Wholesale X MyFBAPrep collaboration allows you to do just that, with a combination of Wish’s software, analytics, and personal assistance to source your next big SKUs, and MyFBAPrep to move those products directly into FBA once your pallets reach our warehouse. In this webinar, Luke Peng, Director of Growth at WishX, Osama Asif, Business Development Manager at Wish Wholesale, and Tom Wicky, Co-Founder of MyFBAPrep, discuss the solutions and opportunities in this collaboration.

Product and market analytics with Wish Wholesale 4:44

Nearly everyone knows Wish, the popular shopping platform and app. In fact, with 500 million+ customers and over 250,000 active shoppers per day, it’s one of the largest marketplaces in the world. Wish not only boasts 100 million+ monthly active users, but is also the single most-downloaded shopping app on the marketplace.

Wish Wholesale is an initiative launched by the company in 2019, designed to help brick-and-mortar stores diversify inventory. Eventually, this expanded into white glove services to online-offline resellers,  wherein Wish Wholesale helps retailers find their new products. In fact, Wish Wholesale combines analytics and tracking with curated data to help you make strategic buying decisions for any physical or eCommerce retail shop. This includes:

• Wholesale procurement, in which Wish’s data dashboard shows Wish sales near you, products available in your area, and products underserved in your area
• Competitive pricing, including substantial bulk discounts and cost reductions on most orders
• No resell limits, meaning you can sell on any Wish competitor you want without pricing restrictions
• Buyer protection
• A strong product review system that aggregates wholesale and direct-to-consumer product reviews, giving you the best picture of product quality and customer satisfaction

Eventually, Wish Wholesale began to deliver data-driven insights into wholesale buying so sellers can quickly find and source high-potential products. With more than 55 categories, weekly newsletters showing top-selling products, and curated collections of niche and rapidly rising products, Wish Wholesale significantly simplifies the product research phase. And, with services like Wish Select, products can be white labelled.

Wish Wholesale VIP 10:44

Osama Asif introduces Wish Wholesale VIP, covering the perks of the program. These include free shipping on all orders over $50, which can translate to considerable cost savings while allowing retailers to reduce order volumes. Plus, with personalized sourcing assistance (manual) for your business, VIP means you have experts on the wholesale side to handle product research.

Wish Wholesale VIP is essentially a discount program. You also get 10% cashback on every order. But the personalized product sourcing, personalized product curation, and free shipping will definitely add value for most shoppers.

Shipping directly to FBA with MyFBAPrep 14:49

Wish Wholesale delivers an out-of-the-box solution for product research and validation. However, it doesn’t ship to Amazon without extensive pallet and container breakdown and repackaging. That’s important, because even though Wish ships with UPCs, Amazon requires SKUs and individual packaging. Today, MyFBAPrep has prepped over four million units with a GMS of over $1 billion. Moreover, hundreds of sellers process 500,000+ monthly products through our services.

MyFBAPrep is a combination of an FBA prep service, warehouse network, and 3PL. This means we can handle the full aspect of end-to-end receipt, FBA prep, delivery to FBA, and direct-to-consumer fulfillment.

For example, our FBA prep services include full integration into Seller Central via the SP API. That allows us to create orders and ship directly to FBA. These services include bundling and kitting, individual item prep, breaking down pallets/containers/master cases, FNSKU labeling, and polybag or shrink wrap packaging.

We combine this with order fulfillment, returns processing, and services like storage and inventory replenishment, alongside extras like setting up subscription boxes.

Most importantly, these services are fully omni-channel. We prep and deliver products for FBA, but offer DTC across Shopify, Walmart, and any other platform you sell on. And, with over 50 warehouses and services across the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands, MyFBAPrep can break orders down in one warehouse, distribute them across our network, and then quickly ship from nearly anywhere to guarantee two-day shipping.

Full insight with Preptopia 17:36

Preptopia allows you to aggregate and consolidate shipping and SKU management across 3PL, including our 50+ warehouse network. The software provides a real-time overview of SKU status, location, and values, offering transparency about how products are picked, prepped, and packed/fulfilled. That means:

• Transparent and real-time item-level prep tracking
• Unified billing and reports showing opportunities and growth areas
• Amazon integration
• Real-time chat with integrated warehouses

MyFBAPrep partners with Amazon Freight to offer unique 24/7 visibility of shipments. You’ll always know when and where your shipment is, and it’s status. Plus, with a 24- to 72-hour turnaround time for shipments, native integration between Amazon Seller Central and Preptopia, and an extensive suite of services for different items and configurations, Preptopia simplifies how you prep and ship products.

Q&A 25:45