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FedEx Launches New Fulfillment Service
http://money.cnn.com/2017/02/07/technology/fedex-fulfillment-amazon/index.html
The big news in the seller world this week is the launch of a new fulfillment service by FedEx that aims to compete with Amazon FBA to provide logistical support for small and mid-sized businesses. Of course, the big draw of FBA is access to Amazon’s gigantic marketplace, but FedEx Fulfillment could present an attractive alternative for certain cross-sections of sellers.
According to the article: “FedEx’s solution appears to make the most sense for businesses that already have a robust online presence and don’t need to rely on another marketplace, such as Amazon’s, to find an audience.”
We’ll continue to update you as we hear more about how the program works, how much it costs, and what sort of benefits it offers compared to Amazon.
This can be a real game changer for more advanced sellers looking to expand beyond Amazon.
Important Announcement For Sellers In Health and Personal Care
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/201511980
In case you missed it, Amazon emailed an announcement about new requirements for products listed in the Health and Personal Care category.
From the email:
“Starting February 15, 2017, all sellers selling in Health and Personal Care category will be required to list the ingredients for all over-the-counter medicines and dietary supplements in the Inventory File Template.
Additionally, images of ingredients and/or nutritional information listed on product packaging should be uploaded as secondary product images on product detail pages.
We are providing you until February 15, 2017, to update your existing listings so they adhere to this new policy. If you do not update your existing listings on or before February 15, 2017, they will be removed.”
February 15 is quickly creeping up guys. If you haven’t updated your listings already now is the time so you can keep those sales rolling in.
Amazon Making Moves In Australia
https://www.cnet.com/news/amazon-australia-launch-amazon-fresh
We’ve all been waiting for Amazon to make a big push into Australia for a while now, and with over 100 Sydney and Brisbane-based jobs advertised on the Amazon job board and rumors that Amazon is looking for warehouse space in Sydney, it appears that it’s finally happening.
This is good news for Australian consumers, bad news for Australian retailers (although Australia’s biggest retailer is ready for war), and interesting news for sellers with an eye towards expanding into new marketplaces.
Finally! Amazon Titles Now Limited to 200 Characters
https://www.marketingwords.com/blog/amazon-fixes-titles/
Amazon has finally resolved some of the ambiguity on the issue of product title length by capping titles at 200 characters for new listings. Amazon had caused a bit of confusion in the past several years here by allowing titles of up to 250 characters while claiming that products with titles over 200 characters would be “suppressed” (a claim that some have doubted).
Going forward, entering a title longer than 200 characters for a new product listing will throw an error message to enforce the new limit.
It only took 3 years but its finally here 🙂
