How to Capitalize on Seller Fulfilled Prime for Q4 [Webinar Recap]

More than 60 million product units have been delivered to customers so far in 2018 via Seller Fulfilled Prime.

In research released by eMarketer in the fourth quarter of 2017, free shipping was listed as the top factor that influences U.S. Internet users when deciding where to shop digitally. Fast, free, and convenient shipping frequently surpasses other factors such as discounts, rebates, security and privacy policies, or return policies when it comes to buying influences for shoppers.

Seller-Fulfilled Prime, the program that allows you to display the Prime badge on specific SKUs and deliver directly to Prime customers in a merchant-fulfilled model from your own warehouse, epitomizes this growing need for free shipping for the end-user.

In our latest webinar, Amazon SFP expert Skyler Fancher drilled down into how you can get started with the program, the core benefits, and strategic tips to ace the trial period so that you can implement the program prior to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Now is the business-critical time period to take a hard look at new ways to maximize your sales to get the most out of the holiday shopping season.

The program is geared toward sellers with strong shipping metrics and has the capability to complement your FBA selection by making your entire portfolio Prime-eligible. There are no additional fees to participate in the program and you can pick the SKUs that you want to sell in the specific regions that you want to offer Prime.

Benefits of SFP for Sellers

1. Easily reach the loyal Amazon Prime customer base, which is now over 100 million globally, in order to increase product visibility and discoverability on the marketplace.

2. Increase sales to customers that filter specifically for Prime products and only convert if the Prime badge is visible.

3. Compete more effectively for the Buy Box. Fulfillment method is an extremely important metric that dictates who wins the Buy Box, so having the Prime badge will aid in increasing your Buy Box share, which in turn will increase sales volume and visibility.

4. Ship directly to customers from your own warehouse or third-party logistics provider.

5. Engage in Amazon’s 24/7 after-sale customer service.

6. Enroll products nationally or regionally for Prime, which fully customizes the program to your business. For example, you can offer Prime in the specific zones where UPS offers 2-day ground delivery.

Requirements to Become SFP

In order to become Seller Fulfilled Prime, you need to maintain specific shipping metrics. You also need to offer free two-day shipping to Prime members in the regions that you choose and free three to five-day shipping to all non-Prime members in the lower 48 states.

You must complete a minimum of 50 Prime trial orders and meet these requirements to both qualify and continue to remain eligible:

• An on-time delivery rate of at least 99% for Prime orders. Regardless of the shipping speed selected by the customer, Prime trial orders must be shipped on the same day the order is received, as long as the customer places the order before your cutoff time.
• Use of Amazon’s Buy Shipping for at least 98% of Prime orders
• A cancellation rate of no more than 0.5%. Only cancellations initiated by you as the seller will count.

What Products Are Best Suited for SFP?

Items that have seen success with SFP are typically ones that are not ideal for FBA. Here are a few examples:

1. Appliances and furniture items that are heavy and bulky (FBA fees are determined by an item’s size and weight).

2. High value or fragile items that sellers don’t want a lot of touchpoints on

3. Seasonal or perishable items that will only sell for part of the year, have a low shelf life, or have specific storage restrictions

4. Items with uncertain demand and variation, such as fast fashion items

5. Items that don’t sell quickly

6. Personalized/customized items

7. Products shipped in multiple boxes

8. Items with serial numbers

To apply for SFP, you should navigate to ‘Seller Fulfilled Prime’ in Seller Central and create Prime shipping templates based off if you will be shipping regionally or nationally. Next, you should select the products that you want to add to Prime and ship orders with Buy Shipping. If you have carrier discounts, those can be passed on using the Buy Shipping tool.

You need to complete the Seller Fulfilled Prime trial according to the performance metrics outlined above. If you graduate the trial, Amazon will notify you two days prior so that you can prepare to engage in SFP.

Watch the Webinar