49% of shoppers care about on-time delivery! How can sellers cope with increasingly stringent shipping requirements?

Most third-party sellers using Amazon are used to the e-commerce giant making the rules. Amazon changed the rules of e-commerce delivery a few years ago with its Prime product, and now Prime's rules are gradually becoming the standard for all sellers on its platform.

On February 1, Amazon required sellers to meet " delivery speed targets " for packages . By June 1, these targets became increasingly stringent. Amazon's shipping requirements are becoming increasingly tight.

For third-party sellers who choose the SFP model, the sellers fulfill the orders themselves and need to fulfill the delivery promise. On February 1, 20% of standard-sized shipments must show and meet the guarantee of delivery in one day or less ; 55% need two days or less. By June 1, these two figures will increase to 30% and 70% respectively. For oversized goods , the current requirements are 5% and 30%, and will increase to 15% and 60% in the future.

Ware2Go, a company that provides warehousing and logistics services to sellers who sell products on Amazon and other platforms such as Walmart and Shopify, believes that SFP provides sellers with a sales boost because sellers will see the Prime shipping badge on their product pages .

“There’s no doubt that the Prime badge attracts loyal shoppers and drives conversions. In fact, Amazon Prime members spend more than twice as much as non-members each year. ”

CEO Steve Denton said​​​   : “Amazon is clearly maniacally focused on the customer experience right now , and Prime is the best tool for that . ”

In fact, a survey showed that 23% of respondents would intentionally avoid higher shipping costs , 21% would avoid longer shipping times , and 49% of people who choose to shop on Amazon do so because they believe the package will be delivered as promised, while 19% said they choose Amazon because the merchant will proactively communicate during the delivery process .

Last year , 38% of e-commerce in the United States was conducted through Amazon. However, Denton also believes that the new SFP standard may be difficult for some small and medium-sized sellers to achieve , and some SFP buyers have begun to seek other better solutions .

Some buyers choose to switch from SFP to FBA, but FBA's various restrictions, hidden fees , inventory preparation prerequisites and FBA's changing requirements have always been controversial issues. For sellers of small items , the cost of Amazon logistics is more attractive. Generally speaking, it is more expensive for small and medium-sized sellers to build or rent their own warehouses , which prompts them to turn to outsourcing to third-party logistics companies ( 3PL) .

Whether Amazon is leading the market with its new SFP requirements or catering to consumer preferences and expectations, it’s clear that increasingly demanding logistics requirements are something third-party sellers will have to contend with.

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