Amazon Seller Support Blog (Amazon.co.uk)

Testimonial from International FBA Merchant Babys-und-Kids - "Based on our experience to date, FBA is synonymous with lower costs, higher sales, and a greatly reduced workload"

There is at least one thing Babys-Und-Kids has in common with the large community of children at whom its products are targeted: both are growing fast. As far as Babys-Und-Kids is concerned, this growth—and its international expansion—is a direct result of using Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA).

The main focus is on baby equipment and cot accessories—many of them designed and manufactured on the premises—as well as carriers, toys, and clothing. Environmental friendliness and sustainability are an important priority at Babys -Und-Kids.  The head office is located in Herrenberg, South-West Germany. The company has operated its own web store ever since its establishment in 2005. 2009 proved to be a year of fundamental decisions that will shape Babys-Und-Kids' future—with the extension of online sales to Amazon.de in January only the beginning. The Amazon involvement and the launch last May of a limited liability UK branch in Halesowen, not far from Birmingham, were key factors in the firm's expansion and globalisation strategy, of which participation in the FBA programme is just one element.

All Amazon sales are processed through the British company, with Babys-Und-Kids products marketed via the Amazon platforms in the UK, Germany, and France. Approximately 500 different items are listed on Amazon.de with around 100 each on Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr.

How does Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) fit into this picture? Extremely well, as Reinhilde Joachim explains: "We opted for FBA because Amazon's testimonials confirmed that by participating in the FBA programme, a lot of merchants have succeeded in significantly increasing their sales. Of course, in addition to the growth opportunities, we were also attracted by the flexibility FBA offers in terms of warehouse and shipping capacity. As a relatively small company with limited space and personnel, this versatility is an enormous advantage for us. There are certain product groups where the benefits of FBA are quite simply unbeatable," she asserts. "We started off with baby carriers then gradually added more and more items to our FBA portfolio while keeping a close watch on the sales curve." The sales leapt by an average of 30 percent for the products in question.

"Of course, aspects like customer service and handling of returned parcels, which are taken care of by Amazon under the FBA agreement, also help reduce our workload," Joachim adds. "If a buyer wishes to return an item, he either gets in touch with Amazon's customer service or contacts the online Returns Centre. Returns are processed as soon as they arrive at the Amazon Fulfilment Centre. The great thing for us is that we are shielded from all of this and free to concentrate on our day-to-day work.”

The Multi-Channel Fulfilment option also offered by FBA has already been approved by the Babys-Und-Kids manager as compatible with her business model. "We intend to open a new web store of our own a few months from now that will provide a platform for our complete product range," Joachim continues. "The idea is to have not only FBA products but also any other items sold via the web store shipped by Amazon. This is precisely what Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfilment is all about. In fact, we are only just embarking on this exciting journey. At present, no more than about 10 percent of our store portfolio is listed with Amazon. We need to take it step by step owing to our company structure. However, we are also considering extending our range to include so called baby hardware, such as technical equipment, bottle warmers, etc. This kind of product is just made for FBA."

Reinhilde Joachim – Owner and MD Babys-und-Kids

Click here to read the full story

For more information about how you might set up an account and sell on another Amazon Europe platform please get in touch with us at:

Germany - fba-de-sales-inquiries@amazon.com
France -  amazon-fba@amazon.fr

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Testimonial with Economic Comics - ‘FBA has likely been the best business decision we made in 2009. Sales are up and growing our business further is a very achievable goal.’

 

Surrey based Economic Comics was created in October 2006 to supply comic books to fans at the very best prices in the UK without compromising on quality or customer service. Economic Comics also specializes in graphic novels, trading cards, and related products. 

It was by chance that Economic Comics stumbled upon Fulfilment by Amazon. Simon Mott the co founder explained, ‘In September 2009, we noticed a competitor using FBA and decided to investigate the service. We quickly found details and were very impressed. We had to read the PDF on the fee structure a couple of times to believe it. Amazon was running a promotion to try out the service and it was basically a no brainer to give it a go.’  Economic Comics were amazed by the speed with which they saw the first results and delighted that their decision to join FBA paid off so quickly. Simon explained ‘In the first week alone we approximately doubled our sales. We also sold a number of items that had been sitting on our shelves for months. We were able to win on price and customers were able to combine our items as part of any Super Saver Delivery or Prime order.’
 
‘FBA has enabled us to sell a higher volume of existing products in addition to new lines at a very cost effective price.  This saving increases every time we expand our product range and send new lines to Amazon. We’re now selling a lot of bulkier toys that are too big for us to store in large quantities.’
 
‘All our consignments to the Amazon fulfilment centre have been received and made available for sale in less than 24 hours. It takes us approximately two to three hours a month to send a delivery to Amazon—this saves us approximately two working days (picking, packaging, customer support e-mails, and so on)—not only is this valuable time saved, but it also highly profitable when compared to the equivalent costs of labour!’

Simon Mott, co founder and owner of Economic Comics

Click here to read the full story

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Testimonial from French Seller Cinereplicas – Generate a maximum of sales with a minimum of effort

 

Cinereplicas, a French company, was created in 2005 and has fewer than 10 employees. They specialize in presents and collectable items and when they started selling on Amazon in 2007 they were able to double their sales thanks, they say in part, to Amazon. In 2008 they signed up for the Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) programme, the first French merchant to do so.

The managing director, Fabrice Bensoussan explains that the FBA programme is well conceived and very clear; Amazon provided a good explanation about how it worked. The programme is easy to use and, since being an FBA seller, Cinereplicas has been able to increase their turnover by 50 percent. 

Cinereplicas currently works with eight sales channels and intends to use Multi-Channel Fulfilment going forward, thus being able to scale back its logistic activity.

Mr. Bensoussan summed up the benefits of FBA in one sentence, ‘Generate a maximum of sales with a minimum of effort'.

To check out other FBA merchant testimonials please click here.

 

Testimonial with German FBA merchant Mr Marble, 101 Shirts

René Kräupziger runs the Mr. Marble Mail-Order retail business together with his partner. Buying, finishing, and selling textiles are his main activities. This family business placed its trust in Internet selling as far back as 2005. It became an Amazon merchant in 2007. Mr Kräupziger has the following to say about his experience with Fulfilment by Amazon.

 

 

"Amazon enjoys an excellent reputation with consumers. Despite this, the success of the partnership took us completely by surprise. Our sales with Amazon rocketed. All in all, business transactions are far less complicated than with alternative channels.

 

The arguments in favour of FBA seemed plausible. It was clear that the best way to improve our efficiency was to do away with mixed shipping. Our policy was either fulfilment all the way or not at all, in other words, in addition to actually selling, we also use Amazon exclusively for shipping--what’s more, at a very reasonable price. The Fulfilment process is very straightforward. We also received expert assistance from Amazon. The support so far has been fantastic.

 

We used to spend about an hour and a half at the start of the day printing invoices and delivery notes, then sorting these notes as well as parcel labels. It then took us another two hours to pack the goods and process returns. We now save up to three and a half hours every day. Sickness and vacation were always a problem; most of the time, we couldn't even afford to take a week off. Now that our store keeping and product shipping are reliably taken care of by Amazon, finding an opportunity to relax is much easier. Fulfilment by Amazon relieves us of several tasks that other people can get done better. Our model is still the same but the door has been opened to new business opportunities."

Read the full story.

Testimonial with German Merchant Eye-Alpin – "This year our Amazon sales passed the mark of the previous 12-month period as early as June 10."

 

Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) is an important element of Eye-Alpin's growth strategy that is geared towards expansion beyond its core business.  High quality sports goggles and sunglasses for every sports and leisure occasion are the traditional focus of the company's activities.   "In 2008 our sales with Amazon were 80 percent of those recorded with another online channel in the same period. This year our Amazon sales passed the mark of the previous 12-month period as early as June 10. This is at least partly due to Fulfilment by Amazon, even if we only joined in March 2009. Thanks to Fulfilment by Amazon, we can draw on almost unlimited stock maintaining capacity and are no longer forced to provide huge amounts of warehouse space on our own premises. We save a lot of time and human resources through not having to pack the goods for shipping to end customers ourselves. If we deliver from here, the costs are around 90 Euro cents higher per parcel than through Amazon, taking into account the carton, packing material, etc." "Sensational" is the word Matthias Rosemann uses to describe the customer service Amazon offers its FBA customers. His experience to date has shown this service to be extremely friendly and fast – an assessment that is equally applicable to Amazon’s technical support for sellers. When asked how long it takes for the goods to become available for online sale after they reach the Amazon fulfilment centre, Rosemann answers concisely "it couldn’t be faster." From what he has seen so far, it is only when Amazon is in the midst of special volume-selling campaigns that the maximum period of 48 hours actually takes effect. "Fulfilment is easily the best thing Amazon has on the market. This is where the future lies, without a doubt. It lets entrepreneurs concentrate on the essentials.         The number one argument for us is that it works not just for sports goggles but for absolutely everything connected to sports and leisure." Matthias Rosemann, owner and Managing Director of Eye-Alpin Read the complete story at FBA in Action.