Amazon Prime Day 2020: Operational Preparedness

While Amazon has yet to officially announce the new date for Prime Day 2020, they do want to ensure that necessary steps are taken in preparation.

On June 22nd, 2020, Amazon posted required and recommended operational readiness steps in Vendor Central which we have included below to ensure you are aware and ready for Prime Day. If you have any questions on these guidelines, please reach out to your Global Overview Operations team for assistance.

Announcement from Amazon, posted in Vendor Central on June 22nd:

Prime Day 2020 Vendor Operational Preparedness

Prime Day is approaching and you should expect to receive purchase orders (POs) for approved deals in two phases at the beginning of August. You will continue to receive regular POs throughout the summer and fall, which you should also fulfill. 

You should also expect to see out-of-stock (OOS) replenishment orders after Prime Day. Please confirm those POs as soon as possible with your available inventory. 

All deal inventory should be ready to ship by mid-August to reduce risk of OOS on Prime Day. Collect vendors should remember to route early, accurately, and completely and be ready to ship by 8:00 a.m. on your freight ready date (FRD).

To ensure a smooth supply chain and flow of shipments, please make sure to review the following important notes:

Deal POs:

Ship/delivery windows will be extended +8 days on deal POs to allow for more prep time due to the increase in order volume. All Less than truckload (LTL) freight is required to be palletized. Small Parcel shipments should not be palletized.

Operational requirements:

The Prime Day deals deadline was June 12.Ensure your catalog is accurate.Update Vendor Central with correct operating hours and night/weekend availability.Confirm your purchase orders within 24 hours and act quickly.Tell us as soon as possible about products you will not be able to supply.Proactively manage against auto-cancellations.Actively manage transportation and enable your carrier to request the earliest possible appointment.Please call our Transportation Hotline 24/7 at 866-203-8372 to escalate transportation-related issues.If your carrier is in line at the fulfillment center or may miss their scheduled appointment time, have them call our Transportation Hotline 24/7 at 866-203-8372 to avoid missing their appointment.

Operational recommendations details:

1. The Prime Day deals deadline was June 12. If there are recommendations for your submitted deals, go to Merchandising > Marketing Recommendations to review and accept them. Look to the news feed on the Vendor Central home page for more detailed instructions, and look for a notification of the status of your submission.

2. Ensure your catalog is accurate. Having an accurate catalog will ensure that you receive actionable purchase orders. Review your catalog by going to Reports > Analytics > Product Catalog. If you need to make corrections, learn how on our Edit Products Help page.

3. Update Vendor Central with correct operating hours and night/weekend availability. We use your operating hours in Vendor Central to select pickup appointments that would work for both you and our carriers. In order to avoid receiving pickup appointments outside of your normal business hours, please ensure that your operating hours are correctly updated under Settings in Vendor Central.

4. Confirm within 24 hours and process your purchase orders quickly. We will begin placing Prime Day promotion orders in early August in two phases. Ship/delivery windows will be extended by +8 days on these orders. If for some reason you are not able to fulfill product, let us know as soon as possible by rejecting that line item from your PO. Remember that this window extension does not mean we want you to ship later. Please be ready to ship your product by mid-August to ensure you do not experience inbound delays that may jeopardize the Prime Day deals you are aiming to fulfill.

5. Tell us about products you will not be able to supply as soon as possible. We allow customers to order products or expect to be able to order products that we do not have in our fulfillment centers if we believe that product is inbound or accessible from you, the supplier. If the inventory status of your product has changed, please let us know as soon as possible. You can do this during the regular PO confirmation process or by updating product availability in Vendor Central. For help with these updates, please review the Update Product Availability training in Vendor Central.  

6. Proactively manage against auto-cancellations. If it does not seem like we are going to receive your products, we issue an emailed cancellation notice one week prior to the actual cancellation date.  If you receive that email, update your expected delivery date or expected ship date by going to Orders > Purchase Orders > Update past due PO items. 

7. Actively manage transportation and enable your carrier to request the earliest possible appointment. Whether you are collect or prepaid, we recommend that you take an active role in managing transportation. Collect vendors are responsible for ensuring that products are ready to ship by FRD and prepaid shipments should be delivered within the delivery window. Carriers should request appointments as early as possible to get you the best slot available. Keep in mind that FCs are busiest during business hours so if you are prepaid, we recommend that your carrier request appointments during evenings or weekends when possible. If you are collect and shipping truckload volume, we recommend communicating to the carrier that you are able to support a weekend pickup if possible, once your load is tendered.

8. If you have a transportation-related case that has not been responded to within 24 hours, please call our Transportation Operations Center hotline at 1-866-203-8372. This hotline has coverage 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Please note that this should only be used for transportation and freight issues, and outreach should be reserved for escalations only.

9. If your carrier is in line at the fulfillment center or may miss their scheduled appointment time, have them call 1-866-203-8372 to expedite their check-in process and avoid missing their appointment. Shipments are not accepted at our fulfillment centers without a scheduled appointment. If the appointment is missed by 30 minutes or more, the freight will be refused and a chargeback fee may be assessed. A new appointment request will be required for delivery, and it will be prioritized in a “first in, first out” fashion. Make sure your carrier has a physical bill of lading (BOL), the relevant Carrier Reference Number(s) (PROs), the Amazon Delivery Appointment Number (ISA #), and a list of the POs on the shipment in order to avoid any additional complications if they need to reschedule.

In addition to these 9 best practices, we recommend using Vendor Central Support when you need more information about our policies, processes, or self-service options. You can take training, search help, or download forms and manuals (including the NA Vendor Shipment and Transportation Manual).