Amazon Temporarily Prioritizes Products Coming Into FBA Centers – What Does It Entail?

In the wake of COVID-19, Amazon notified its sellers across the US and EU that it will be prioritizing products coming to its fulfillment centers. As of now, the freeze will be in effect through April 5, 2020. 

Apparently, Amazon is focusing on the essential household, health, and safety products that have high demand so that the company can quickly restock and deliver these products to the customers. 

Amazon announcement is as follows:

For more details, check this link here.

What does it mean for the sellers and vendors?

Sellers and vendors must remain composed as Amazon is not suspending sales for specific categories. However, Amazon FBA sellers will not be able to create shipments until April 6, 2020. 

Note: Amazon will receive your shipment at fulfillment centers if it is created before March 17, 2020. While essential products are given priority, Amazon will still fulfill non-essential items.

Amazon accepts products listed under the following categories as of now:

1. Health & household
2. Grocery
3. Baby products
4. Beauty & personal care products and appliances
5. Industrial & scientific products
6. Pet supplies

Also, if you find your product listed under one of these categories, and you are not able to create a shipment, then Amazon is not prioritizing your product at the moment. Besides, the e-commerce giant is not accepting requests to reclassify listings at this point.

What about FBM sellers?

So far, we have not observed any changes for FBM (fulfilled by merchant) sales. Sellers can ship and sell their products listed under essential and non-essential categories. They can create and list their items on Amazon.

Also, Amazon FBA sellers can use their own resources to ship their products and sell under FBM. 

How is Amazon taking steps to address the demand?

As more and more countries and cities implement isolation and quarantine measures, Amazon is trying to keep up with the increased demand by hiring and opening 100,000 new roles to support its delivery operations (Source – Amazon blog).

Final Thoughts

Though this is a period of uncertainty, we suggest sellers and brands stay focused and make the best use of this time by enhancing their productivity.

As the story unfolds, we will monitor and keep you posted with further updates. Do let us know your thoughts about this update in the comment section below. 

Additional Read:

How Amazon FBA Impacts Your Seller Reputation

The Best Guide to Using the FBA Business