The article will focus on the solutions on How to do Amazon FBA Product Sourcing. Now that you’ve found your product or narrowed your list to a few final product options, it’s time to find a supplier. You can do the following:
- Source high-quality suppliers
- Evaluate product samples
- Order inventory for Amazon
If you find this step a little intimidating, you’re not alone. Every person who is a successful seller today says they initially had no idea how to find or work with suppliers. However, with enormous advancements in technology, communication, and services to help facilitate international trade, it is truly a simpler process than ever.
We’ll walk through 3 steps to find and check how to source your products on Amazon FBA.
- Research and compare relevant suppliers
- Evaluate product samples and refine your product
- Order and ship your products to Amazon’s FBA warehouses
1. Research Amazon suppliers
There are hundreds of thousands of manufacturers around the world that can create any product you can imagine. Surely, you’ll want to limit your list of potential suppliers to those who can produce the highest quality product for you at the best price.
And there are a number of ways to find these suppliers.
Alibaba.com
Alibaba.com is the largest business-to-business platform globally with a search function like Amazon’s to help you find relevant products and the manufacturers that make them.
You can search the database by product (ie. “tea kettle”), company (ie. competitor name), supplier name, and ASIN.
Sourcing agents and Amazon FBA if you’re a beginner
Sourcing agents can help you with Amazon FBA product sourcing with the best quality and price. They often speak the language in the country from which you are sourcing and may give you a competitive edge in finding more affordable pricing. You can find reputable sourcing agents online. It’s a good idea to go with Amazon FBA for beginners if you’re a beginner.
What you should look for in a supplier:
- High-quality products: Amazon shoppers care just as much about reviews as they do about price, so selling high-quality products is the best way to keep your Amazon reviews high and get continued sales. It will give an idea on how to source products for FBA.
- Experience: Look for a factory that has been producing your type of product for at least 3 years. You can see a supplier’s import history in the Supplier Database.
- Communication: Find a factory that is easy to communicate with and responds to you in a reasonable amount of time. (You can assess this when you initially contact them for a quote.)
- Price: You want a fair price for your products. A factory with a much higher price and much lower price contrary to the other factories could be a red flag.
2. Contact suppliers for a quote – How to source products for FBA
- Compare suppliers to create a list of 5-10 that you’d be interested in working with.
- Send an initial contact email to your potential suppliers. You can send a broad request for quotation (RFQ) out to several suppliers at once through Alibaba.com.
- Vet your suppliers based on their responses and communication to narrow down your list to your top 3 options.
3. Modify & Evaluate Product Samples and know how to source products for FBA
Once you limit the list of suppliers to the ones who can offer you what you want based on your initial outreach above, it’s time to order samples. This is an important step to ensure you’re making the right investment and purchasing a quality product.
Order samples: You should expect to pay $50-$100 for a sample and expect it to be sent to you by air. Once shipped, you should expect your samples within 1-2 weeks.
Pro tip – Use Amazon FBA for beginners
While ordering, ask the suppliers to send you more than one sample. In this way, you can make sure their quality is consistent. Sometimes, suppliers charge the cost for a sample when end up purchasing the bulk order from them, so ask if that is possible at the time you order the sample.
Examine samples:
When your samples arrive, examine their quality (all the details and featured you requested), and functionality (works as intended).
If you find your product not exactly what you’re looking for, you may ask for modifications. It may include the addition of a logo, changing the dimensions, adding or removing components, etc. It’s hence better to use Amazon FBA for beginners.
Consider packaging and branding:
Before you place a large bulk order for your product, think about whether you want to have branded packaging for your products (i.e., the box or bag or sticker that encases your product inside Amazon’s boxes). If you want to, you should have the design ready for your supplier at this stage. The supplier should give you the exact dimensions of your packing so you can take steps forward to a graphic designer.
4. Order and ship your Amazon products through Amazon FBA – Amazon FBA for Beginners
Once you find your product satisfactory, choose your supplier, determine the details of your order and ship your products to Amazon’s warehouses to start earning sales!
Some important steps in this process:
- Price your products
- Establish pricing terms and methods and pay the invoice
- Run a quality inspection on your product before it gets to Amazon’s warehouses
- Decide on shipping (often working with a freight forwarder to simplify international shipping)
Your product will typically take anywhere from 2-6 weeks to manufacture.
Since your products are getting ready and making their way to warehouses, you can prepare your business for launch on Amazon. The article has well-explained all the points on how to do Amazon FBA product sourcing.
Summary
We explained how to find legitimate suppliers to create your private label product and discussed branding, ordering samples, and getting your order to Amazon’s warehouses. It is highly emphasized that Amazon FBA must be used by beginners.
We learned:
- Source high-quality suppliers
- Evaluate product samples
- Order inventory for Amazon
Next Article : How to create unique Amazon product listing
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