Is this the beginning of the end for Amazon's Seller Fulfilled Prime program (SPF)?
On February 1, 2021, there will be new criteria for sellers to qualify for the Seller Fulfilled Prime (SPF) program.
Amazon wants to consistently provide its Prime customers with free and fast shipping. They are making significant investments to their fulfillment and transportation capabilities to make Prime a 1-day delivery program.
Amazon is inputting the new changes to ensure that Seller Fulfilled Prime (SPF) meets the expectations of Prime customers.
Even before COVID, fewer than 16% of SFP orders in the United States met the Prime Two-Day delivery promise.
Here are the new changes starting on February 1, 2021:
SFP sellers will be required to use shipping methods that support Saturday delivery and pick-ups to provide customers with a more consistent delivery experience throughout the week.
SFP sellers will be required to meet targets for one- and two-day delivery promises. To learn more about how they will track your metric, please click here.
Amazon is launching a new dashboard that measures the quoted delivery speed of your SFP offers.
SFP sellers will be required to have nationwide delivery coverage for all standard size delivery products.
Amazon is making these changes because the current performance of the program is not meeting customers' expectations. Amazon wants to ensure consistent fast deliveries that honor the Amazon Prime promise. They are announcing these changes now to give sellers enough time to prepare for the new Seller fulfilled Prime program.
That's not all, though.
Amazon is closing its FBA Onsite program in the United States on February 10, 2021.
The FBA Onsite program is a cloud-based warehouse management and fulfillment solution that deploys an Amazon Warehouse Management System (WMS) in seller warehouses.
The program enables sellers to operate their own warehouse like an Amzaon Fulfillment Center.
However, even before COVID, 80% of FBA Onsite offers did not meet the Prime Two-Day delivery promise.
Amazon worked hard to find a solution, but could not find an efficient option, which led to the decision to close the program.
Again they are announcing this now to give sellers enough time to adjust their businesses.
In preparation for this chance, Amason recommends transitioning to either the regular Fulfillment by Amazon program or Fulfillment by Merchant (FBM) program.
You can do so by switching your FBA Onsite SKUs to regular FBA or FBM SKUs.
Could this be the end of Seller Fulfilled Prime?
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