How do you get your products to your customers' doorsteps? Amazon provides various options, including fulfillment by Amazon (FBA), easy ship (ES), and self-ship. FBA lets Amazon handle end-to-end logistics for your products, easy ship makes Amazon your carrier, and self-ship is self-explanatory—i.e., you ship out orders to customers yourself.

Given your options, what makes Amazon FBA in Saudi Arabia a good choice for you?

How Amazon FBA Works

FBA simplifies logistics for Amazon sellers. Consider the typical workflow of getting products from your physical location or wherever you store your products to a customer. After you receive an order, you must:

  • find the product that matches the order details.
  • pack it.
  • label it.
  • arrange and pay for parcel pickup with a carrier.
  • track your parcel's progress as it makes its way to your customer's doorstep.
  • answer customer inquiries about parcel progress.
  • wait for customer confirmation about parcel receipt.
  • await and process the return of the product if a customer returns it, and provide a refund or a replacement as requested.

If you opt for FBA, Amazon will handle all the tasks in the above list. You effectively outsource storage, packing, shipping, customer service, and returns processes to Amazon. All you need to do is send your products to Amazon, and Amazon will store them, ready to ship out whenever an order comes in.

You can decide your fulfillment strategy on a product-by-product basis. You don't need to send all your products to Amazon, only those you have designated as FBA. You also decide how many units of your FBA products you'll store in Amazon's warehouses or fulfillment centers.

Note: You must have a solid basis for forecasting demand. You want to store only as many units as necessary to avoid stockouts and overstocking. FBA comes with storage fees, and storing too many products at Amazon's warehouse means higher costs.

The following are the steps involved in the FBA fulfillment strategy:

1. Opt In

Enroll specific products under FBA. Make sure they meet Amazon's eligibility requirements. Tip: Choose smaller, regularly sized products that don't take up too much storage space.

You can enroll products as you add them. You can also use the “Manage All Inventory” screen to change the fulfillment strategy of specific products.

2. Send Inventory to Amazon

Prepare your products for shipping to Amazon. You must pack and label individual items according to Amazon's specific packaging guidelines and shipping and routing requirements.

You can find packaging guidelines on the product's prep category, “Prepare your FBA items” screen. Products may have to be polybagged, bubble wrapped, overboxed, double sealed, or placed in opaque bagging. Hangers may have to be removed, and products sold in sets of multiple items must be packed ready to sell and clearly marked “sold as a set” or something similar.

Amazon also has set requirements for packing materials and acceptable standard boxes. Indicate box content when prompted for better handling and management, and do not mix multiple shipments in a single box.

There's plenty of packing and shipping guidance information available as you prepare your inventory for shipping to Amazon's warehouse or fulfillment center. Follow them strictly because instructions may vary from category to category and from shipment to shipment.

3. Amazon Fulfills Orders

Once your products are in the Amazon fulfillment center, any orders for your FBA products become Amazon's responsibility to fulfill. Amazon prepares the orders, packs them, labels them, and ships them to customers.

Note: Amazon FBA products are qualified for Prime free and unlimited two-day shipping, which can boost sales.

4. Amazon Answers Inquiries

Amazon answers customer inquiries about your products, including shipment tracking and progress concerns.

5. Amazon Handles Payment on Delivery

If you use FBA, your customers may have the option to pay upon delivery. Amazon will facilitate payment by card or cash when they deliver orders to customers.

Note: This functionality may not be available in all regions.

6. Amazon Manages Reverse Logistics

Amazon handles customer returns. The return process is streamlined, and Amazon will arrange for shipping, assess received products, and process a refund or a replacement as necessary.

Note: Amazon FBA returns are governed by terms and conditions. Products in sellable condition are added to your inventory, while damaged items are addressed per FBA policies.

The Benefits of FBA

These are the ways Amazon FBA can benefit you and your business:

  • Encourage customer trust: Products are fulfilled by and come from Amazon (indicated on the product listing), enhancing trust in your product.
  • Boost sales: The free two-day shipping available to Prime buyers can induce sales.
  • Simplify operations: Outsourcing time-intensive and tedious logistics tasks lets you focus on business growth activities.
  • Gain global reach: You can easily expand your reach to international markets by using remote fulfillment with FBA.
  • Cost efficiency: FBA can help you save on warehousing and shipping costs.

Costs of FBA

FBA is a service, so it comes with costs. These include:

  • Fulfillment fees, which are charged per unit based on size and weight
  • Storage fees, which are calculated monthly based on inventory volume and the time of year
  • Returns processing fees, which are applicable for certain categories

Tip: You can use the FBA revenue calculator to estimate FBA costs and compare FBA with other fulfillment methods.

Use Amazon FBA

Go to Seller Central on Amazon SA to start using FBA for some of your products. Amazon FBA is easy to use and provides many benefits. It's designed to make selling on Amazon as easy as possible. Just remember to do a cost-benefit analysis for maximum value and savings.