What are the Challenges and Opportunities of being an Amazon Vendor? Amafest 2019 Panel Discussion

KhooCommerce were privileged to have been asked to host the Amazon Vendor panel discussion at Amafest 2019. Held in Manchester, Amafest is a one-day conference for Amazon Sellers and Amazon Vendors.  With experts speakers from all elements of handling Amazon, the day covered a range of topics.

In the morning, the conference  heard success stories from Amazon Sellers and a few tales of pain from Amazon Vendors. In the afternoon came the Amazon Vendor discussion panel, on the topic 'Challenges and Opportunities of being an Amazon Vendor', as many people ask "What are the benefits of being an Amazon Vendor?".  Amazon Vendor consultants, Matt Anderson of Marketplace Amp and Jérôme de Guigné from Great Wall Sarl were on the panel. 

What are the Challenges and Opportunities of being an Amazon Vendor?

The discussion covered the following:

• The Opportunity of Brand Pages & additional advertising: Advertising used to be more of a draw for Amazon Vendors as there were additional tools which aren't available to Sellers i.e. brand pages - this is no longer the case as more and more tools are being given to Sellers. For businesses in particular sectors, Vendor is still the sole route to access services such as Fresh, Vine, Pantry. 
• The Challenges of Vendor Support: For many Vendors, operating without a Vendor Manager can be a challenge and we talked about how to manage your relationship with Amazon, without a direct contact. As Matt and Jerome are both Vendor consultants, they are used to operating in this space and advising businesses on how best to grow their Amazon Vendor account. 
• The Opportunity of Pricing and Volume: Amazon Vendor's tend to receive a higher volume of orders for their products, at a negotiated price point. For many Vendors this provides the opportunity to grow the volume of sales, and the key is to remain profitable whilst selling a greater volume. 
• The Challenge of Packaging and Direct Fulfilment: Vendors are increasingly being asked to fulfil different packaging requirements such as Frustration Free Packaging, and License Plate Receive compliance. Direct Fulfilment also provides an alternative route for serving customers directly through the Vendor scheme. How should Vendors handle these changes to packaging and fulfilment? The panel discussed how many requirements are driven from Amazon's primary aim of serving it's customers and we should expect more requests along these lines. 
• The Challenge of negotiating terms: Every year, every Vendor will renegotiate their terms with Amazon. Matt and Jerome talked about how Amazon Vendor will always push for lower prices and tighter terms. Vendors therefore face the challenge of handling negotiations well and being prepared to walk away if terms are not favourable or profitable.

Would you like to find out more about being an Amazon Vendor?

If you'd like to talk to one of our team about navigating the journey of being an Amazon Vendor, do not hesitate to get in touch.