Cloud-based logistics platform ShipBob has launched new features and offerings for e-commerce brands to fulfil orders through Amazon on a global scale.
ShipBob's new Fulfilled By Amazon (FBA) Prep solution is a value-added service in the U.S that streamlines the process of preparing and sending ShipBob merchants' FBA inventory to Amazon. As the first fulfilment company to offer this, it allows for faster inventory placement and for merchants to use ShipBob as their centralised inventory hub.
Automated FBA Prep solution
According to the company, its FBA Prep solution offers brands that outsource fulfilment to ShipBob the following benefits:
- Simplified FBA prep for increased efficiency: ShipBob's integration with Amazon automates the FBA prep process from order creation to fulfilment by syncing order and shipping label information between the two platforms, providing merchants with significant time savings. Merchants are able to prep orders directly from ShipBob's dashboard and can choose between a ShipBob or Amazon prepaid shipping label. As a result, new orders won't go on hold, speeding up processing time by up to 2 days.
- Quick inventory placement: The automated FBA prep service streamlines the process of getting inventory to Amazon from ShipBob's fulfilment centres in the U.S. This new workflow results in faster fulfilment and lessens the risk of delays associated with manual FBA prep.
- The ability to bypass Amazon workflows: With ShipBob's new API, merchants get a more error-proof way to send inventory to Amazon, while avoiding complicated workflows and maintaining 100% compliance. Box dimensions, package weight and other information is not required for sellers to complete within ShipBob.
- Centralised omnichannel inventory hub: ShipBob serves as the logistics hub for e-commerce brands (sales channel-agnostic), allowing businesses to effortlessly send inventory from ShipBob to Amazon (and other retailers) with ease.
Enhanced Amazon FBM integration
In addition to the FBA Prep solution, ShipBob is now offering fulfilment of FBM orders for six new global marketplaces in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Poland, in addition to the U.S., Canada and Mexico as previously available.
ShipBob offers merchants a seamless integration with Amazon to connect with their Amazon storefronts, products, inventory and orders (via automatic, bulk or manual syncs) in just a few clicks from the ShipBob App Store, along with 40+ integrations like Shopify, BigCommerce, Walmart and others.
Moreover, retailers now have increased visibility due to hourly syncing between the ShipBob and Amazon platforms. Behind Shopify, ShipBob is the second platform to integrate directly with Amazon to sync inventory quantities every 15 minutes.
"We are here to support our merchants and their ambitions to efficiently scale globally. Amazon is an important sales lever for many of our merchants, so we are bringing new levels of automation to the Amazon FBA prep process that alleviates major pain points for sellers," Dhruv Saxena, CEO and co-founder of ShipBob, said. "Also, as we have been rapidly expanding internationally with our fulfilment centres across Canada, the UK, Europe, and Australia, this new Amazon FBM offering around the world unlocks so much opportunity for our merchants to differentiate from their competitors when they need every advantage they can find."
Founded in 2014 in Chicago, ShipBob was launched through Y Combinator by co-founders Dhruv Saxena and Divey Gulati who saw a need for more efficient shipping for e-commerce businesses. Today, the company has raised $330.5 million in funding and operates a global logistics network with 30 fulfilment centers across the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, European Union and Australia.
