FBA versus FBM Dilemma
We have been almost totally FBA for over 3 years however, over the last month or so because of the difficulties regarding sending inventory to FC’s and long delivery dates etc, we decided to make all of our 95 ASIN’s available for FBM. Enough orders are coming in to keep our heads above water.
Our items are all small and are being posted through Royal Mail and so far, fingers crossed we have had no notices of late delivery. Myself and my OH are working from home and order handling is not an issue for us, sadly we don’t have much else we can do.
My FBA inventory is becoming very depleted and we can’t decide whether to try and send in more stock. My question is, how important is Prime at the moment (non essential items) to customers as we are tempted to stick with FBM for present time?
Grateful for thoughts.
10 replies
Seller_esvgLzKXw2YAl
Probably the more pertinent question is, can you actually send the stock into FBA?
I’m mostly FBA myself and haven’t switched to FBM sales at all.
And though some lines I’m unable to send in, the majority of my stock is still active and available.
They seem to have relaxed a little on the long estimates for delivery now, where most items maybe not next day any longer, they are certainly comparable to FBM sellers.
This in turn means that people are opting for the FBA sales, though not as much as before the crisis, certainly enough to warrant continuing to send stock in.
But an awful depends on what your stock actually is. If it’s not restricted, then look at the delivery times etc. But why not just try a few items and see how they go for the time being?
Seller_amUAzjvL5uIzu
I’m normally 100% FBA,Prime orders have dropped 90% + since lockdown,can only send in 20% of my FBA sku’s but with such low sales its not worth me sending anything in to the FC.
Ive added my best sellers as FBM & sales higher than the same FBA listing but at much lower profit.
Seller_xDtaDZ1Iek9Fq
if you can handle SFP, the sales is good. We are in stationary and what we had in FBA is not really moving much; however we are flat out busy everyday with SFP. Even with the stock that is already doing FBA.
So my take on this is… when FBA open again, we will think hard about how much stock we sending in. Some lines selling better on FBA; so will concentrate those one that do UK; especially we want to be out of Europe before end of year with the VAT situation.
We had to make some changes to increase warehouse capacitiy and what to use for packing etc; as it is only 2 of us and we do not want any staff; so we will see once FBA open fully again what to do. For now, we just carry on.
