Dropshipping as a vendor – How does it work and where does it make sense?

Amazon regularly tries to convince its retail partners, who are connected via VendorCentral, of the advantages of direct delivery, or dropshipping.

On the VC start page, you can see how much additional sales you can achieve as a supplier if you register certain products for direct shipping. The proposed selection seems mostly quite arbitrary: Large items, small items, light and heavy, top sellers and dust collectors – everything is there. The approach via BuyBox losses and the possible compensation through direct supply also does not apply. So, the algorithm suggests items to dropshipping without any pattern.

Used in a targeted manner, direct delivery to Amazon customers can already make sense; find out exactly where, what the requirements are, and what pitfalls you should avoid in this article.

Wie funktioniert Dropshipping als Amazon Vendor?

With direct delivery, dropshipping, Amazon does not stock the product in its own fulfillment centers, but you send it directly to the Amazon customer’s home after the order is placed. The advantage for Amazon is clear: savings on warehousing costs and avoidance of duplicate transport costs.

schematic process direct delivery

Note: When calculating purchase prices for direct delivery, please keep in mind that the goods will be picked up at your location at Amazon’s expense, and thus you will not have any shipping costs. As a rule, Amazon expects a better purchase price in return.

Once set up, you will receive customer orders in VendorCentral at Orders -> Direct Delivery Orders. Attention: Transmission via EDI is not possible!

Welche Voraussetzungen sind auf Lieferantenseite notwendig?

First and most important requirement: Your internal processes and logistics must be able to ship individual orders directly to private end customers with a short response time.

If you are unable to map this shipping process because you may be a B2B-only supplier, you should carefully consider whether you want to participate in Amazon’s direct delivery program at this time, because the conversion process from order acceptance to shipping preparation to invoicing should not be underestimated.

Checklist requirements for Amazon direct delivery

• Mein Unternehmen kann einzelne Produkte an private Haushalte versenden
• Die Bestellbearbeitung im Amazon VendorCentral ist möglich
• Eingehende Direktbelieferungs-Bestellungen können händisch in meine Warenwirtschaft übertragen werden
• Meine Versandabteilung kann Versandetiketten ausdrucken
• Meine Buchhaltung kann Rechnungen im Amazon VendorCentral erstellen
• Der Dropshipping-Bestand kann täglich im VendorCentral aktualisiert werden

You have green hooks everywhere? – Then read here for which products dropshipping is worthwhile:

Für welche Produkt-Gruppen lohnt sich die Direktbelieferung?

Amazon will recommend any amount of your products for direct delivery. As mentioned above, the criteria for selection are not comprehensible. From our experience, direct delivery can be worthwhile for these product groups:

Langsam-Dreher

Amazon does not like products that do not move or move slowly. They will not be ordered at all, or the risk that you will get the goods back as “undamaged overstock” is high.
Via the direct delivery option, these products are always available to the customer, even independently of the Amazon ordering system. You improve visibility, more customers will buy the article, which in turn improves the ranking and the slow-spinner may not turn so slow anymore.

Saisonale Produkte

For goods with an extreme seasonal orientation, such as candle arches or incense burners, the Amazon algorithm has an extremely difficult time. The system will either order far too much or far too little. Neither is optimal. If Amazon has too little product, the item is quickly sold out, you lose sales. If Amazon orders too much, you get the goods back weeks or even months later as “excess stock”. Annoying because you might have been able to sell these goods to other buyers during the “hot” season, but can’t do anything with the Christmas items in the spring or summer.

Große / schwere Artikel

For bulky or very heavy products, the savings from avoiding double transportation costs are particularly noticeable. White goods products, such as washing machines or refrigerators, are almost exclusively delivered directly.

Individuelle Produkte

With direct delivery, you as the supplier decide how quickly you can deliver the product to the customer. Thus, with this delivery variant, you also have the option to offer items directly on Amazon, which you only make individually after ordering.

Vor- und Nachteile der Direktbelieferung

Ist Dropshipping mit Amazon für Hersteller also sinnvoll?

As is so often the case, the answer is a clear “it depends.” If you can represent the necessary processes in the company and have relevant products for direct delivery, dropshipping will definitely increase your sales and success on Amazon.