Amazon FBA Seller Survey - ecomengine.com

FINDINGS REPORT

Amazon FBA Seller Survey In this report, we summarize a recent survey administered to Amazon merchants. Learn how other sellers view FBA and manage their sales and inventory.

Internet retailers are always looking for ways to become more efficient. eCommerce continues to evolve, yet many sellers still rely on manual processes.

In a recent survey, the team at eComEngine, LLC, a leading software engineering companyin the eCommerce industry,sets out to learn more about how sellers use FBA to manage their products.

By reading this summary report, you’ll gain insights into the perspective of FBA sellers.

03 . . . . . . . . . . . Executive Summary

05-10 . . . . . . . . Survey Results

11-12 . . . . . . . . Candid Seller Feedback

13 . . . . . . . . . . Special Offer

Survey Results — FBA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

https://www.ecomengine.com/?utm_medium=download&utm_source=survey&utm_campaign=amazon+fba+merchant+study


Many third party sellers choose to use Fulfillment by Amazon to impact their sales. Although many use the service, some sellers still struggle with inventory management. This study takes a closer look at how sellers view FBA and manage their sales/inventory.

The purpose of this study is to answer the following questions:

• What percentage of Amazon sellers use Fulfillment by Amazon?• What percentage of sales are fulfilled by Amazon?• Among the common issues, which do sellers find most challenging? • Do sellers plan to use FBA more?

AudienceTo build a targeted audience for this survey, eComEngine partnered with a third party marketing firm. The survey was promoted via email, social media, and industry newsletters. To solicit interest in the survey, a sweepstakes contest was enabled for those participants who completed the survey and provided necessary contact details. At the conclusion of the survey, a winner was randomly selected.

Sample SizeIn total, 419 Amazon sellers participated in the study.

DemographicsParticipants in the survey represent Amazon merchants of all size spread throughout the world. Most participants are based in the United States.

Study Overview




As outlined in subsequent pages of this report, it is clear that Amazon’s FBA is generally seen as helpful in various sellers’ businesses.

The following findings have been concluded from this study:

• 87% of those surveyed are FBA sellers.• 49% have used FBA for 2 years and above.• Majority of FBA sellers (65%) use the service for 75% or more of their

products.• Almost 60% of the respondents indicated intention to use FBA more in

the coming year.• A higher percentage of FBA merchants (70%) have their items shipped

to them first before sending them to FBA. Ensuring product validity and packaging guideline compliance might be the factors behind this practice.

• Around 75% of respondents either like or love Amazon’s FBA service.

Summary of Findings




Do you currently use Amazon’s FBA service?


Respondents Using Fulfillment By Amazon

Majority of those surveyed are FBA sellers. Only about 13% are non-FBA merchants.



How long have you used FBA?


49% of Respondents Have Used FBA for More than 2 years

Almost 50% of the respondents have used FBA for 2 years or more. The other half of those surveyed report selling via FBA for 1 to 2 years (26%) or less than 1 year (26%).



In the next year, do you plan to use FBA more, less or about the same?


Most Sellers Plan to Use FBA More

60% stated that they were planning to use FBA more in 2016. This indicates that most sellers still see upside potential by leveraging Amazon FBA to a greater extent.



When shipping to FBA, do you usually ship directly from your supplier or do you first have items shipped to your warehouse and then to FBA?


Low Number of Sellers Have Suppliers Ship to FBA

Most of the respondents answered that they have items shipped to them first by the suppliers before shipping to FBA. This seems to indicate that merchants prefer to inspect product authenticity from distributors and packaging requirements.



Which challenge(s) do you commonly struggle with as an FBA seller?


Staying Profitable via FBA a Challenge Among Sellers

Difficulty staying profitable, running out of inventory for a particular SKU, and deciding what new items to send into FBA are the top three concerns of FBA sellers. Keeping purchase orders organized was picked the least among the challenges faced by FBA merchants.



Which of the following best describes your general opin-ion about FBA?


Over 75% of Merchants Like or Love FBA

Merchants are generally positive towards FBA with around 40% of respondents saying they like the service. 36% answered that they loved it, and a number (22%) said that FBA could use some improvement.



“Tracking of inventory”

“No control over customer returns, specifically the returns that are returned to Amazon’s inventory.”

“More competitors coming in and lowering prices”

“Long-term storage fees”

“Keeping up with multiple products”

“Selling the inventory”

“Amazon itself purchasing the same inventory from the same supplier.”

“Managing sales fluctuations, hence running out of stock. Understanding inventory reports in Amazon, in fact the whole inventory management in general.”

“Slow-moving inventory”

“Time inventory is processed by FBA warehouse and added to FBA inventory from the time they are received by FBA warehouse.”

“Shipments going to several locations”

“The time it takes for inventory to show up in FBA as available and Amazon moving inventory to other FBA”

“Getting relevant data for so many SKUs in a way that can allow for management decisions to be made quickly. We can do the research manually, but we need a way to the data for everything at once to reduce the manual processes.”

As an Amazon merchant, what is your biggest inventory management headache?




“We do multi-channel, but use FBA to fulfill all orders. We have trouble seeing sales velocity and inventory levels, and projecting both accurately, because the data is housed in multiple places.”

“Keeping enough inventory at FBA during peak times of the year. Also, FBA fees are difficult to understand at times.”

“I need fewer SKUs that can be replenished. 99% of my inventory are items I cannot replenish so I’m always wasting time trying to find the next one-time deal.”“It takes a lot of time, to pack up all products and prepare it for FBA. This, I guess, could be improved.”

“Knowing how much of an item to stock so that it will sell within 365 days and not incur long time Amazon storage cost penalties.”

“The constant drag on cash flow with the amount of refunds - many without a return for weeks or months at a time (frankly that’s ridiculous). The flagrant buyer abuse with used/damaged items being returned for full refunds. There desperately needs to be an overhaul any sort Seller Protection they claim to have. New venues are emerging which are far more seller friendly (thank goodness).”

“When Amazon unjustly closes a listing or has a receiving error and we have inventory trapped in FBA.”

“Managing the stock across all sites without linking them in FBA which allows items to be moved and sold at astronomical fees. It is also difficult to allow sales loses while shipping items to Amazon, you should be able to continue selling stock items until Amazon books in your FBA stock.”

“My biggest headache is listing items for a shipment. Having a shipment split into so many warehouses - especially those across country which then eats up all my profit. Second is the “race to the bottom” when profitable items become unprofitable because sellers try to be the at the lowest price.”

As an Amazon merchant, what is your biggest inventory management headache?




eComEngine has been providing intuitive enterprise-class software solutions for Internet retailers since 2007. Our innovative and cost-effective tools help Amazon third-party sellers of all sizes streamline operations and increase profits. For more information, please visit our website, www.eComEngine.com.

RestockPro is another cloud-based solution from eComEngine. It provides Amazon FBA sellers with actionable intelligence and tools that drive inventory optimization, profitability and process automation.

Special Offer

Interested in a cloud-based inventory management tool, designed specifically for

the needs of Amazon FBA merchants? Try RestockPro for free today.


rev. 2019



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Amazon FBA Seller Survey - ecomengine.com

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