Amazon Launches New Local Selling Capabilities To Help Small Business 

It’s true that Amazon has had a very complicated relationship with small businesses over the years. Especially the fact that it used to be a long channel for small business owners to sell their goods to a wider audience. However, things have changed a lot, especially after Amazon announced Amazon Local Selling which enables all national, local, and even regional retailers to expand their FBA businesses by offering both fast delivery and in-store pickup to their customers. In a nutshell, customers will now be able to buy the products from sellers on a same-day pickup basis at the local store of the seller or they can opt for fast local delivery. 

If you are planning to start a business on Amazon, it’s highly recommended that you hire FBA accelerators for it. This investment can work wonders for you and you’ll see your sales skyrocketing to a whole other level. 

How Is The Amazon Local Selling Program Helpful For Small Businesses? 

Around half of the products purchased by customers in Amazon’s store are sold by some third party. These parties include small and medium-sized businesses. However, with the Amazon Local Selling program, it has all changed a bit and now sellers have the ability to quickly and easily expand their multi-channel offerings just by listing their products on Amazon. They can then offer those products to the local customers in specific areas for in-store pickup or they can opt for fast delivery. When it comes to supply chain and logistics, Amazon is working hard to broaden its capabilities and this whole Local Selling program is a part of that effort.  

Here are some more ways that the Amazon Local Selling program can help your business; 

1-You’ll Be Able To Reach Your Customers Who Live Nearby You 

You can now reach the customers that live within a 25-mile radius of your store or warehouse. By offering local delivery services, it’ll become clear to your customers that your products are available for both; fast delivery and in-store pickup. For small business owners, this is huge especially because it cuts down the shipping costs on a whole other level. On the other hand, it’ll also help you expand your business as your customer base will grow with the in-store pickup option. 

2-Expanding To New And Innovative Pick Up And Self Delivery Technologies 

As said earlier, your products will be available for in-store pickup and even for BOPIS. Your listings will be visible to your customers on Amazon's store search results and even on the product detail pages. It’ll then all be your customer’s decision whether he wants to pick up the product himself or opt for fast delivery. 

3-Pick-up And Delivery Notification For The Customers 

What’s best here is that your customers can now order conveniently as they’ll be notified about the delivery options, the location, the timing, and even the process. This will also help you manage your in-store pickup orders and the local deliveries that you have to make. 

What Exactly Is Amazon Local Selling? 

It’s an undeniable fact that shipping products to long distances means that you’ll have a limited profit. Especially for small businesses, it becomes really difficult when they come across different challenges like shipping bulky or heavy items, or fragile items, and sometimes when they have to deliver the products fresh, it can all cost them a lot and they then end up with little to no profit. This also explains the increase in the demand for Amazon seller aggregators. 

However, with the Amazon local selling feature, it has become easier for small businesses to grow and extend their shipping beyond the national shipping business. They can now expand and opt for localised self-delivery and incorporate BOPIS-(Buy Online Pick Up-In Store) technologies. 

What Is BOPIS? 

For those who don’t know, BOPIS technologies are all about reaching out to new customers and expanding the engagement of your business within the local community. Moreover, businesses can now list down selections on Amazon's store and that can help them increase their store’s foot traffic. What happens here is that customers will be able to pick up their desired products directly from your store. On top of that, for all the BOPIS-enabled products, you can own your listings, your content, and even the images and then combine it all with a unique in-store experience. 

What’s best is that you don’t have to pay any additional fee here. In fact, it’ll be just the Professional selling plan fee along with the category referral fee that you’ll be paying. When a customer will purchase your BOPIS product on Amazon, you’ll be notified immediately through API or Seller Central. This will help you pick up the product and set it aside in your store for your customer to come to get it.  

Conclusion

Without a doubt, Amazon’s local selling will bring enormous amounts of opportunities to sellers who want to add more products to their Amazon business. With the integration of their online stores and deliveries with digital operations, sellers will now be able to expand their offerings across multiple channels. As per research, customers will always prefer in-store pickup instead of fast deliveries and this will be beneficial for businesses as they’ll be able to reach out and delight more customers in a convenient way. 

In short, Amazon has invested a lot in the past few years to make it easier for sellers to get started on this platform. Amazon has made an investment of about $18 billion only in tools, services, programs, and even logistics. On the other hand, sellers have created around 1.8 million jobs alone in the US that help them manage day-to-day operations. As of now, Amazon's local selling program will and is already working wonders, especially for small businesses and it’ll continue to make online shopping more convenient for customers too.