Mitigated Amazon Fees & Suppressions via a New Labeling System and Removal Orders.
What We’re Celebrating:
Through educating our client on sticker-less eligibility requirements and recommending they place FNSKU labels overtop UPCs, we are on track to help them reduce their Amazon stickering fees by $1M per year.
Now that the client has implemented the recommended removal orders for the items submitted into the Manufacturer Barcode program, we are on track to help them regain 15K units.
Overview:
GO works with a supplement client that sells thousands of ASINs across Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) and Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA). Prior to working with us, they managed their own account and attempted to participate in the Manufacturer (a.k.a., sticker-less) Barcode program. Unfortunately, the brand was not aware that consumables products are prohibited from utilizing sticker-less barcodes. When Amazon saw these types of ASINs had been enrolled in the program, they suppressed a large portion of the brand's catalog, resulting in a lot of inventory being stuck in Amazon fulfillment centers (FCs).
On top of this, the brand had Amazon apply labels to required items at FCs rather than handling the stickering themselves. This resulted in an unnecessary $0.55 per unit charge. To put this into perspective, if the client shipped 1,000 units to Amazon, they were going to be billed $550 for labeling alone.
Once we partnered with the brand, we worked closely with their operations department to help them better understand the rules behind sticker-less items, restore the inventory that was suppressed, and implement tactics to reduce stickering fees.
The Challenge:
Managing thousands of ASINs within a complex fulfillment model.
Strategizing in a highly regulated product category.
Mitigating the impact of thousands of suppressed items.
The Strategy:
To help our client better understand which products are allowed to be sticker-less, we provided them with a list of eligibility requirements. As we were educating our client about these regulations, we also discovered that it costs them $0.55 per unit to get their items labeled at Amazon FCs. To reduce how often our client had to pay this fee, we encouraged them to place FNSKU labels on top of UPCs and apply the labels themselves. Not only would this limit the unnecessary charges, but it would also improve the aesthetics of their products by:
Having everything consolidated on one label, making the design look cleaner.
Eliminating the potential of Amazon applying its labels over important product information.
In addition to reducing the impact of this fee, we worked to mitigate our client’s items that were suppressed through the Manufacturer Barcode program. For the products the brand attempted to fulfill under sticker-less SKUs, we recommended they send removal orders to Amazon to regain that inventory.
The Results:
Thanks to the changes we recommended our client make to their product labels, we are on track to help them save $1M in stickering fees per year.
Additionally, now that the brand has implemented removal orders for the sticker-less items, we are on track to help them reclaim 15K units worth of inventory.
Do you need help understanding the complexities of Amazon stickering?
Amazon has many rules and regulations, and if your team isn’t fully briefed on all the operational nuances, you may unintentionally incur unwanted expenses. Our team is always on top of Amazon’s continuously changing policies to make sure our clients stay compliant. Contact us below if you need this type of support.