What is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment?
Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) is where Amazon fulfills your orders for your sales channels at the same delivery speed as Amazon FBA. Meaning, you can use your FBA inventory to fulfill your orders from any channel where you sell, including your website.
Why should I use Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment? What are the benefits?
- MCF provides e-commerce fulfillment services for businesses of *any* size
- You will get access to the world’s largest fulfillment network- there are 150 fulfillment centers in the U.S. and 175 across the globe. Having access to these centers will help your business grow
- Amazon provides a level of operational expertise
- You will be able to ship quickly to your customers every day of the week, which is particularly important to the overall customer experience
- You can also offer free shipping to customers with your savings, which can have a positive impact on sales
- With just one fee to pick, pack and ship, you can keep your costs down and remain competitive
- You have the option to automate your fulfillment through pre-built channels or APIs, which will help you streamline inventory management
- MCF has a tracking website, so you can easily share shipping details with your carrier
- You will have Amazon-backed delivery dates (based on a customer’s location and order), which will help you increase sales conversions
- You will have access to automatic inventory placement, which helps get products closer to customers (remember the 150 fulfillment centers across the U.S.), which can help you scale quickly and be ready for seasonal spikes
- You are essentially using your same Amazon inventory to fulfill your orders from other sites, which saves you time and simplifies operations
- MCF can help ease the process of fulfillment in other countries (MCF fulfills in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Spain, and the United Kingdom)
How do I set this up if I already have inventory in FBA?
There are three main ways:
- Create a single order- This means you would create fulfillment orders one at a time through the MCF order creation page
- Create a bulk order- This means you would upload a spreadsheet to create multiple fulfillment orders at once
- Automatic Order Creation- You would connect your sales channels directly to MCF through pre-built integrations (Shopify) or APIs (building your own integration)
Here is the full list of Amazon pre-built integrations you can use. You can also sync your inventory and tracking management apps.
How do I set this up if I do not have inventory in FBA?
STEP ONE: Create product listings on Amazon for FBA
STEP TWO: Prepare your products (this means having the correct packaging and labeling for sending your products to Amazon fulfillment centers)
STEP THREE: Ship to Amazon fulfillment centers
*You will need to connect the MCF app to your chosen channel. Then, you will need to connect your Amazon Seller Central account to your chosen channel.
What does the process look like when I actually go to use MCF?
As mentioned above, the first step is getting your inventory to fulfillment centers. Once that is done, a customer would simply place an order on an e-commerce channel (like your company website), and Amazon would fulfill the order. Amazon ships orders at one business day (priority), two business days (expedited), or three-five business days (standard).
What are the fees for Multi-Channel Fulfillment?
There is a one-time fee that covers pick, pack and ship. You can download the rate card from Amazon.com here. The rate card is broken down by shipping time, unit order and product size tier.
You can also download a fee calculator template at the same link above, enter your data, then upload the template into Amazon to calculate fees for your products.
PDMG TIPS FOR SUCCESS:
- Use the statement “Fulfilled by Amazon” on your website or even display the Amazon logo, which will help improve the customer shopping experience.
- Remember that you are responsible for handling customer service with MCF, which means you must handle refunds and return requests and inquires
- MCF offers discounts of up to 60% on multi-unit orders
- Remember Amazon applies long term storage fees for products that sit in a fulfillment center for more than 365 days
- Keep an eye on your Amazon Fulfilled Inventory Report because you may be eligible for reimbursement on a lost or damaged order
PDMG can help clients get set up with MCF and even help you test the program with a few orders. PDMG also advises clients on which SKUs might be appropriate to fulfill with MCF. PDMG provides inventory management for clients, which means we help them maintain a balanced inventory level for products.
Potential Issues with MCF to Watch Out For:
Inventory Space: Amazon has gotten very particular with inventory limitations and those limitations are changing constantly, which could impact how much inventory you can send to Amazon
Warehouse Backlogs: Amazon warehouses have been known to get backed up in receiving containers and parcel packages
Amazon Error: Amazon is error prone when it comes to receiving goods, transporting goods through the DC network and especially with returns going back to warehouses
Amazon Multi Channel Fulfillment Fees Rate Card
Download this full PDF for reference here, and be sure to check out our YouTube Channel!