Here is your midweek jetpack of Amazon seller news, updates, and other useful clicks for your e-commerce business…
Seller Account Health Assurance will be Available in US and Canada Soon!
Amazon Accelerate 2022 has opened the door to a world of developments and features that are coming soon. Among them is Account Health Assurance which will provide direct support to prevent account suspensions for sellers who have high account health ratings and a valid emergency contact number. If you are eligible, you will be automatically enrolled and receive an email when the program launches. Time to celebrate.
Alexa to Bring Brands and Customers Even Closer
Amazon has also announced the launching of “Ask Alexa”, a new feature that allows brands to answer customer questions.
“For example, a customer shopping for cleaning products on Amazon.com could ask, “How can I remove pet hair from my carpet?” A brand can now provide answers to such questions, along with links to its Amazon storefront.”
This feature will be available to a select group of brands included in Amazon’s registry in October 2022 (by invite only).
While this is generally a positive development, big brands may attempt to seize spotlight answers to the most popular questions in an effort for optimum product placement.
This may actually help OA/RA sellers who are slinging large brands. Wink wink.
Grow Your Amazon Business with Amazon-Approved Apps
Amazon recently approved and added 2,500 3rd Party Apps to their Selling Partner Appstore to help sellers automate, manage and grow their businesses.
Sellers now have an abundance of choices in software solutions that can optimize processes such as listings management, pricing and shipping, and automate essential selling operations.
All of these apps have been carefully vetted and will be continuously monitored by Amazon.
If you want to learn more about these Amazon-approved apps, check out this thread.
New Analytics and Supply Chain Tools
Amazon continues to empower its sellers as it recently expanded its offerings on analytical and supply chain tools.
As of September 14, the following awesome pieces of tech are now available to all sellers:
- Manage Your Experiments – sellers can now run A/B tests on their titles, images, and content to see which converts the best.
- Search Analytics Dashboard Expansion – now provides anonymized data for understanding the interests and shopping habits of your customers.
- Customer Reviews Insight – a new feature of the Product Opportunity Explorer, this enables sellers to determine which features to build on or prioritize based on customer reviews and feedback.
- Enhanced Marketplace Product Guidance – now includes selection recommendations for highly sought products in France, Italy, and Spain. If you are looking to expand to these marketplaces, this update is perfect for you.
- Veeqo (Shipping Solution) – now FREE for Amazon sellers, Veeqo enables sellers to connect all their sales channels including Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and Shopify, and gain access to discounted shipping rates on UPS, USPS, DHL, and FedEx.
The Amazon Seller University YouTube channel offers instructional videos on how you can maximize these new features to grow your business.
All of these features are potential game changers for the PL, OA, RA, and brand builders.
Increased Email Marketing Reach at No Additional Costs
Amazon is currently beta-testing Amazon Customer Engagement’s Tailored Audiences, which allows sellers to reach three new audience types: repeat customers, recent customers, and high-spend customers.
The new feature, which will launch by 2023, enables sellers to send marketing emails to a selected targeted audience and drive repeat sales to establish their brands. It also comes equipped with performance and reporting metrics so sellers can measure the impact of their marketing emails.
The new email marketing feature will be available for free in Seller Central. Yeeeehaw!
Amazon Seller Support Now on Twitter
There is a (new?) dedicated Twitter account for seller support. The handle is @amzsellerhelp, and it seems they are responding promptly to questions.
Will this become a useful platform for helping sellers with their concerns? Will they fix their internal seller support platform first? SMH.
FBA Grade and Resell No Longer Free
Sad news for those enrolled in Amazon’s FBA Grade and Resell program.
Starting September 21, Amazon will charge fees ranging from $1.50 to $4.10 per item that Amazon employees grade.
The invite-only program allows sellers to list and sell returned “unfulfillable” products after Amazon inspection and grading.
Though it’s no longer free, it is still a viable option in opposition to creating a removal order and listing the product on eBay or FB Marketplace.
Detailed Rate Chart for Amazon FBA Fee Increases
Amazon fees are going up (surprise!) and for accurate number-crunching, check out these detailed and updated Amazon rate charts:
- 2022 US FBA fulfillment fee changes
- 2022 Amazon.ca FBA fulfillment fee changes
- 2022 Remote Fulfillment with FBA fee changes
- Fulfillment fees for Multi-Channel Fulfillment orders
As a consolation, Amazon acknowledges that sellers took a big hit with the fee increases and expresses “gratitude.” They are such angels.
Inventory Lab Fee Increase: Is the Juice Still Worth the Squeeze?
Short answer: YES.
Inventory Lab is increasing its subscription fee from $49 to $69 per month, but we believe it is worth every penny. Find out why here.
Other Quick Clicks
- Amazon commits $147million to create and preserve 1,260 affordable homes, primarily with minority-led developers across Washington D.C.
- Amazon raises pay and enhances benefits for delivery riders
- Amazon testing pinch-grasping robots for e-commerce fulfillment
- What Amazon’s Recommendation Algorithm could do in Healthcare
- A peek inside Amazon’s Vendor management systems, processes and practices
- Amazon continues opening cashierless grocery stores in California
- Amazon makes the cheapest Kindle even better
- Amazon’s live audio app launches creator fund
- Amazon Prime to exclusively deliver Thursday Night Football
Thank you for reading. If you have any questions, comments or violent reactions, let us know below!
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