Don’t Get Stuck Sitting on Inventory: Improve Your Amazon IPI Score

Posted on August 25, 2022 by adminoo

Sellers cannot just throw unlimited items in the Amazon fulfillment center with hopes of selling all the stock. Inventory management is an essential part of a successful FBA business. You pay through the nose if you keep too many items in the fulfillment center. The Amazon IPI score shows how efficiently you manage your inventory. Amazon rewards high scores and implements restrictions on low-scoring sellers. They know their space is valuable, and storing stranded inventory will hurt their business. You need to learn all the tricks to avoid a low IPI score, and we cover all of these tricks in our blog!

Don’t Get Stuck Sitting on Inventory: Improve Your Amazon IPI Score
1.	Amazon IPI Score: The IPI score measures the efficiency and productivity of inventory management. Higher scores indicate better inventory management.
2.	Where to Check My IPI Score: Log in to Seller Central and click on Inventory. In the drop-down menu, select Inventory Planning. Click the Performance tab, and it will show you your IPI score.
3.	How Amazon Calculates IPI Score: The formula is undisclosed, but Amazon most likely uses the sell-through rate to calculate the IPI score.
4.	Amazon IPI Threshold: *IPI Score Above 450:* Average *IPI Score Above 550:* Excellent *IPI Score Below 350:* Additional Storage Fees & Storage Restrictions
5.	How to Improve My IPI Score: Improve your sell-through rate, avoid excess inventory, and create removal orders for stranded inventory.
6.	Additional Tips to Improve IPI Score: Use PPC advertising, pricing strategies, removal orders, and listing optimization to improve your IPI score.

Amazon IPI Score

The Amazon IPI score measures the efficiency and productivity of your Amazon FBA inventory management. It ranges from 1 to 1000; higher scores indicate excellent management, while lower scores indicate poor inventory management. Therefore, sellers should aim to get a high score because it gives them several advantages. Amazon FBA sellers who efficiently manage inventory receive several privileges. Moreover, efficient inventory management is a sign of a prospering business. Minimal bottlenecks and productive inventory turnover also show that the product sells quickly. Sellers cannot overstock or understock the inventory and must find the perfect balance to achieve a great IPI score.

Where to Check My IPI Score?

You can check your Amazon Inventory Performance Index score in three simple steps. Follow the instructions given below to find your IPI score.

Log in to Amazon Seller Central and click on Inventory.
In the drop-down menu, select Inventory Planning.
Click the Performance tab, and it will show you your IPI score.

Now, you might either get disappointed or happy after seeing your score. Either way, you can still take many actions to improve your score. The most important thing you should know is that IPI scores are not static and keep changing based on your previous three months of performance. If you keep improving your inventory management, your IPI score will keep improving. Do not despair and get to work even if your score is poor! Let us show you how to correct your IPI score.

How Does Amazon Calculate IPI?

Amazon has not disclosed the Inventory Performance Index calculation formula, making it even more complex to understand the IPI score. The organization is secretive and does not want to reveal its algorithms and ranking mechanisms. Amazon has assured sellers that the IPI score does not decrease if a seller runs out of stock. However, stranded inventory decreases the IPI score, as your items are stuck in the warehouse. It means that out-of-stock items represent missed opportunities, but stranded inventory is the death of your IPI score. Study the demand for your product, and do not fill up the fulfillment center with excess inventory.

The sell-through rate is another factor that affects the Amazon Inventory Performance Index score. It refers to the number of units sold and shipped in the last three months divided by the number of units still in the inventory (see the image below for reference). The percentage shows how much stock was on hand in the past 30 days. A low sell-through rate means your items are not selling and are just sitting in the warehouse. As a result, your products are occupying needless space in the Amazon fulfillment center.

Amazon IPI Threshold

Amazon FBA sellers must meet the minimum IPI threshold to avoid penalty fees and restrictions. Extra storage costs can prove detrimental to your business if you are not careful. According to Amazon, an IPI score above 450 is the average score. Every seller should be near this score, but falling below 350 leads to additional fees and storage costs. Moreover, you can only send a limited number of units to the fulfillment center. Avoid going below 350 at any price, and do whatever you can to raise your score. An IPI score of 550 and above indicates your inventory management is excellent. Aim for this score if your Amazon FBA inventory management is currently above 450.

IPI Score Above 450: Average

IPI Score Above 550: Excellent

IPI Score Below 350: Additional Storage Fees & Storage Restrictions

How to Improve My IPI Score?

What can sellers do to improve their IPI score? We have compiled a list of recommendations that can improve your score. Follow these recommendations as much as possible, and the IPI score will rise.

Avoid Excess Inventory

Amazon aims to make the best use of its warehouse space and does not tolerate excess inventory. Be careful and never send too many units to the fulfillment center. When your FBA stock exceeds a 90-day supply, Amazon terms your item as excess or overstock, meaning you have sent the unnecessary stock to the warehouse.

The best practice is to maintain an inventory of 30-60 days. Keeping a low stock has no lasting disadvantages, but you may miss out on sales opportunities if your product runs out of stock. However, running out of stock is much better than paying extra storage fees to Amazon and incurring storage restrictions. Thus, keep a small inventory in the fulfillment center and never ignore your supply and demand statistics. Only increase the stock if the demand is projected to rise shortly.

Improve FBA Sell-Through Rate

The sell-through rate is the number of units shipped in the past 90 days divided by the number of units still in inventory.

The sell-through rate depends on the duration the products stay in inventory. Think of the 90–day-sell-through rate as your salvation. It means that your stock is clearing out in 90 days, so you are not consuming unnecessary space in the fulfillment center. Most importantly, the 90-day-sell-through rate will keep the IPI score in the green graph, which is your ultimate goal.

Amazon Seller Central also gives helpful recommendations to improve the sell-through rate. Go to the inventory dashboard and click “improve sell-through” to see the suggestions. Amazon wants to help you turn over your inventory in a short time. So, follow their advice and try to consider all of their recommendations.

A last-ditched method to improve the sell-through rate is decreasing product prices. Run a promotion and sell your products at low prices to clear out your entire inventory. It might save you from excess inventory but will decrease your profit margins.

Stranded Inventory

Stranded inventory is the biggest nightmare of any FBA seller. Imagine you sourced a new product and were expecting high demand for the product. So, you sent 30-60 worth of stock to the fulfillment center. However, there was a problem with the Amazon product listing, and it went down for some reason. Do not just take this as a hypothetical situation because it is a realistic situation on Amazon. Listings get banned for several reasons, and you cannot do anything about it. As a result, your inventory is stuck in the warehouse. No items are being offered, and the stock is just taking space in the fulfillment center. You must create a removal order to get rid of the stranded inventory.

If stranded inventory sits in the fulfillment center for 365 days, you will have to pay long-term storage costs. Draft a removal order as soon as possible to remove the stranded stock. Another option is to activate the Amazon product listing if possible, but you will need to clear out the inventory quickly. Stranded inventory severely lowers the IPI score and is harmful to the business. The inactive stock serves no purpose and only consumes precious resources. So, ditch the stranded inventory on the first chance you get.

In-Stock Inventory

Being out of stock does not decrease your IPI score, but it is a missed opportunity to improve. It means you are missing out on sales opportunities that can increase your sell-through rate. Amazon also calculates the estimated number of orders you missed due to out-of-stock status. Continuously missing out on sales also indicates inventory mismanagement. Do not be overcautious, and keep your most popular ASINs well-stocked. Use forecasting tools and other methods to track the demand for your product.

Are you working with seasonal products? If yes, mark your ASIN as non-replenishable in the restock inventory. Seasonal products often sell out in a few weeks. However, you might be stuck with these items when the season finishes. Create a removal order to remove any leftover seasonal products after the season is finished.

Additional Tips to Improve IPI Score

Here are some additional tips that can help you to improve your IPI score.

Advertising

Amazon PPC advertisement is a great way to increase your sales. Higher sales translate to a high IPI score because you are clearing the inventory at a high rate. Active advertisement is also much more effective if your product rank is not that good. Advertise to the audience and do not wait for them to search for your product, which might not even pop up due to poor product rank.

Pricing

A competitive pricing strategy always increases sales, and you may have seen countless sellers running offers on their products. Do not decrease the price too much if your products are already making a healthy revenue.

Removal Orders

As we mentioned above, create removal orders to remove dormant inventory that is not making any profit. You cannot afford to let these items sit in the warehouse for long.

Time Shipments to the Fulfillment Center

Time your shipments well and always maintain a 30-60 day stock. Avoiding a low IPI score does not mean that you should continually run out of stock. Maintain a smaller inventory, but keep it stocked to avoid missing out on sales.

Improve Product Listing

Amazon listing optimization can help you to clear out your inventory. It helps to attract relevant traffic to the Amazon listing and increases conversions. Optimize all your product listings to increase sales velocity and frequency. Find the best Amazon listing optimization service to improve your product sales.

Conclusion

Swift and efficient inventory management are essential for making a profit on Amazon. You will be stuck paying storage fees forever unless you improve inventory management. Learning about the IPI score and using different tricks to improve your sales will help your IPI score. Moreover, these methods will help you to be more efficient. You will only pay the minimal Amazon FBA fees if you have a decent inventory turnover. Do everything you can to get in the green IPI rating, as it will help you to gain several advantages. Remember the lesson; stuck inventory equals financial losses.

Amazon Vendor Central vs Amazon Seller Central : Which is Right for You?

Posted on July 27, 2022 by adminoo

What’s the difference between Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central? You often hear Amazon merchants talking about both, but despite how their names sound, they are not the same. Amazon Seller Central and Amazon Vendor Central are two very different methods for selling online and cater to different types of retailers.

Below, we explain the Amazon Vendor Central vs Amazon Seller Central feud. We’ll discuss the differences between them and, more to the point, which one is better for you and your selling style.

What is Amazon Seller Central?

Essentially, Amazon Seller Central is an online hub for anyone who sells products directly on Amazon. It acts as a CMS for managing all your Amazon business: product pages, orders, shipment statuses, sales statistics, inventory, advertising, business reports, reviews, and much more. It’s basically your behind-the-scenes headquarters for selling on Amazon.

You can access Amazon Seller Central as soon as you sign up as a merchant for both Individual and Professional selling plans. There’s also an Amazon Seller Central app available for managing your sales from your phone on the go—useful for time-sensitive tasks like responding to customer inquiries.

Amazon Seller Central also has its own forum, where sellers can chat with each other online, sharing advice, asking questions, or simply commiserating. This is a valuable resource for any seller, as the community is a valuable knowledge base for new sales strategies and troubleshooting technical issues.

Read More:- Amazon Dropshipping: Product Research

What is Amazon Vendor Central?

Amazon Vendor Central is actually very different from Amazon Seller Central. While Amazon Seller Central is for everyone who sells on Amazon directly, Amazon Vendor Central is for people who sell on Amazon indirectly, like suppliers and manufacturers.

This is the hub for “first-party sellers,” who don’t sell anything on Amazon themselves but rather sell products to Amazon, and Amazon in turn, sells those products under their own brand. You can recognize these sellers by the on-site label “ships from and sell by Amazon.com.”

Amazon Seller Central may be open to anyone who enlists as an Amazon merchant, but Amazon Vendor Central is invite-only. Unfortunately, the only way to get an invite is to prove the merit of your products; Amazon typically contacts successful Amazon sellers or off-site eCommerce retailers and sometimes exhibitors at trade shows.

Amazon Vendor Central vs Amazon Seller Central

The Amazon Vendor Central vs. Amazon Seller Central debate boils down to a couple of factors:

Are you successful enough to get an invite to Amazon Vendor Central?
How much do you want to be involved in the sales process?

Often the determining factor for merchants when deciding which method to use is the fact that Amazon Vendor Central is invitation-only. New and unestablished merchants are stuck with Amazon Seller Central by default because they haven’t been invited to join Amazon Vendor Central.

If you have been invited to join Amazon Vendor Central, then the determining factor is how much you want to be involved in the sales process. If you join Amazon Vendor Central, you have less control over the price of your items and the logistical options.

However, joining Amazon Vendor Central has some special perks that Amazon Seller Central does not. Vendors get access to more features on Amazon Marketing Services (AMS), so if you’re very hands-on when it comes to SEO keywords and search advertisements, you may enjoy the extra opportunities from Amazon Vendor Central.

Amazon Vendors also get to use A+ content, which allows for better branding and more visibility. A+ content lets you use enhanced product descriptions on your pages and better visuals to attract browsing shoppers. There’s also the added benefit of consumer trust: Vendor products display the message “sold by Amazon,” which eases the concerns of shoppers skeptical of buying online.

Using Amazon Vendor Central also simplifies the sales process, making it a better choice for merchants who want less to do. Vendors deal only with purchase orders, billing, and chargebacks, whereas Sellers must also handle inventory, taxation, and customer support on top of their main duties.

How to Improve your Amazon Sales

No matter whether you prefer Amazon Seller Central or Amazon Vendor Central, your performance selling on Amazon is vital. A strong sales record can help you attract an invitation to Amazon Vendor Central, but even if you’d rather stick with Amazon Seller Central, you still want to maximize your sales and standing for your own profit.

While we already gave our expert advice on how to improve Amazon click through rates, Amazon PPC campaigns, and inventory management, the most fundamental way to increase both sales and your seller rating is through better visuals like Amazon product photography.

Amazon and ecommerce in general https://feastgood.com/xanax-online-where-to-buy/ are dependent on visuals — after all, online shoppers can’t touch or move products themselves, so they rely on high-quality visuals to determine traits like texture, size, or flexibility. The better your product visuals, the more confident shoppers feel clicking “Buy.”

Most Amazon sellers don’t have prior photography experience, so they outsource their needs to Amazon product photography services like ours. Although we at AMZ One Step deal in a variety of Amazon services, our most popular is by far our Amazon product photography.

With us, you get to leverage our stable of expert photographers and high-end studios on three continents. You receive professional-quality product photos that catch shoppers’ eyes, all without having to invest time and money into your own photo shoots.

If you’re interested in improving your Amazon performance, schedule a free consultation now and we’ll answer any questions you might have.

How to Get Your First Initial Reviews on Amazon (2021): An Essential Guide to Success for Amazon Sellers

Posted on July 28, 2021 by adminoo

With Amazon being so buyer-centric, reviews play a critical role in the success of your listing as they are essential to building trust and social proof.

Whether obvious or not, subconsciously, if there are two identical products, the majority of buyers would choose the listing with more reviews. This is because we have a psychological herd mentality regarding reviews; the more there are, the more you can trust the listing.

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In today’s post, we’ll look at how to get your first initial reviews on Amazon.

Let’s dive in!

WHAT NOT TO DO

I think it’s easier to start with what not to do to save the fun stuff for later. There are, of course, things that people do to get reviews that are against Amazon’s TOS that can get your listing suppressed or deleted.

Essentially don’t upset Amazon’s A10 algorithm, and you should be fine.

So here’s what to NOT do:

1.Never directly take the link at the top of your browser and send it to someone so that they can buy it there. That link is specific to you, and Amazon’s algorithm will get triggered if someone else tries to use the link to buy your product.

2.When first starting out, getting friends and family to all buy the product and having them all leave 5-star reviews will trigger the algorithm. When you’re first starting out, you don’t want your first five sales to all have 5-star reviews. The algorithm knows that’s not normal behavior, and it’ll flag your listing. Amazon knows how many organic reviews your type of listing should be getting.

3.Avoid review groups or review services. Occasionally on social media, you will see a person or company that claims they will leave quality reviews on your products for a fee. If that person or account reviews your product later and then gets banned for this spam reviewing, then your account might get flagged.

4. Make sure the person buying the product isn’t at your household. Amazon can link it together that you’re at the same address.

Essentially, don’t upset Amazon’s Algorithm, and let’s get your reviews in a way that Amazon likes!

WHAT TO DO

1. Amazon Vine Program

As per Amazon’s page:

Amazon Vine invites the most trusted reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new and pre-release items to help their fellow customers make informed purchase decisions.

Once you’re a part of the program, you send your product to a Vine reviewer for free, and they will thoroughly review your product. You are not guaranteed any type of review; Amazon has chosen these people on the basis that they give honest reviews.

There are several requirements that you will need to qualify for; you can find them here. The biggest one worth mentioning is that you need to be brand registered. This is especially important for new sellers to know.

You can enroll in the Vine program by going to ‘Advertising’ in Seller Central and then going to ‘Vine.’ You will only see this if you are brand registered. Then you enter your ASIN, and you can enroll!

Once you hit 30 reviews, you will become unenrolled in the program.

2. Friends and Family Method

The key with this strategy is moderation. Do not get five family members to buy the product and leave a 5-star review right after getting it. As mentioned previously, Amazon knows the percentage of sales to reviews that your type of product should be getting.

If you have only five sales and five 5-star reviews, Amazon will recognize that in a second and bottom line…it won’t be good.

Here’s what you want to do.

You’ll genuinely have to get a few sales. Then maybe one of your family members buys the product. Tell them to wait until they’ve had the product for 10+ days after it has been delivered to them before writing a review.

Most people need time to try out the product before they can form an opinion on it. Keep in mind they must also be using an existing account that they’ve spent 50+ dollars on; they cannot simply create an account just to buy your product.

Lets other purchases come in. Maybe after 50 purchases, then you get another family member to do the same.

You can repeat this process, but only after enough organic sales have been made.

My advice is the longer you wait in between periods is the safest way for this strategy to work.

3. Request A Review

After the customer buys the product, within TOS, Amazon allows for you to contact the buyer encouraging them to leave a review. Requesting a review is a straightforward way to get reviews. Go to your ‘Order Details’ page on Seller Central, and you’ll be able to find the ‘Request a Review’ feature.

You can use this feature once per order between 5 and 30 days after the order delivery date.

The downside of this method is that buyers who consistently buy from Amazon generally opt out of receiving emails from Amazon of this type. However, that is not to say that this method isn’t effective.

By utilizing this method, you can still potentially increase your review rate by one or two percent, which is very significant.

It can also be pretty time-consuming. So I have a solution for you…

4. Automated Review Services

Automated Review Services are programs offered by companies like Jungle Scout (https://www.junglescout.com/features/review-automation/) and Helium 10 to do the ‘request a review’ for you.

This is a very straightforward way to request reviews, and although getting reviews is not guaranteed, it is well within Amazon’s TOS, so you don’t have anything to worry about.

5. Product Inserts

Product inserts are small notes or cards that you can include in your product packaging.

Write a small “thank you” and suggest something along the lines of “Let us know how you like the product.” You could also include a scannable QR code that can take them to the page where they can leave a review.

Many people are happy to oblige, and many sellers say that this strategy is one of the best to utilize.

6. Influencer Marketing

You can do influencer marketing, whereby you pay someone with a relevant following on social media to promote your product. That might be in the form of them using your product in a picture, doing an unboxing video, etc.

They can then tell their audience to go buy it and say something like, “Go let the company know what you think.”

By saying that, hopefully, people will go and leave reviews. It may sounds far-fetched but believe it or not; it has been proven to work for certain brands. Some influencers garner very loyal followings, and they will take the time to do what these influencers say.

Final Thoughts

As effective as the strategies mentioned above are, we must not forget about the product itself. At the end of the day, your product is still going to be the biggest determining factor as to whether you receive positive reviews or not.

Getting reviews is one thing, and getting positive reviews is another.

I hope this guide will help you to get those first few reviews and many more!

If you have any questions, contact us via our website! And if you would like to stay up to date on the most relevant Amazon seller content, feel free to get in touch with me on LinkedIn or on Twitter @nolanswriting.