4 Ways Software Can Help Amazon Merchants Cut Costs

Much can be said about the importance of increasing top-line revenue. Capturing a greater share of the Buy Box, expanding your product catalog and increasing SKU profitability are all admirable goals.

But what about reducing operating costs? Some Amazon sellers gloss over this part of the equation - which can be a huge mistake.

In this post, we'll discuss four ways that Amazon merchants use our software to reduce operating expenditures.

#1: Automation of Administrative Tasks

As an Amazon merchant, you have a lot of things to juggle. At any moment, you could have dozens of different shipments midstream to various supply chain locations. An unexpected surge in orders could cause a flurry of customer emails in your inbox. Too many orders at once could expose you to an out-of-stock situation.

For an average person, so many moving parts would cause some serious anxiety. Luckily, you're good at handling the stress, and you even revel in your ability to keep everything organized.

Despite your track record of keeping it all together, how scalable is your current business model? If you doubled your product catalog and revenue, could you realistically maintain the status quo?

At eComEngine, we've had the privilege to serve some of the highest-grossing sellers on the Amazon marketplace. For merchants aspiring to make the list of top Amazon merchants, we find that our largest customers have a laser-like focus on rooting out administrative inefficiency. By leveraging technology, sellers are able to reduce overhead expenses - and set the table for future scalability.

What are some of the administrative tasks worth automating? Here are five common administrative headaches (among many others) that merchants use our software to automate.

1. Manual feedback & review solicitation
2. Tracking feedback (especially negative ratings)
3. New product research
4. ASIN restocking & profitability analysis
5. FBA shipment preparation

Does your company spend countless hours on one or more of these tasks? Perhaps it's time you started a free trial of our software for Amazon merchants.

#2: Minimizing Bottlenecks

Your Amazon business started out as one person (you!) with a dream. To your satisfaction, that dream is coming true and has required you to staff up.

Although the blend of new team members and technology can help reduce your administrative workload, some tasks are difficult to let go of. For example, handing off your entire restocking and supply chain management process makes you particularly nervous. On the other hand, you don't want to become a bottleneck for tedious activities (such as creating and sending purchase orders).

When we build a tool for Amazon merchants, our developers keep every aspect of your business in mind - including your desire to eliminate bottlenecks. For example, RestockPro, our inventory management software for FBA merchants, makes it easy to add and manage users. Each user account can have varying levels of access, allowing you to define who can:

• Adjust store settings
• Manage users
• Update billing information
• Process orders

To limit risk, you might set up a user profile that can only help with orders (but cannot adjust your settings or billing info). Reduce bottlenecks without giving up too much control!

#3: Data Visualization

We find that most Amazon merchants are very tech savvy in nature. We also find that they are hungry for in-depth analytical data to help them run their businesses.

In an era of "big data," sellers can fully (and affordably) capitalize on this hunger by leveraging eComEngine's suite of reporting tools. Want to see how a specific SKU is performing? Our customers can easily gain a 360-degree view of product health in a matter of clicks.

If you're using RestockPro, you can see how a specific ASIN has fared from a profitability standpoint. Are margins trending up or down? For an even more in-depth view, drill down into performance for each related purchase order.

Without tools like FeedbackFive and RestockPro, such insights would either be impossible or impracticable (purely from a cost standpoint) for most Amazon merchants. Our tools level the playing field for cost-conscious merchants!

#4: Compliance Management

Maintaining compliance with the rules set forth by Amazon.com, Inc. ("Amazon") is becoming a real cost factor for serious merchants. The negative impact of Amazon suspension is too costly to take lightly.

At eComEngine, our feature development starts and ends with Amazon compliance. We've been developing software for Amazon merchants since 2007, which gives us an upper hand in the industry. Our Customer Success team is dedicated to answering your questions and even provides one-on-one account reviews to help FeedbackFive customers make sure they are following Amazon's guidelines in communication with buyers.

We offer several free resources to help sellers stay up-to-date on the rules. Our feedback compliance checklist and product review compliance checklist helps sellers ensure they are complying with Amazon's policies at-a-glance. We regularly feature industry experts on our blog and in webinars to educate Amazon sellers and help them accelerate business growth. 

Get to Know Our Cost-Saving Tools for Amazon Merchants

If you're looking for ways to reduce operating expenses for your Amazon business, it's time you check out our entire suite of software tools. Automate your administrative workflow, eliminate bottlenecks, get better data and streamline your compliance management efforts.