How do Amazon sellers correctly deal with out-of-stock problems and preventive measures
Reason for out of stock
Out of stock is one of the problems that sellers often encounter on the Amazon platform. The main reasons include insufficient estimates, supply chain problems, and distribution problems.
1. Underestimation
Underestimation usually means that the seller underestimates the sales volume and inventory demand of the product when purchasing. This may be due to insufficient understanding of market demand and competition, or insufficient comprehensive and accurate consideration of product sales characteristics and seasonal demand.
2. Supply chain issues
Selecting unstable or unreliable suppliers may cause problems in the supply chain, thereby affecting the purchase and supply of products. This may be due to insufficient rigor and caution in the review and evaluation of suppliers, or insufficient understanding of the supplier’s reputation and business capabilities.
3. Delivery issues
When processing orders and shipping, problems such as delivery delays, logistics losses, and customs clearance may occur, which may affect the transportation and delivery of products or even cause them to be out of stock. This may be due to insufficient standardization and effective management and control of order processing and logistics operations.
Preventive measures
In order to avoid the negative impact of stock outages, sellers can take precautions from the following aspects:
1. Establish an inventory management system
Sellers need to establish a complete inventory management system and conduct inventory estimation and replenishment planning based on actual sales and demand. In addition, the inventory status should be checked regularly, and purchase and sales plans should be adjusted in a timely manner to avoid insufficient inventory and out-of-stock situations.
2. Choose reliable suppliers
It is crucial to evaluate and select reliable suppliers, understand their reputation and business capabilities, and establish long-term and stable cooperative relationships. Maintain communication and cooperation with suppliers to understand and solve problems and risks in the supply chain in a timely manner to avoid affecting the purchase and supply of products.
3. Improve distribution and logistics management
Establish a complete order processing and logistics management system to process and track order information and logistics operations in a timely manner to ensure accurate delivery and distribution of products. Choose a high-quality logistics service provider, understand and abide by logistics policies and regulations, avoid problems such as delivery delays, losses, and customs clearance, and ensure the smooth delivery and transportation of products.
4. Stock up in advance
Considering that logistics timeliness is slow during peak seasons, it is recommended that sellers prepare goods in advance. For example, it is best to stock up on goods two weeks in advance during the off-season, and 3-4 weeks in advance during the peak season.
5. The stocking quantity is greater than the estimated sales volume
If the product experienced a peak season last year, the seller can add a little more based on historical sales data; if the expected sales volume is 100 pieces, the inventory quantity will be about 120 pieces.
6. Use multiple delivery methods
Combining different delivery methods can reduce delivery risks. Air freight, sea freight, commercial express delivery (DHL, UPS, FedEx, etc.) can be combined according to actual conditions.
Coping methods
Once out of stock occurs, sellers can adopt the following strategies to deal with it:
1. Timely replenishment
Once inventory is insufficient or out of stock, sellers need to replenish goods in a timely manner to avoid affecting sales and customer satisfaction. Product supply and sales can be restored as soon as possible by accelerating procurement, increasing inventory, and negotiating with suppliers.
2. Adjust selling price
If a product is out of stock for a long time, sellers can adjust the selling price appropriately to avoid the impact of a long period of out-of-stock on sales and profits. According to market conditions and competition, the selling price is reasonably adjusted to ensure the stability and sustainability of sales and profits.
3. Provide quality customer service
If a product is out of stock, sellers need to explain the situation to customers in a timely manner and provide high-quality customer service. Provide customers with other product options, or solutions such as refunds and returns to ensure customer satisfaction and reputation evaluation.
4. Adjust advertising on the site
Start with keyword rankings and check the changes in keyword traffic before and after out of stock. Follow up on the big words and traffic words of the product, see where the words are after restocking, and then accurately match ads with these keywords and traffic words, use small words to drive the ranking of big words, and quickly return to the state before out of stock.
5. Improve conversion rate
After restocking, you can increase the coupon amount appropriately to attract customers to place orders through discounts and increase product conversion rate. When conversion rates return to out-of-stock listings, Amazon will continue to push listings, quickly restoring link weight.
6. Report flash sale or 7-day flash sale
If you have sufficient budget, you can report on-site flash sales or 7-day flash sales according to the situation. Campaigns are the fastest way to activate link traffic.
7. Off-site promotion
A flash sale outside the site for 7 consecutive days to generate a wave of sales, such as a group or deal. In fact, the principle is similar to that of on-site flash sales.
Conclusion
Out of stock is an unavoidable situation for every new seller, and we need to treat it with the right mentality. Through the preventive measures and response methods introduced above, we hope that sellers can better manage and operate their stores and reduce the negative impact caused by out of stock.