You may have heard a lot about Amazon’s “Fulfillment by Amazon” (FBA) service, and are wondering if it’s right for you. I’m going to highlight the major benefits of FBA, but first here is a quick definition of Amazon FBA:
Fulfillment by Amazon, often referred to as “FBA” or “Amazon FBA”, is a service offered to sellers on Amazon’s website. With FBA, you list items for sale on Amazon, then send those items to Amazon’s warehouses, and when a customer places an order, Amazon packs and sends out those individual products for you.
Now that you know what Amazon FBA is, below is a list of the major benefits that FBA can provide you.
Massive Exposure
The primary benefit of using Amazon FBA service is that you are selling your products at one of the most-recognized online storefronts in the U.S. According to this eMarketer article, 46.7% of US Internet users started product searches on Amazon. That’s a lot of attention on a single website, and by using FBA, you are putting your products in front of all those potential customers.
Freedom
The freedom offered by using FBA is another major benefit. You can work from any location with an internet connection. That means you can start and run an FBA business from your home or wherever you like! Not only can you work from where you want, but you can also work when you want. Do you only have free time during evenings and weekends? With FBA, that’s a perfectly fine time to work. You can keep your regular life schedule and work on your FBA business when it suits you best.
Fulfillment Done For You
The “F” in FBA is also a key benefit. Amazon fulfills all of your orders for you. This means when someone places an order, you don’t have to pack individual products into boxes, label, and ship them out—Amazon does that! This is an especially valuable benefit if you plan to grow your business, because order fulfillment can be very time consuming.
Speed of Delivery
Speaking of shipping, another main FBA benefit is the Amazon Prime shipping speed for your products. When a customer orders your FBA products, they get the two-day shipping speed benefit offered by Amazon Prime. Two-day shipping is a major value to your customers, and by using FBA, your products will ship at this speed if the customer is a Prime member.
Continuity
Do you want to have a business that works for you 24 hours a day, every day of the year? With Amazon FBA, you get exactly that. Orders, fulfillment, and customer service all continue while you sleep or are working on something else. This means even if you aren’t actively working on your FBA business, Amazon is working on it for you! The screen capture below shows an overnight order as an example.
Customer Service
Another major advantage of FBA is Amazon’s customer service. Your customers can get 24/7 customer service on all of your products. For example, customers can check their order status, track packages, or return products without any involvement from you.
Regular Payments
Finally, Amazon’s payment schedule will be familiar to almost anyone who has been employed. Amazon pays every 2 weeks for the previous 2 week’s sales (these 2 weeks are called “Settlement Periods” by Amazon). That means you can count on regular payments to keep cash flowing for your business!
In summary, the seven major benefits of using Amazon’s FBA service are:
- Exposure – putting your products in front of many potential customers
- Freedom – work anywhere you want, anytime you want
- Fulfillment – Amazon does all the work of fulfilling orders for you
- Speed – your FBA products ship to Prime customers in two days
- Continuity – FBA operates all day, every day
- Service – customer service is available anytime without your involvement
- Payment – get paid every 2 weeks
These are compelling advantages, and show the value of Amazon FBA for someone potentially interested in trying Amazon FBA for themselves.
Interested to learn more? See the full story of my own FBA jouirney here, and here are the tools you need to start selling on Amazon yourself.