Integrate Amazon Inventory Management: Accurate and Efficient Processes for Your Business

In case you are not familiar with the terms FBM and FBA, here's a brief distinction between the two.

FBM = Fulfillment by Merchant: FBM stands for Fulfillment by Merchant, meaning sellers offer their products on the Amazon Marketplace but handle the shipping process independently.

FBA = Fulfillment by Amazon: Sellers using Amazon's FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) program outsource the fulfillment process to the company. When an order is placed, Amazon handles the picking and shipping of the goods.

Many e-commerce companies consider the Amazon Marketplace as their most important sales channel because it generates a significant amount of sales and corresponding revenue due to the platform's reach. However, this does not mean that there can't be other channels alongside it. To avoid stockouts, sellers must synchronize their inventory on Amazon (when using the FBA program) and/or in their own inventory management.

To monitor all incoming and outgoing goods, merchants and manufacturers typically rely on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems such as Microsoft Dynamics 365. For the ERP to be fully effective, you need to seamlessly integrate your Amazon business into it. Manual inventory management is not practical due to the high time consumption and can quickly become a bottleneck for your company.

Besides high workload, manual inventory management leads to additional problems:

• Lack of Visibility: With manual processes, it's challenging to keep up with the development of your inventory levels, making it difficult to provide accurate information on available items and which ones need restocking.
• Overstock or Understock: Without automated inventory management, it's challenging to keep your inventory at an optimal level. You may end up with too much or too little stock, leading to increased storage costs or missed sales opportunities.
• Manual Errors: Manual processes come with a high risk of errors. Flows of goods may not be correctly recorded, orders may remain unprocessed, or you might ship the wrong items. Automated standard processes can prevent these errors.
• Poor Customer Ratings: Whenever errors occur in the ordering process, dissatisfied customers are not far behind. They often express their frustration in reviews, potentially harming your company's reputation.
• Inefficient Warehouse Usage: Manual processes rarely ensure efficient use of warehouse space, leading to long transport routes and unnecessary storage costs. Inventory management helps optimize existing warehouse space.

The problems that can arise from manually transferring your Amazon goods streams provide reasons for direct integration into your ERP.

Meaningful Inventory Monitoring and Reporting

Through the integration of your inventory management, you can monitor your stock levels in real-time and receive alerts when your Amazon stock is low. This allows you to know exactly when and which items need to be reordered. The precise numbers also enable you to make informed business decisions, identifying particularly profitable products and those causing unnecessary capital tie-up and storage costs.

Increased Productivity

Manual processes tie up resources that, thanks to the automation of your integrated inventory management, will become available again and can be used elsewhere, making your company more productive overall.

Improved Customer Experience

Since errors occur less frequently and order processes can be accelerated, automation will also have a positive impact on the customer side. Although fast and smooth shipping processes have become a hygiene factor in e-commerce, satisfied customers occasionally reward their positive shopping experience with good reviews.

Scalability

The integration of your Amazon inventory management and the associated automation make your company capable of growth and enable you to fully tap into the potential of the online marketplace.

Transparency

Automatic integration provides more transparency over your inventory. Especially for FBA sellers, it can be challenging to accurately track their stock. Connecting to your ERP allows for real-time synchronization between inventory management and Amazon Seller Central, so no flow of goods goes unnoticed.

With the Amazon Marketplace Connector from ESYON, you can seamlessly integrate your Amazon business into Microsoft Dynamics 365 without any middleware and benefit from the advantages of automated Inventory Management.

Controlling Inventory Movements

The Inventory Movement allows you to control your inventory at any time, providing an overview of the stock in your company and a deeper understanding of your goods flows. Updates occur in real-time, enabling you to identify trends such as potential stock shortages and take appropriate measures in a timely manner.

Automation of Adjustments and Returns

With our integration, you can automate the import, creation, and posting of adjustment events and returns. This saves valuable time and resources while increasing the accuracy and efficiency of your inventory management.

Automation of Returns

The management of returns is also fully automated with our solution. Once a customer decides to return a product, our connector receives this information from Seller Central and creates a return order. The item is initially considered as scrap and is added back to the inventory once it arrives at the Amazon warehouse and can be resold. Lost or damaged products are not re-added to the inventory.

Transparency for FBA Sellers

If you outsource your fulfillment using Amazon's FBA program, the AMC can provide the necessary transparency in inventory management. When the stock runs low, you can trigger a reorder through Seller Central. This is imported into the connector, and a shipping order is created. Once the goods arrive at Amazon, the inventory is posted through a virtual FBA warehouse in Microsoft Dynamics. In case the goods are lost or damaged during shipment, partial quantities can also be posted.

What is Inventory Management?

Inventory Management is the planning and control of a company's stock. It involves managing inventory from procurement to delivery to the end customer. The goal of Inventory Management is to maintain the inventory at an optimal level to ensure customer satisfaction while minimizing storage costs.

What challenges exist in Amazon Inventory Management?

Selling on Amazon is characterized by a fast-paced and competitive environment. A quick shipping process is considered a hygiene factor for customers and rarely leads to positive reviews. However, if something goes wrong during the order process, customers can easily express their frustration publicly, potentially damaging the company's image. Additionally, Amazon's FBA program is often perceived as opaque, and sellers can quickly lose track of their goods flows. Integrated solutions are needed to provide clarity in this regard.

How can I optimize my Amazon Inventory Management?

To fully leverage the potential of the Amazon Marketplace as a sales channel, you should transfer and automate your inventory management to an ERP. Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a well-suited ERP for this purpose. With the Amazon Marketplace Connector from ESYON, you can integrate your Amazon business into the ERP system and monitor and automate numerous inventory management processes.