The moment has arrived.
You’re launching a stellar new product on Amazon that you know will be a home-run. As excited as you are to introduce it to the marketplace, you’re also nervous. You understand the nightmare it can be to launch a brand new product with no sales momentum, and also convince Amazon to purchase enough product orders to keep up with demand.
Many Amazon 1P Sellers have dealt with the headache it can be to launch a new product. Building sales velocity for something new can be a struggle if it continually goes out of stock. Luckily, Amazon is taking steps to make it easier for vendors to speed up the process of launching a new product with their new “Born To Run” program.
Here’s what we know about Amazon’s Born to Run program so far:
Normally, Amazon will wait until your product shows promise before sourcing a large quantity. With the Born to Run program, you make an agreement with Amazon that starts with them sourcing a large amount of your product at the very beginning, for a ten week period. So, if you’re planning on selling a lot of your product, Amazon will have enough to avoid “out of stock” issues and keep up with the demand.
This is a sweet deal for sellers wanting to jumpstart sales on products they know will be popular. This program offers two big benefits to Amazon sellers:
1. You can now launch new products you believe will be wildly successful without having to worry about “out of stock” issues.
2. If Amazon sees that the product is doing particularly well, they will place recurring orders of your product even before the ten week period has ended. Pretty cool, right?
While the program is still operating on a case-by-case basis, there are a set of minimum requirements if you’re interested in qualifying for Born to Run:
– The vendor must be using AMS for at least 90 days.
– The ASIN cannot be considered: a hazmat, heavy or bulky, or cost less than $5 per unit.
– The product must be considered “new” by Amazon standards – meaning the item cannot be sitting in a Fulfillment Center for more than 30 days.
– Lastly, the total product cost of the LBQ (the unit quantity the vendor wants to launch) cannot exceed $50,000.
For now, the only way to get access to Amazon’s Born to Run program is to sell 1P on Amazon, which means Amazon sources your products and you work with them through Vendor Central. If you are a 1P seller, reach out to your assigned Amazon Vendor Manager and let them know you are interested in the new program.
Now go forth. Launch products. Sell them.
