Many brands allow inefficient processes, lack of oversight, and poor inventory management affect their success on Amazon. Improving your operational health all starts with a better understanding of your data. After this session, you’ll be able to identify and minimize operational gaps that slow performance and cost money. Learn how you can improve your Amazon operations that are affected by COVID-19 and postponement of Prime Day. Ensure your Amazon operational foundation is set up for success with inventory management & planning, purchase order management, and warehouse efficiency.

2. TINUITI PRESENTS:
Convert Shoppers This Q4 With
a Holistic Amazon Search &
DSP Strategy
TINUITI PRESENTS:
Amazon Operations Q4 Prep in
the Light of COVID-19 & Delayed
Prime Day
TINUITI PRESENTS:
Key Trends and Insights to Help
Take Your Q4 Strategy to the
Next Level
TINUITI & SKUBANA
PRESENTS:
How Walmart Could Expand
Your Business Reach in Q4
11:00 – 11:45am PST 12:30 – 1:15pm PST11:45am – 12:30pm PST10:45 – 11:00am PST

3. Nancy HebertMark Russo

5. 5.

7. Important notification
regarding impacts of
the Novel Coronavirus
Temporarily prioritizing
products coming into
our fulfillment centers
COVID-19: Removal
order delays and
long-term storage fee
waiver
COVID-19: Update on
prioritized shipment
creation, new tool to
check eligibility
COVID-19: FBA storage
fee waiver
Temporary return
window extension
Pausing Account
Suspensions for Order
Performance
COVID-19: Update on
products eligible for
shipment creation (US)
COVID-19: Waiver of
May 15 US long-term
storage fee
Pause on Account
Suspensions for Order
Performance Extended
to May 31
USPS international
shipping service
disruptions
COVID-19: Quantity
limits removed for
shipments to Amazon
Changes as we
prepare for a
successful peak

8. is waiving removal order fees page and report to prioritize your
removal orders
that effective
August 16th, sellers below an IPI score
of 500 will be subject to additional limits
by monitoring
the Inventory Performance Dashboard
Remove Inventory
review
and update limits, if applicable so
be sure to continuously monitor
feasibility
immediately; especially where FBA
limits impact your inventory planning
Seller Central Operations

9. Seller Central Operations
Maximum inventory level represents the maximum inventory you
can maintain at Amazon. You will not be able to create a shipment
that increases your inventory levels beyond this threshold. Maximum
inventory levels are calculated using historical demand for your
products.
Utilization represents your current inventory at Amazon, which
counts against your maximum inventory level and helps determine
your maximum shipment quantity. It accounts for your incoming
shipments, inventory pending removals, and inventory reserved for
orders pending shipment.
send smaller, more frequent FBA shipments of high-velocity ASINs

10. Amazon’s Restock Inventory tool
30 days of sales + Existing FBA inventory levels
Hide recommendations
The Restock Inventory tool
Seller Central Operations

11. Seller Central Operations
Excess inventory
Sell-through
Stranded inventory
In-stock inventory
Excess inventory percentage is the result of carrying too much
inventory. This decreases profitability due to storage fees and holding
costs and therefore you should be sure that you’re tracking your excess
inventory percentage regularly in order to maximize profitability.
FBA sell-through rate is calculated by taking your units sold and shipped
over the past 90 days and dividing that number by the average number of
units available at fulfillment centers during that time period. You can
improve sell-through by creating or adjusting your advertising strategy, by
creating a sale, by auditing the product detail page, or by removing some
of your inventory.
Stranded Inventory percentage. Stranded Inventory is inventory that is
not available for purchase due to a listing problem that has resulted in
inventory without an associated active offer. Amazon provides a “Fix
listing” option which goes on to detail the exact reason that your inventory
has been stranded and provides you with the steps to resolve the issue.
FBA in-stock rate is the percentage of time your replenishable FBA
ASINs have been in stock during the previous 30 days, weighted by the
number of units sold for each SKU in the prior 60 days. When an ASIN is
out of stock you should flag that ASIN as non-replenishable in the Restock
tool.
Inventory Performance Index (IPI) calculation
change
January 20, 2020

12. Seller Central Operations

14. Seller Central Operations
Fees
Professional Seller Account: $39.99/month
Referral Fees: 8% – 45% depending on your category (mostly 15%)
Minimum Referral Fee
Fulfillment Fees
Storage Fees
Overage Fees
Long-term Storage Fees (LTSF)
Removal Order Fees
Costs
Shipping Inventory to Amazon
Returns
Advertising on an ASIN level

15. Seller Central Operations
Fulfillment Fees
Referral Fees
Storage Fees | |
Label Service Fee
| |
| |
| |
Removal Order Fee
Disposal Order Fee
|
|

17. Fulfillment Methods

19. Key Takeaways
Factor FBA quantity limits into your Q4 inventory planning
Evaluate FBM feasibility to put yourself at an advantage
Improve inventory efficiency and reduce costs with removals

21. 3.
4.
5.

23. ✔
✔
✔
✔
✔
Q4 Operational Prep
40%
Q4 traffic
increase

25. •
•
•
•
Go to
Q4 Operational Prep

26. • Purchase order confirmation 24 hours
•
•
•
•
•
• Verify Product Information
• 48 hours
•
soft reject the line.
•
•
Q4 Operational Prep

27. • Review the Forecast
• Use Direct Fulfillment backup
• Launch new products in both Direct Fulfillment and Warehouse,
• Keep Amazon up to date
• Update Direct Fulfillment inventory
• ensure necessary levels of
inventory are available
• On-hand inventory ensures that your promotions & ad campaigns
are running.
Q4 Operational Prep

28. Q4 Operational Prep
Products are
displayed as
“Ships and Sold
by Amazon”
Increase the
number of ASINs
in stock by adding
entire catalog
No waiting for
purchase orders,
products
available once
active on site
DF allows vendors
to always have an
offer available
pending inventory
availability
Amazon
provides carrier
account
numbers and
pays the fees
Amazon handles
all customer
service and
returns
Trusted
Brand
Catalog
Expansion
No Outbound
Shipping Costs
Out of Stock
Protection
Instant
Availability
Hassle Free
Returns

30. •
•
•
•
•
•
Q4 Operational Prep

31. Q4 Operational Prep
PO On-Time Accuracy ASN Accuracy Prep Issues
Rejected PO Rate
(limited Categories)

32. Amazon Vendor Rating & Programs
Q4 Operational Prep
Vendor
Status Operations Profitability
Highest Growth Potential
Programs Possible Business Improvement Tools Missed Opportunities
Platinum
Healthy: PO Confirmation Rate, PQV%, IDR,
VRR Best in Class
Sales & Selection Hub, Born to
Run, AVS-E, Offers Funding
Service
Vine, Sponsored Ads Campaign creation,
Detail Page Video Services, Advertising
Credits, Premium A+ Discount, Amazon
Funded Coupons, Product Setup Support None
Gold
Healthy: PO Confirmation Rate, PQV%, IDR,
VRR Healthy
Sales & Selection Hub, Born to
Run, AVS-E, Offers Funding
Service
Vine, Sponsored Ads Campaign creation,
Detail Page Video Services, Advertising
Credits, Premium A+ Discount, Amazon
Funded Coupons, Product Setup Support None
Silver I
Unhealthy: PO Confirmation Rate, PQV%, IDR,
VRR Healthy None (no access)
Vine, Detail Page Video Services,
Advertising Credits, Amazon Funded
Coupons
No opportunity to participate in Sales &
Selection Hub, no opportunity to reply to
customer comments, not opportunity to run
VSSP
Silver II
Healthy: PO Confirmation Rate, PQV%, IDR,
VRR Unhealthy None (no access)
Vine, Detail Page Video Services,
Advertising Credits, Amazon Funded
Coupons
No opportunity to participate in Sales &
Selection Hub, no opportunity to reply to
customer comments, not opportunity to run
VSSP
Bronze
Unhealthy: PO Confirmation Rate, PQV%, IDR,
VRR Unhealthy None (no access) Vine, Detail Page Video Services
No opportunity to participate in Sales &
Selection Hub, no opportunity to reply to
customer comments, not opportunity to run
VSSP, possible reduction in Purchase Orders

34. 1. Product data
2. Availability
3. Promotions
4. Website traffic
Q4 Operational Prep

35. Q4 Operational Prep
➔
➔

36. The Forecast is a rolling 26 week estimate as close as possible to actual customer demand.
The demand is calculated based on all traffic to a detail page not just a purchase of product you supply.
Q4 Operational Prep
•
• not
•
• not

37. Q4 Operational Prep
Example

38. Key Takeaways
Prime Day & Q4 could coincide
Amazon Inventory Constraints – Direct Fulfillment
Audit, audit, audit! Product content is key to Operations
Analyze Current Chargebacks for improvements
Understand Amazon’s Demand Forecast System

40. Nancy HebertMark Russo