If you're a vendor on Amazon, you may have already been offered the use of Amazon Vendor Services (AVS). According to Amazon, the program helps vendors ensure long-term success and increase sales.
Through Amazon Vendor Services, vendors have their contact person at Amazon, also called a Brand Specialist. This person helps them with marketing activities, reaching sales goals, or expanding to other marketplaces, among other things.
Do you have a hard time getting in touch with your Vendor Manager?
If Amazon invites you to join the AVS program, knowing the pros and cons is essential. Since it is often an expensive investment, we detail it in this article.
What is Amazon Vendor Services (AVS)?
If you participate in Amazon Vendor Services program, you will be assigned a contact person at Amazon known as a Brand Specialist. This person can connect you with other support teams within Amazon who can assist with tasks like optimizing your product page, identifying delivery issues, selecting your assortment, driving traffic to your page, or transitioning to the Pan-EU program.
The Brand Specialist collaborates with each vendor to create a Vendor Improvement Plan (VIP) that outlines the objectives for the upcoming year and provides a thorough strategy for achieving them.
If you have requests or needs regarding vendor management, it is important to communicate them clearly to the assigned Brand Specialist. Keep in mind that the specialist may not always take the initiative. However, they can support you in your daily tasks by providing reports that give you insight into your brand's position in the market, such as category size and brand share.
Amazon Vendor Services can assist you in the following areas:
- Selection: The Brand Specialist checks your catalog for completeness and recommends expanding the range.
- Content: The Brand Specialist helps you to improve your product detail page. For example, it shows which products should have product images or A+ content added. It also supports you in creating new offers.
- Availability and Operational excellence: The Brand Specialist provides data on your deliveries. For example, you can see if deliveries arrive fast enough at Amazon if there are OOS (out-of-stock) situations, and if products arrive defective. In addition, you can talk to him about PICS or Direct Import, for example. PICS (Partner Integrated Carrier Services) is a program where you deliver to only one fulfillment center, and Amazon redistributes the goods. With Direct Import, products are sent from the manufacturer directly to Amazon without going through you.
- Promotion and Financing: Your Brand Specialist helps you generate more traffic to your site. This is done, for example, through coupons and discount promotions. Especially on Prime Day, the Brand Specialist will contact you to select products for deals.
- Core Services: Central services include weekly meetings and regular email traffic about operations. For example, you can contact your Brand Specialist if you have problems with a blocked ASIN.
- Advertising Support: The Brand Specialist can help you optimize your advertising campaigns. He will identify products that must be advertised or recommend ad types that are not yet used.
Advantages of Amazon Vendor Services
Amazon Vendor Services offers direct communication with Amazon, which is a major benefit. With AVS, a Brand Specialist can provide assistance in enhancing your Amazon presence and streamlining your procedures.
Vendors who are not utilizing AVS will need to repeatedly open new cases to obtain support. This is particularly true for small and medium-sized vendors.
As a Brand Specialist, you have access to internal tools, reports, and teams that are not available to vendors. This means that you can offer assistance to vendors who need help navigating Vendor Central or other tools by providing them with the necessary information.
With this approach, the Brand Specialist can resolve issues faster than by using traditional case management methods. Output Language Code: EN-US
Disadvantages of Amazon Vendor Services
The experience of your contact person plays a crucial role in determining their quality. However, this is a matter of chance and you may be more or less fortunate.
To avoid the risk of the Amazon brand specialist working on non-priority issues, it is important to proactively manage them and clearly communicate the areas of focus. This is because each specialist is responsible for multiple vendors.
It is important to remember that as a Vendor, the Brand Specialist is employed by Amazon. Therefore, any suggestions they provide should be evaluated to ensure they align with your own goals.
Keep in mind that Amazon may also encourage Vendors to sell in various countries, but it is possible that not all Vendors may have the appropriate rights or pricing strategies to pursue this option.
How much does Amazon Vendor Services cost?
AVS is a service from Amazon that helps you manage your account. However, this support comes at a price. The price varies depending on the size of your business, annual revenue, number of marketplaces covered, and level of support.
And it's always a matter of negotiation, too. On average, vendors must pay between 2 and 6 percent of their cost of goods sold (COGS) to Amazon for AVS.
The costs can escalate quickly and become substantial. For instance, if you sell $1 million worth of goods to Amazon and use AVS, you are required to pay Amazon a fee ranging from $20,000 to $60,000 USD.
Alternatively, you could invest this money in an Or you can hire an Amazon Full Service Agency like beBOLD or your employees.
Amazon Vendor Services - Frequently Asked Questions
What is Amazon Vendor Services (AVS)?
Answer: Amazon Vendor Services (AVS) is a program offered by Amazon to help vendors enhance their presence on the platform, streamline operations, and increase sales. AVS includes various tools and services such as A+ Content, Amazon Marketing Services, and the Vendor Central portal, which provide vendors with greater control over their product listings, advertising, and inventory management.
Question 2: How does Amazon Vendor Services (AVS) benefit vendors?
Answer: AVS offers numerous benefits to vendors, including increased brand visibility through A+ Content and advertising, streamlined inventory management with the Vendor Central portal, and access to valuable insights and analytics to make data-driven decisions. By utilizing AVS, vendors can optimize their product listings, improve customer engagement, and ultimately boost sales on the Amazon platform.
Question 3: How can vendors access and use Amazon Vendor Services (AVS)?
Answer: To access and use AVS, vendors must first have an active Vendor Central account, which is granted by invitation from Amazon. Once the account is set up, vendors can access the various tools and services available within AVS through the Vendor Central portal. Vendors can then create A+ Content, manage advertising campaigns, and utilize the provided analytics to optimize their Amazon presence and grow their business.
Conclusion
Whether or not the AVS is worth it depends on the specific situation. While the AVS can offer helpful recommendations for certain areas like improving product listings, it's up to you to put them into action. Alternatively, you could invest the money into your own employees or hire a professional agency to handle it for you.
AVS provides a significant benefit compared to other solutions. It can resolve issues that might have taken several weeks to solve, especially when a top article is not available. Investing in AVS can prove useful in such scenarios and help recoup the cost quickly.
Regardless, it is important to actively manage the relationship with the AVS. Even if the AVS is running in the background, the investment should still be worthwhile. On the other hand, it is possible for an investment to be profitable if it is actively managed.
If you are looking for a reliable and experienced partner to manage your Amazon Vendor account, look no further than beBOLD. beBOLD is an Amazon Full Service Agency with a team of experts who are highly experienced in helping brands of all sizes optimize their Amazon presence.
Reach out to beBOLD today to get started on transforming your Amazon Vendor account into a profit-generating machine.
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