The Alexa Skill for Seller Central

“Hey Alexa, do I have any buyer messages?”

Today, media consumption across a variety of touchpoints has become commonplace for consumers. With options ranging from desktop and mobile to voice activated devices, buyers have a slew of ways to receive news, listen to music, browse the Internet, and shop on Amazon. Earlier this year, data emerged that predicted voice shopping sales from the Amazon Echo and Google Home devices would reach $40 billion by 2022 — a statistic indicative of the increasing adoption of the devices in homes and businesses, with users implementing them to aid convenience.

However, voice activated devices have not always historically been primed to assist those on the other side of an Amazon transaction — the sellers and brands operating on the platform. Released originally via a beta group in Q4 of 2017, Amazon has rolled out a unique feature for Alexa, the “Alexa Skill for Seller Central,” to all sellers on the U.S. marketplace. You can now link Alexa to your Seller Central account to receive updates on various aspects of your Amazon business. You can ask Alexa to open Seller Central and can also inquire about important details regarding sales, inventory, orders, payments, and more.

To begin, you need to sync the skill and your Seller Central account when prompted. You can say, “Alexa, ask Seller Central to check my inventory” or can find out about your current account balance, message summaries, feedback, and when you can expect your next payment from Amazon. The Alexa Skill is free to enable and once activated, you can post specific questions for the tech gadget.

It is undoubtable that this new opportunity provides quick access to information regarding various aspects of your Amazon operation. However, for the most effective analysis of your business, you need to look at your entire Amazon presence holistically — across variables such as pricing, advertising, inventory, profitability, and more — and at the same time. This methodology of assessing your end-to-end Amazon presence will allow you to accurately measure performance, incorporate both overt and hidden fees when calculating P&L, and make informed decisions regarding your sales velocity and portfolio as a whole.