As a small business owner, you likely need a solution for physically storing your inventory, processing orders made, and shipping those orders so they get into the hands of your customers in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Considering the continued growth of Amazon,
which is set to clear over 49% of online retail spend in 2018Â according to research conducted by eMarketer, having an Amazon fulfillment solution is vital.
It may seem like common sense, then, to utilize Amazon’s Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) program. However, as we have covered previously, there are plenty of drawbacks to FBA that you should consider. Fortunately, FBA isn’t your only option. Here are some reasons why you should consider a Fulfillment By Amazon alternative for your company!
Lower, More Customized Storage Price
One of the biggest downsides to the FBA program is the cost associated with storing your items in Amazon’s warehouses. Not only do these fees quickly add up, but they can also be quite confusing. Storage fees change depending on the time of year. So, while you pay one price per cubic foot of inventory stored in Amazon’s warehouse for part of the year, you will actually pay more than three times as much per cubic foot at other times. You also may have to pay long-term storage fees for items that remain in fulfillment centers for a longer period of time.
By using an FBA alternative, however, you can avoid these complicated fees while also enjoying a lower storage price. With our FBA alternative, we offer a more customized approach to storage pricing. This means by going with our FBA alternative, you can avoid those Amazon storage fees that quickly add up to costing you greatly.
Simpler Sales Tax
Amazon has fulfillment centers across multiple states. Some of these states have sales tax requirements that can create headaches for you as a business owner. This is not to mention cost you money in sales tax.
Navigating the tricky waters of taxes for your business can already be difficult enough without adding regulations and compliance issues for states where your business isn’t even located. If you choose to use an FBA alternative for your business, though, you can eliminate this unnecessary added tax burden. With our FBA alternative, you know where your items will be stored and don’t have to keep track of differing rules and regulations.
Less Complicated, More Affordable Shipping
Having your inventory stored at multiple Amazon fulfillment centers can create other problems for besides sales tax. You also have to deal with initially sending your items to multiple fulfillment centers for storage, and therefore making multiple shipments and costing you more money. This also means when your customers purchase multiple items from you they may arrive in separate shipments at different times.
One of the most crucial aspects of running an online business is being able to get your products into the hands of your customers efficiently, affordably, and reliably. Keeping your shipping costs down is not only better for you since that is money that stays in your pocket, but the customer as well.
By avoiding multiple fulfillment center situations, you can also drastically simplify your shipments going out to customers. For customers, it can be quite frustrating as buying items that go together, only to receive them in separate shipments.
Multi Sales Channel Integration
One of the best advantages to choosing an FBA alternative for your business is that, with the right one, it can go beyond being an Amazon solution. Here at Specialty Fulfillment Center, we not only can integrate directly with your Amazon account, but have also developed a public API that integrates with other existing systems like Shopify, WooCommerce, and Ultra-Cart.
With this kind of integration across multiple sales channels, you don’t have to worry about finding solutions for each channel. Instead, enjoy the same user-friendly shipping process no matter what channel your customers use to buy your products.
