Due to the increased volume of products being delivered into Amazon FBA warehouses at busy times of the year, Amazon can experience difficulty receiving goods at specific locations. The result of this is that sellers are waiting longer to be allocated a delivery slot. Is this affecting you? Keep reading to discover what causes delivery delays into Amazon.
Amazon's Busy Periods Can Cause Delivery Delays
Just like most places, during seasonal holidays Amazon becomes increasingly busy with deliveries going to their fulfilment centres, this is due to sellers like yourself needing to get their stock delivered before the rush of orders from their customers.
Before Chinese New Year, there is an increase in imports from China so sellers can ensure they have enough stock to last through the week delay of manufacturing. This has a knock-on effect on fulfilment centres as the shipments arrive at similar times causing a demand for delivery slots.
At Christmas time, everyone wants to get stock into Amazon to prepare for the rush of gifts and Boxing Day sales which means there will be a surge of deliveries around the recommended time for shipments to be delivered. This will slow down the processes of allocating deliveries and checking your stock. To add to the rush of stock going into Amazon, if you leave your deliveries to the last minute, the transport services may be limited which will create delays with the deliveries themselves.
Black Friday & Cyber Monday, similar to Christmas, will create surges of deliveries as Amazon advises on the last dates to have goods delivered. This ensures there is sufficient time to unload these deliveries and check stock before the sales start on the website.
Incorrect Packaging
Don’t get your stock rejected because it’s not packaged properly!Amazon has strict requirements with regard to how stock can be delivered to their fulfilment centres. Cartons are required to be no larger than 63.5cm on any side or 23kg (unless the product itself exceeds this). Anything over 15kg must be labelled “Heavy Package”.
The unit cartons must have a single scannable barcode, outer cartons must display carton labels from your seller central account which can be applied by your supplier.
The pallets must then be built no higher than 180cm, more than 500kg or overhang the standard 100cm x 120cm pallet, the pallet should then be clear shrink-wrapped and pallet labels applied to all 4 sides of the pallet.
If any of the above requirements have not been followed, your goods could be rejected from the warehouse, with a ban on your seller central account – meaning you can’t send in or sell any more goods.
Here’s our guide to packaging your goods for Amazon to ensure they’re not rejected due to an avoidable mistake!
Plan Ahead For Your Christmas Stock
It is recommended that stock should be delivered in by late November to ensure the fulfilment centres have enough time to sort through the large number of deliveries and check them into Seller Central before Christmas.
This means you should plan ahead, taking the manufacturing and shipping process into account. This can be done by asking your supplier for their lead time of manufacturing your products as well as finding out how long your goods are going to take to reach the UK.
Here’s our delivery estimator so you can plan ahead for your stock to arrive before its too late!
You may wish to use this to plan ahead for other holidays such as Valentine’s day or Mothers day if your goods are likely to be bought as gifts.
Once the warehouses are full, there may be a lack of appointments produced by Amazon as they wait for the stock to go out before allowing more in.
Fulfilment Centers Affected
Certain fulfilment centres receive higher volumes than others, we have noticed some trends with the busier fulfilment centres.
Current FBA Centres affected by delays:
Coventry BHX4 (CV5 9PF)
The FBA centre in Coventry has seen more volumes of stock than others recently. If you are allocated this fulfilment centre, keep in mind there may be a slight delay with having your delivery slot allocated.
This changes as new centres are built across the country, some are busier at certain times of year than others, which means delivery slots are later than expected. Unfortunately, creating a new shipment plan won’t solve this as Amazon may have a reason for sending your product to this FBA centre or they may have more staff than others.
Contact Shippo For More Help With Amazon Delivery Days
In order to avoid delays, you can ensure your goods are shipped with enough time to beat the rush of seasonal stock into Amazon.
Packaging your goods to Amazon’s requirements (printing pallet labels along with your carton labels) allows the check-in process to be smoother and avoids any unnecessary hassle.
If you’re worried about any of your shipments or want further information, feel free to contact us or get a quote.
Excellent company, rapid responses to all queries and they ensure smooth imports of our goods. All the processes of importing and costs are clearly explained when they quote so no surprises along the way. Shippo are a vital part of our import business and we would recommend them to anyone looking to import their goods. First class service.Baby Curls