Steps to Manage Inventory – Amazon India

Managing inventory helps Amazon India sellers to ensure that their products are in stock and sales are coming. However, inventory management is not only counting your products & documenting their total quantity on Seller Central. There are many other things which help the entire process of checking and managing inventory and allow Amazon India sellers to stay one step ahead of their competitors & drive more sales. We are presenting some of the required steps which would help you to manage your Amazon.in inventory better.

Perform Inventory Control & Quality Assurance (ICQA)
In order to manage massive inventories & ensure good inventory quality, Amazon India sellers should regularly perform a set of activities in their warehouses commonly known as ICQA. It calculates & corrects any defects in inventory & regularly conducts inventory audits of bins to verify whether all the processes are followed diligently at seller nodes.

What is a Bin?
Bins are a type of storage facility in a production area or within a warehouse, and are used to store items that you are going to sell on Amazon India. They provide a storage area in a specific position in the warehouse and these are labelled & captured on the system, so you can organize & locate your inventory quickly & efficiently. Bins come in all shapes & sizes depending on the size of the items stored. In some cases, they may be color-coded to help your pickers & packers find items easily. Bins can hold the same items in different locations which make picking and packing much easier.

There are 2 types of Inventory audit mechanisms to ensure removal of such defects & better user experience:

Simple Bin Count – This method refers to container level counting that is done at the Amazon.in seller nodes. This involves identifying & scheduling a set of containers for counting. You just have to predefine the set of containers you need to count, specify filters & choose the bins for auditing.

Cycle Count – It is an extension to Simple Bin Count & refers to SKU level counting in each bin which is done at the Amazon.in seller nodes. It is an inventory management method where a small subset of inventory, in a specific location, is counted on a specified day. Cycle counts contrast with traditional physical inventory in that a full physical inventory may stop operation at a facility while all items are counted at one time, whereas cycle counts are less disruptive to daily operations and provide an on-going measure of inventory accuracy & procedure execution.

Use Inventory Management Software
Software for management of inventory are also very useful & help keeping track of your stock & the resultant cash flow. Another benefit of using these softwares is that they help streamline your business operations. If you are also facing difficulties in managing your amazon.in business, try the softwares like Cin7, OrderBot & Wasp Inventory Management Software to name a few.

Analyse & Forecast Inventory Orders
Making an analysis of the inventory you require while placing an order, which is called inventory forecasting, is very important. Plan and base your reorder quantities as per your sales trends on Amazon.in. For this, you need to trust your own judgement & selling experience which should be based on seasonal demands, holidays & various trends capable enough to affect your product. Make an analysis of all the above points in your decision-making process.

Six Sided Inventory Check
During your inventory check, ensure a six-sided check of your stock & scan all the sides of the product for any damage. If any product is marked as damaged & doesn’t meet the six-sided check parameters, remove it from your inventory immediately as shipping of such items to the user will result in negative customer feedback resulting in less orders. In addition, if a product is regularly scanned for six-sided check, it helps the company to be more cost-efficient.

Use Barcode for Each Product
Using barcodes for your products have great benefits in inventory management. Apart from being cost-effective & reliable, they help in improving Inventory control. As barcodes make tracking inventory very easy, it results in low inventory levels and a lower overhead. They are also relatively inexpensive, user-friendly, and prove to be indispensable in tracking your inventory.

Ensure Proper Order Lead Time
Order lead time is the time taken by inventory to arrive after ordering. Time should be provided for the new stock to arrive before the current stock is finished. Over- ordering and under- ordering both could result in the risk of inventory on Amazon.in. To avoid all these issues, always track your current inventory levels & sales volume for better managing your lead time.

Prioritize Products using ABC Analysis
ABC analysis is a technique of inventory categorization where inventory is divided into 3 categories:

1. High-value products with a low sale frequency
2. Moderate value products with a moderate sale frequency
3. Low-value products with a high sale frequency

By using an ABC Analysis, you can prioritize your inventory management by differentiating between products that need attention and products that don’t. Manage your stocks better by going through your listings & add each of your products to the categories mentioned above.

Inventory Management is a very important but vastly overlooked point for Amazon India sellers. Take care of your stocks by using the aforementioned tips, choose the right techniques for your business & get ahead of the curve.

How to Setup Amazon Seller Central Account India?

Registering on Amazon India is a huge step forward for any seller, but how to take that one big step & be a part of the Amazon India seller family & how to register as a seller on Amazon India. In this article, we will take you through each & every step of setting up your own Amazon India Seller Central account & fulfil your dream of selling on Amazon India.

1. Sign up as a Seller
Visit Amazon India webpage, scroll down to ‘Make Money with Us’ & click on ‘Sell on Amazon’. A page will come up featuring the benefits of selling on Amazon. Click on the ‘Start Selling’ button & start creating your account by filling in basic details like Name, Mobile number, Email ID & Password. Verify your mobile number & you are all set to proceed to the next step.

2. Provide Details of your Business
After your mobile verification, kindly keep your bank account & tax (GST/PAN) details on hand before proceeding further. The next step is to enter your company/business name & agreeing to the terms & conditions of the Seller agreement.
Once you click on continue, the next page will ask for some important details of your business like your Store Name, primary product category & full address of the place from where you’re operating your business. The store name should be unique and should represent your business. Click on next to proceed further.

3. Provide your GST Details
In the next step you will be asked to update your tax details and you have to enter your provisional GST number along with PAN number to go to the next step. There are 2 options provided for an Amazon India seller to go to the next step:

a) If you have your GST number handy, you can enter your provisional GSTIN along with your PAN Number to proceed further. There is no need to worry if you don’t have a GST number, as you can check on the box ‘I will update later’ & move forward. However it is highly recommended to obtain your GST number before registering as an Amazon India seller.

b) If you want to sell under GST exempted category, you have to choose the same after answering no to ‘Do you have a GST number’. Thereafter you can enter your PAN number and easily proceed further.

4. Select your Ideal Selling Categories
The next step is ‘Seller Interview’ where you have to click on the product categories you want to sell in along with providing some other information, such as where do you get your products from, your annual turnover & number of products you sell. Click on next & you are done with this step.

5. Create Product Listings
With the aforementioned points, your account setup is now complete. You will be redirected to the Seller Central dashboard page, where you have to create product listings to sell on Amazon.in. However, there are certain categories like Beauty, Health & Personal Care which require prior approval from Amazon India for selling. In such a case, you will see a button ‘Apply to Sell’ beside the Product Category.
How to get Approval?
Click on ‘Apply to Sell’ button, provide the required details & Amazon India will update you on the approval status within 24-48 hours via Email.
For all other categories, the process will be as displayed below:

a) Click on ‘Start Listing’ button.
b) Search for the product you want to sell in the search bar using the product name or Barcode and click on search.
c) From the search results, identify the right products and click on ‘Sell Yours’.
d) Provide price & quantity of the product and click on ‘Save and Finish’.

If you aren’t able to find your product in search results, click on ‘Create a New Product Listing’ for creation of new listing on Amazon.in. You have to provide complete details of your product such as Product title, Brand & Product ID. Update product quantity and price in the ‘Offer’ tab. You also have to provide product images, short product description & specify product keywords. After providing all the details, click on ‘Save & Finish’. The product will be added to your account instantly. You can check your inventory list by clicking on ‘Inventory’ tab and then on ‘Manage Inventory’.

6. Provide your Bank Details
Go back to your dashboard after above procedures, provide the following bank details for payments & click on ‘Save’:
a) Account Holder Name
b) Account No.
c) IFSC Code
d) Account Type

7. Provide Product Tax Code & Signature
The last 2 steps are providing your Product Tax code, which is important as every product category has different GST rates; therefore you have to mention your specific product category. Lastly, upload your digital signature on Amazon.in either by uploading image of your signature on a white paper or through scanning.
Now that you have completed all the steps to sell on Amazon India, you can click on ‘Launch your Business’ Button on the dashboard to activate your account. Your account will be activated within a couple of hours for the customers to order your products.

However, a little bit of research on best-selling products will go a long way. Before starting to create listings on Amazon.in, subscribe to Barrel13, the foremost Amazon India product research tool. Check out all the sales related details of your competitor’s listings and get a fair idea of which products are most likely to sell in the Amazon India marketplace. Happy Selling!

5 Tips for Amazon Sellers to Make More Profits on Prime Day

Prime Day has become a major event in the calendar of every shopaholic since its inception in 2015. Unlike the previous years, the Prime Day will go on for 2 days – 15th & 16th July – this year. This is a golden opportunity for every Amazon India seller to earn considerably huge amount of profits as compared to any other time of the year.

However, you have to be ready with appropriate products to sell on Prime Day & create attractive product listing as you need to catch the attention of the user. Otherwise they will ignore your listings and look for other better optimized and eye-catching products. Therefore we are providing you some useful tips to attract users to your page in droves during Prime Day.

1. Start your Ad Campaign
Since the Prime Day will continue for only 2 days, therefore you have to start running your Amazon.in PPC Ad campaign as soon as possible. Starting your campaign early will also help you in setting up your bidding on trending keywords & then you can prepare a bunch of user-friendly ads to attract users all over India by the time Prime day starts. It will increase your sales and enhance your ranking which will bring in new buyers to you.

2. Listing Optimization
Checking & optimizing your listings is a must when you are gearing up for Prime Day. Take special care of 3 things to better your listings & have a high conversion – clear images, crisp bullet points & relevant product description. Focus on the keywords you’re using as they should be completely relevant to your target user group.

3. Stock Up on Your Inventory
You can always expect your sales to increase during Prime Day. Therefore it is advisable that you should check your product inventory to ensure that you have enough stock with you. Running out of stock, that too on Prime Day, would be no less than a nightmare for any Amazon India seller as it will not only badly impact his sales, but also would diminish their product ranking going forward.

4. Make a Long-Term Strategy
Prime Day is certainly a time to earn more profits, but it also means that you are promoting your product in front of a bigger user base. Therefore many Amazon.in sellers sell their products at almost a break-even point on Prime day to ensure best deals for their customers, which impacts their seller rank positively in the long run as more people are buying their products, and leads to more profits in the future. It also attracts more reviews & online searches for a specific product (provided the quality offered is good) . Therefore you need to chalk out a specific strategy to come good on Prime Day – Do you only want great business on Prime Day or are willing to risk your revenues for profits in the long run.

5. Promote your Offer on Third-Party Websites
Although Prime Day is hosted by Amazon.in, third-party websites are also an effective source of attracting users to your product. Therefore, it’s a good idea to promote your offers on various deal websites. This will ensure maximum traffic on your page, resulting in high sales & conversion rates.

Prime Day is that time of the year where almost every Amazon.in seller will experience his sales zooming ahead. However following a few rules can help you maximize your earnings significantly. Get ready to delight your customers this Prime Day, but only after adding the aforementioned points in your selling strategy.