Scale on marketplaces with Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment

Fulfillment is a major challenge when expanding into new marketplaces and regions. 

Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) is a great solution to help you sell across markets and online channels easily.

Whether you sell on Macy's or Shopify or are based in the UK and want to sell in the US, you can use MCF for your shipments and offer consumers a seamless shopping experience.

Sounds like something that could be useful for your business? Let’s take you through this feature in detail and see how it could help you achieve your business goals: 

A winning combination: ChannelEngine x Amazon

When you sell on multiple marketplaces and online sales channels, handling content, stock, and fulfillment can be time-consuming and labor-intensive — especially in peak seasons. Of course, using marketplace integration software (like ChannelEngine) makes it easier to expand on more marketplaces without worrying about losing control. 

ChannelEngine's central dashboard provides complete control and visibility over your omnichannel operations. You can access over 700 marketplaces and online sales channels through a single integration. 

This can help you expand internationally and reach more consumers waiting to buy from you. Selling your products on several channels also provides an excellent opportunity to show your offering to a larger audience and grow your revenue streams. 

However, scaling your physical fulfillment operations across different channels and regions can still be tricky for most growing businesses. This is where Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment comes into play. 

What is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment?

Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF) is a service offered by Amazon that allows sellers to fulfill orders from other sales channels using Amazon's fulfillment network. For example, if you list your products on Shopify or Macy's, you can use Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment service to ship your products to the consumer.

To use MCF, sellers should already be enrolled in Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). Currently, sellers can use MCF in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Australia. Here's a handy list of the countries where this feature is available.

When you expand on marketplaces with ChannelEngine, you can use MCF by choosing Amazon Supply Chain as the logistics provider. Our platform will export your shipment information and stock levels directly to Amazon while taking care of your other marketplace connections — this streamlines your entire supply chain and sales process, making it easier to track orders, returns, and more. 

3 ways to grow using ChannelEngine & Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment

Now that you know what using the feature involves, let's talk about how you can scale your sales on marketplaces:

• Scale fulfillment operations: Without this feature, shipping orders far away from your warehouse can take days. For instance, if your warehouses and distribution centers are located on the west coast in the US, it could take anywhere from 3-7 days to ship an order to the east coast. Using Amazon's MCF lets your brand offer a shorter delivery time across the country. 

• Grow on new marketplaces: This is the most obvious one — using Multi-Channel Fulfillment can help you sell on more marketplaces at the same time. For example, if your business already sells on Amazon with FBA, you can expand your ecommerce operation to new sales channels, such as your own webshop or even other marketplaces. With Amazon MCF, setting up another distribution center to expand on other sales channels is no longer necessary. 

• Expand to international marketplaces: Growing your business internationally becomes easier when you don't need to worry about fulfillment. For example, if you're an established seller on Amazon UK and want to sell on Amazon US, this feature helps you sell there without needing to add distribution centers and warehouses. 

Another critical benefit of opting to use Amazon's MCF is that it doubles up as a backup option if your own logistics and fulfillment operations aren't able to do the job. When you factor in ChannelEngine's order routing capabilities, switching between fulfillment options as your needs require becomes easier.

A closer look at the features of Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment service

Amazon's MCF offers customers a consistent brand experience across multiple platforms along with opportunities for your brand to grow on marketplaces and increase profits. Here are the important aspects of the service to consider: 

• Inventory Management: The centralized inventory management system provided by Amazon MCF eliminates the need for you to manage multiple warehouses and reduces the risk of stock running out, leading to fewer canceled orders and, thus, improved customer satisfaction.

• Streamlines Fulfillment: The automatic syncing of orders from various marketplaces to Amazon MCF simplifies your order management process. You can focus on other aspects of your business, such as marketing and product development, while Amazon takes care of picking, packing, and shipping.

• Faster and Reliable Shipping: By leveraging Amazon's vast network of fulfillment centers and delivery partners, your brand can offer customers a range of shipping options and faster delivery times, irrespective of the marketplace they are shopping on.

• Cost Efficient: Using Amazon's competitive shipping rates and fulfillment infrastructure, you can reduce your logistics costs while offering a high-quality shipping experience to your customers.

• Simplifies Returns: MCF streamlines the returns process, making it easier for customers to initiate returns through the marketplace they shopped on. Amazon handles the return logistics, reducing the burden on you and enhancing the overall customer experience.

• Maintains brand identity: With blank box shipping, MCF allows you to use non-branded packaging at no additional cost to maintain your brand identity. 

• Facilitates cross-border sales: Amazon MCF allows you to expand your business internationally by providing efficient order fulfillment across different marketplaces and countries.

The powerful combination of ChannelEngine's marketplace integrator solution and Amazon's Multi-Channel Fulfillment service ensures that sellers like you have complete control over your entire sales process and supply chain operations. This leaves you with more flexibility to expand your business in new markets and on new marketplaces, ultimately improving revenue and bringing in more profits.

For brands wanting to sell directly to consumers (D2C) but unsure about setting up distribution centers and warehouses in different countries/regions, Amazon's MCF can help you test the demand, establish your brand, and grow your business without the usual risks and costs.