Back in early March, many businesses were panicking after Amazon Vendor Central failed to place purchase orders for two consecutive weeks.
Rumors of “Amazon One Vendor” started to surface and many believed Amazon was doing away with Vendor Central. Those 14 days were hectic for many, but it wasn’t long before the PO’s were back on schedule and all was calm again.
Now, almost two months later, and the “One Vendor” crisis seems as if it were a bad dream. While it may remain a dream for some, others will see the reality of missing PO’s again, according to Amazon.
Vendor Central had two different instances where PO’s were not placed, one was an intentional business move and the other was a technical error. So now you’re probably wondering how to tell if you were on the “business move” or “technical error” side. If you were on the “business move” side, you would have received the email below from Amazon.
Hi,
We are writing to confirm we have resumed ordering from your account following a temporary pause. We apologize for any inconvenience.
We note that you are not yet enrolled in Brand Registry. We prefer to source products directly from brand owners, so enrollment in Brand Registry will be important for vendors going forward.
By registering in Brand Registry, our systems will be able to automatically issue Purchase Orders for your branded products as needed.Given this is new, we will continue ordering from your Vendor Account for the next 60 days to give you time to enroll in Brand Registry.
If you are a brand owner, you can enroll in Brand Registry here.
If you are not a brand owner, we encourage you to consider selling your products directly to customers in our store via Seller Central. If you do not already have a Seller Central account, you can get started by registering here.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Vendor Support through Vendor Central
Thank you,
Amazon Vendor Central
If you’re a brand owner and are happy with Vendor Central, this isn’t a big deal for you.
However, if you’re not a brand owner, converting from wholesaling to Amazon on Vendor to selling direct to consumer on Seller probably seems like a daunting task. There is a lot of work in the beginning and there will be a little more maintenance along the way, but the increase in your net margin and overall control you will gain of your brand is without a doubt worth it.
We had a handful of businesses reach out after a few missed PO’s, and even though they were on the “technical error” side of things, they wanted to make the switch to Seller. After a couple weeks in, they were calling the PO crisis a blessing in disguise. If you would like help moving from Vendor to Seller, or just want more information on the pro’s and con’s, feel free to reach out anytime. Happy selling.
