The Wall Street Journal released an announcement today at 12:37 pm EST via Dana Mattioli (WSJ's Amazon reporter) that Amazon will begin allowing "non-essential" items to be shipped to their warehouses this week. This is "a signal that the company is ramping up to meet broader consumer needs, according to people familiar with the matter," according to Mattioli.
Amazon's decision in this matter will be welcome news to those of us, 3rd party sellers, who make up "58% of Amazon's sales," as last month's decisions to only stock essential items to help deal with the coronavirus left a small market with which to operate it. According to Jungle Scout's "The State of the Amazon Seller 2020" survey, 63% of 3rd party sellers use Amazon as full-time or supplemental income. (See chart below for further breakdown). Some sellers might have found this limited market hampered their monthly income and will welcome some sort of return to normality while we navigate this confusing time for all.
According to an Amazon spokeswoman quoted in Mattioli's report, “Later this week, we will allow more products into our fulfillment centers. Products will be limited by quantity to enable us to continue prioritizing products and protecting employees, while also ensuring most selling partners can ship goods into our facilities.” Amazon has done a great job hiring more employees to deal with this influx of product, hiring over 100,000 people to deal with the demand. So, if you have been neglecting your product research during the last month, you better get cracking because it looks like Amazon is prepared, but are still ready to impose limits on inventory intake for per person shipments and overall numbers.
The reason for this is to continue to keep room for essential goods to combat the coronavirus. However, be ready to act fast 3rd party sellers, as this is the time to get back on track. People will still be at home ordering product to cure their quarantine boredom.
Time to prepare.
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