Creating solutions for your Amazon FBA business are important for its efficiency and scalability. As your business grows, so do the challenges of managing inventory, prepping inventory, and fulfilling shipments. Some solutions that sellers can implement are utilizing a prep center or hiring help. Both of these solutions can save time, and allow sellers to grow their amazon selling business. Let’s go over each of them, their benefits, and how you can implement them in your selling business.
Amazon Prep Centers
Amazon prep centers are located throughout the country, and can assist you in the preparing, packaging, and shipping of your products to fulfillment centers. Each center is a little different, but for the most part they handle all the prep work once you drop off your fba items, and help make sure everything meets Amazon’s standards.
What A Prep Center Can Help With
Prep Centers can handle every task in preparing and shipping your products to an Amazon fulfillment center. For the most part, Amazon Prep Centers can help with the following:
- Removing Stickers
- Inspecting Product
- Polybagging Items
- Bubble Wrapping Items
- Labeling
- FNSKU Stickering
- Setting Up Shipment in Amazon Seller Central
- Handling and Advising FBA Returns
Do your research to see exactly what your nearest prep center can help you with.
Reasons to Utilize a Prep Center
Utilizing a prep center in your FBA business can help you scale your business. It allows you to take on more product without any extra storage space or workspace needed. By outsourcing certain tasks, like preparing shipments, you give yourself more time to devote elsewhere – like sourcing! Saving money is another possibility when using a prep center. Because prep centers operate on a much larger scale, they are able to offer competitive pricing and typically get their supplies for much cheaper prices.
Want to Hear More About Using A Prep Center
Check out my podcast episode with Caitlin Magnin, where she discusses using a local prep center in her Amazon Business! Listen to Episode 37 on your favorite podcast player.
How to Get Started with a Prep Center
Research and Due Diligence: Take the time to research and evaluate different prep centers to find one that aligns with your business needs and goals. Consider factors such as location, pricing, services offered, and reputation within the Amazon seller community.
Communication and Collaboration: Once you’ve selected a prep center, establish clear lines of communication and collaboration to ensure a seamless integration of their services into your Amazon selling business. Provide detailed instructions and guidelines for handling your inventory, and maintain regular communication to address any issues or concerns that may arise.
Monitor Performance: Keep a close eye on the performance of your chosen prep center, monitoring key metrics such as order accuracy, turnaround time, and customer satisfaction.
Hiring Help for Your Amazon Selling Business
Another solution to help you grow and scale your Amazon FBA business, is to hire help. You don’t have to go straight to creating a job ad (unless you want to!) – hiring a family member or friend can be a good starting point. Just like utilizing a prep center, hiring help for your Amazon Selling Business can save you a lot of time when it comes to all the prep work involved when getting ready to send off a FBA shipment. Let’s go over some of the other benefits to hiring family help, and some tips for if you do!
Benefits of Hiring Family Members
Shared Vision: Family members often share a common vision and vested interest in the success of your business. Their commitment and dedication can be invaluable assets in achieving your business goals!
Trust and Reliability: When hiring family members, you can typically rely on a higher level of trust and reliability compared to hiring strangers.
Flexible Work Arrangements: Family members may offer greater flexibility in their work arrangements, allowing you to adapt to changing business needs and schedules more easily.
Tax Benefits: Hiring family members can be a cost-effective solution, and it also has potential tax benefits! Be sure to speak with your accountant to make sure you are taking advantage of everything that you can.
More About Tax Benefits
If you’d like to learn more about hiring your spouse or kids – I did an interview with Mark Tew, from Not Your Dad’s CPA, for the Your Selling Podcast on this topic, you can check it out here.
Tips for Hiring Family Help
Set Clear Expectations: Clearly define roles, responsibilities, and expectations for each family member involved in your FBA business. Establishing clear boundaries and communication channels from the start can help prevent misunderstandings down the line.
Provide Training and Support: Be sure to offer training and support so that family members have the knowledge and resources they need to perform the job. Be patient and supportive as they learn the ropes of your FBA selling business.
Regular Feedback and Communication: Foster an open dialogue with family members, providing regular feedback and opportunities for communication. Encourage them to share their ideas, concerns, and feedback to continuously improve your business operations.
Respect Boundaries: Respect the boundaries between your personal and professional relationships. Avoid allowing work-related issues to spill over into family gatherings or personal time.
Growing Your Amazon FBA Business
Utilizing a prep center and hiring family help are just two ways to help you grow and scale your Amazon Selling Business. Implementing either of these prep solutions will save you major amounts of time, and money.
If you are looking for other ways to grow your business, you could: join a BOLO Group, further your knowledge of all things Amazon, or start using FBM more in your business. Plug in to my groups, or find me on YouTube, and let’s keep growing together!
