Amazon increases incentives for new third-party sellers

Amazon is providing an array of benefits and resources for new independent sellers that join its third-party Amazon Marketplace e-commerce platform.

The e-tail giant has introduced “New Seller Incentives,” a suite of benefits it says is worth more than $50,000 in potential value; and the “Perfect Launch” playbook, which offers actionable steps for new-to-Amazon selling partners. New Seller Incentive benefits are available for a full year and it is not a temporary promotional program.

With New Seller Incentives, third-party sellers on Amazon’s professional selling plan that register their brand on the Amazon Brand Registry can qualify for a suite of benefits including:

• A 5% bonus on up to $1 million in eligible branded sales (up to $50,000 in bonus value);
• $200 in credits for Amazon Vine, a program that invites top reviewers on Amazon to post opinions about new products;
• $100 in credits for Amazon Transparency, which helps sellers proactively prevent counterfeits from reaching customers, engage with customers, improve customer experience, and identify supply chain defects.

• New sellers who adopt Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) hosted fulfillment services can obtain benefits that include $100 in credits for using the Amazon Partnered Carrier program, or $200 in credits for using Amazon Global Logistics for inbound shipping fees; auto-enrollment in FBA New Selection, which provides free monthly storage, liquidations, and return processing for eligible new-to-FBA products; and $200 in promotional clicks for sellers that also adopt Amazon Sponsored Products pay-per-click ads.
• For new sellers who adopt the Amazon Coupons targeted discount program, benefits include up to $50 in Coupons credits.

Walmart ups new seller competition
Amazon is offering these benefits for new sellers as its chief rival Walmart is also targeting new participants for its own third-party online marketplace. The discount giant is launching “New-Seller Savings,” a limited-time Walmart Marketplace promotion exclusive to new participants on the platform. Sellers who join Walmart Marketplace by May 31, 2022, and start selling on Walmart.com by June 30, 2022, will receive a 50% discount on commission rates for the first 90 days.

Walmart has also extended an introductory incentive for sellers to participate in its low-cost Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS) fulfillment option. Approved sellers that enroll in WFS and complete the setup process and inbound one item to a Walmart fulfillment center by June 30, 2022, can earn 90 days of free storage and a 10% discount on fulfillment fees.

“At Amazon, we work hard to provide selling partners the tools and resources they need to launch and grow their business,” Benjamin Hartman, VP of North American selling partner services, Amazon, said in an exclusive statement to Chain Store Age. “If a small business or new brand wants to find customers quickly, selling on Amazon makes it easy for them to connect with hundreds of millions of shoppers around the world. That’s why we’re excited to launch New Seller Incentives – a suite of benefits worth more than $50,000 in potential value – and the Perfect Launch playbook that gives new sellers actionable steps to help them succeed even faster.”