Amazon Shipping Impact Temporarily Prioritizing Products Coming Into FBA

Recently Amazon announced that they will be temporarily prioritizing products coming into their fulfillment centers. The eCommerce giant said that they will be closely monitoring the developments of COVID-19 and its impact on their customers, selling, partners, and employees. 

As a result, to an increase in online shopping some products such as household staples and medical supplies are out of stock. Keeping this in mind, Amazon says that the company will temporarily be prioritizing household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into their fulfillment centers so that they can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers. 

For products other than these, Amazon has temporarily disabled shipment creation and they are taking a similar approach with retail vendors. This will be in effect through April 5, 2020, and Amazon will let you know once they resume regular operations. 

Products being accepted to ship to FBA 

• Baby Products 
• Health & Household 
• Beauty & Personal Care (including personal care appliances) 
• Grocery 
• Industrial & Scientific 
• Pet Supplies 

In order to prioritize, listing products in an inaccurate category is a violation of Amazons listing policies and may result in account suspension. This is currently being applied to the US and EU marketplaces. 

• At Channel Key, we are your Amazon experts. Our primary solution: Setting up fulfillment by merchant (FBM) (3P) strategy allowing you to ship directly to your consumers.  
  • Brand Control 
  • Stabilize Pricing 
  • Increase Profitability 
  • Control Channel Conflict  

What this means for Vendors/Sellers  

1. Amazon is still Receiving and shipping “grandfathered-in” inventory as planned 
   • Replenishment orders created before March 17, Amazon will still receive it. Essential items will be given priority and Amazon will still pick, pack, and ship non-essentials. Non-essential orders will have a slower shipping time. 
2. Amazon FBA sellers can use other methods of fulfillment 
   • Amazon recommends sellers who typically sell FBA to use their own resources and carriers for shipping products and to sell Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM). 
3. How will this affect Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) sales and sellers? 
   • Currently, there is no change. Amazon sellers are still able to create and list products.
4. Can sellers still sell non-essential products? 
   •  both FBA and FBM sellers can still sell products that are non-essential. 
5. Can Sellers sell essential products? 
   • Essential products can still be sold by sellers if they are able to create listings for them. Sellers listing products in any of the essential categories will need approval from Amazon as some of the categories have been “gated”. 

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Conclusion  

Amazon is making these temporary adjustments in order to prioritize household staples, medical supplies, and other high-demand products coming into their fulfillment centers so that they can more quickly receive, restock, and ship these products to customers. Sellers may continue to sell products already in fulfillment centers. This is now in effect starting on March 17, 2020, through April 5, 2020, and Amazon says that they will let sellers know once they resume regular operations. 

If you have any additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our Channel Key Amazon consultants.  As a Full-Service Amazon Agency, we are dedicated to helping you. Talk to our Channel Key team. We will continue to keep you updated.