Amazon FBA sellers experiencing issues involving suppliers, logistics, or business operations in general, will benefit from this program.

With this recently added FBA feature, Amazon stores can now offer customers temporarily out-of-stock products. However, items on offer should have already been shipped to Amazon’s fulfillment centers via specific logistic partners.   

This means that even if inventory items are yet to reach the FBA warehouse, FBA sellers may experience higher and more consistent sales. From a customer standpoint, a wider selection of products is expected.                                  

Mechanics of Amazon In-Stock Head Start              

Understanding how In-Stock Head Start works is quite simple. By simply sending your inventory items to Amazon’s fulfillment center, your out-of-stock listings will be eligible for the In-Stock Head Start program.

Additionally, Amazon also advises FBA sellers to use Amazon Global Logistic, Amazon Carrier Central, or Partnered Carrier Program for eligibility. Using such carrier options helps facilitate the increased probability of out-of-stock products to be buyable for customers.                                             

Being eligible for the program means that your out-of-stock ASINs will be available for customers to find and the ASINs will still appear on Amazon’s search engine result pages. To enroll your FBA account to the program, you may CLICK HERE.

Reasons FBA Sellers Should Take Advantage of In-Stock Head Start

Since Amazon is very focused on customer service, they usually hide out of stock products from the search engine result pages. The main purpose of hiding out-of-stock items is to avoid customers from being frustrated. 

For that matter, enrolling your out-of-stock items to In-Stock Head Start benefits from the DISCOVERABILITY of the items on search engine result pages. Items that are on the way to the fulfillment centers will not be hidden from customers’ search results. Thus, resulting in wider selection and increased traffic to your Amazon store. 

As well as discoverability, sellers will also benefit from a potential increase in sales. Out-of-stock items that are normally hidden from search results will now be temporarily available for customers to see and purchase. Hence, resulting in IMPROVED SALES PERFORMANCE. 

With In-Stock Head Start, orders are taken from customers while products are in transit, creating a more streamlined and efficient process.  

Inventory Reports

To avoid mistakes with inventory reports, Amazon has categorized In-Stock Head Start in the following way…                                           

The quantity of a SKU that is already in the Amazon fulfillment center and is ready for picking, packing, and shipping will be reflected in “Available Quantity”, while those items on their way to the fulfillment centers will be reflected in “Inbound Quantity” on the Manage Inventory page. 

To access the Manage FBA Inventory report and see details about In-Stock Head Start units, you may CLICK HERE. 

In-Stock Head Start, Frequently Asked Questions

• About Program Enrolment

Enrolling in the In-Stock Head Start is easy. You should first be an enrolled FBA seller and click this enrollment page HERE for program activation.

• About Incoming Product Eligibility   

There are two main criteria for In-Stock Head Start eligibility. First, products should already be in transit to the Amazon fulfillment centers. Secondly, the shipment method should be via the aforementioned carrier partners.        

• About Delivery Period  

To avoid late deliveries and disappointments to customers, the delivery date assigned for the out-of-stock products will be based on the supposed in-stock date. If a delay does occur, Amazon will simply adjust the in-stock date. 

• Putting In-Stock Head Start Feature on Hold

FBA sellers can also pause the In-Stock Head Start feature of Amazon. To put the program on hold, CLICK HERE. 

• About Inventory Replenishment

Amazon FBA sellers should not confuse the In-Stock Head Start program with the regular inventory replenishment schedule. The In-Stock Head Start feature is developed for products that infrequently go out of stock, and not for regular inventory replenishment cycles.                                                  

The Bottom Line                

The main point of this FBA feature is to eliminate disappointment on the part of Amazon shoppers while giving sellers an opportunity to have consistent sales and improved store engagement. 

Alternatively, to avoid experiencing an out-of-stock situation, using an inventory management tool will also be helpful. With the help of inventory management tools along with other Amazon seller tools, like Amazon repricers, you can surely provide the best customer service to your Amazon store visitors. 

If you were looking for the perfect product to sell on Amazon, you would certainly have to take the effects of the pandemic into consideration. With that in mind, let’s explore some trends that have shown increased demand since the start of the pandemic that we have confirmed using AMZScout data. The best way to do this is by taking a look at some niches that are good examples of the overall trends:

1. Home Bread Making Kits 

One of the most immediate effects of people being stuck at home was the fact that they started cooking more. You probably noticed your friends and family posting their latest home cooked culinary projects all over social media. It’s hard to purchase fresh bread when you’re stuck at home, so people have taken to baking their own. Amazon sellers in this niche have been making dough since the pandemic started. 

2. Jump Rope

Gyms have been closed during the pandemic. Also, that running outside has not been an option in some areas due to a more strict lockdown or curfew. Because of this, people have found jump ropes to be a very inexpensive piece of home exercise equipment that can give you a sweat inducing cardio workout in a very short period of time. 

Photo by AMZScout

As we can see the sales volume in this niche has skyrocketed and has even settled now on a very high sales average. 

3. Air Purifiers

One of the effects of the pandemic is that people have gotten more health conscious. The fact that this virus is attacking our respiratory system has prompted many people into thinking about the quality of the air that they breathe. Because of this, air purifiers have had a noticeable spike in demand. 

4. Barbeques and Barbeque Equipment

This niche is a great example of 2 emerging trends coming together. We’ve mentioned the fact that people have gotten used to cooking more at home due to the pandemic. Another noticeable trend is that people are shopping for items that make their gardens and yards a more enjoyable place. This is due to the fact that it’s the only outdoor space that you can inhabit safely during a pandemic. Combine those two trends  and you see higher sales for barbeques and all things barbeque related.

5. Toys

Toys are a category that has always been very attractive to private label sellers on Amazon. This niche has so much variety and you can often manufacture products using inexpensive materials. Needless to say, the fact that you have to keep your children indoors and are not able to take them to the park, vacation or on a playdate with other children has left parents looking at toy shopping as one of the only ways to keep their little ones happy. Sales of all types of toys have skyrocketed exactly because of this reason. 

Of course, it’s not all good news in online sales. There are categories that have seen quite the decline in demand due to the pandemic and there are trends moving downwards. 

1. Eyeliner

Selling makeup is one of the most coveted industries for entrepreneurs. There are rarely any other types of items that can sell at such high margins. It’s often the case that 90% of the selling price of any makeup item is just profit. However, during a pandemic people aren’t going out much. Since we aren’t seeing people outside the home, we don’t have to put that much effort into looking pretty as we usually do. Sales for all types of makeup have been steadily declining throughout the pandemic. 

2. Dress shoes

Similar to makeup, just as we don’t have as many opportunities to show off our beauty during a pandemic, we also have less opportunity to get dressed up. Because of this, footwear manufacturers have taken a hit, even more so if they are making trendy or more high end shoes. 

3. Luggage

Unsurprisingly, since traveling is largely non existent during the pandemic, people haven’t really had a need to buy any new luggage. Some companies have reported sales going down by 90%. You can see by the example of this single luggage listing on Amazon how low the sales have been, even during the months of the year when sales should normally be peaking:

Photo by AMZScout

However, we can expect this trend to recover since fairly certain that people will be traveling again as soon as they are able to. 

4. Wrist Watches

Wrist watches are one of those categories that Amazon was hoping to develop more, which is why it has one of the lowest referral fee rates. However, wrist watches, as well as a lot of luxury goods, have seen a decline in sales during the pandemic. This could be due to the fact that people don’t get out enough to show off their bling. It could also be because they are avoiding luxury purchases due to the economic uncertainty of the whole situation. Either way, wrist watches are not the items you would want to be selling online right now. 

5. Party Supplies 

Parties are unfortunately not a common occurrence during a pandemic, and are certainly not recommended. It makes sense that people would not be buying party supplies for parties they can’t hold. Party kits are usually a very good product to sell as they are made from inexpensive materials. They also usually get used up by a single party, so satisfied customers can easily become return customers. However, the current state of things for party supplies can be best described with the sales history of one such listing:

Photo by AMZScout

In conclusion, the pandemic has made people turn to shopping online more now than ever before. This presents a great opportunity for anyone to get into the online selling space or to expand and invest more into their existing business. What you need to keep in mind is the state of the world as it is today and make sure that whatever you intend to sell is something that people are able to properly utilize and enjoy under the current circumstances.