What is In-Stock Head Start? In-Stock Head Start Review

Development reasons

Even with the best inventory planning, popular products sometimes go out of stock, affecting product visibility and sales. With this Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) feature, you can automatically let buyers find and purchase your out-of-stock products in advance, even if your shipment is still in transit, as long as we believe the shipment can arrive on time. Buyers will have more merchants to choose from, and you will get higher or more stable sales.

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Conditions of Use

If you use Amazon Carrier Platform K|DE|ES|FRD, Box Carrier Program, or Amazon Global Logistics to send out-of-stock inventory to an Amazon fulfillment center, the out-of-stock inventory will be eligible for the In-Stock Early Start pilot program. We will use the information provided by these carriers to estimate the in-stock days for your products.

Advantages

Visibility: Products en route to Amazon fulfillment centers appear in search results, which provides more choices for buyers and helps increase views of product detail pages.

Sales: Buyers can purchase temporarily out-of-stock items, thereby increasing sales.

Inventory efficiency: Accepting customer orders while your products are on their way to Amazon fulfillment centers can shorten the time between shipping and sale.

Frequently asked questions

1. How to ensure that Amazon will deliver the buyer's order on time?

Under the rules of the In-Stock First Start pilot program, if a customer places an order for an out-of-stock item, the delivery date will be based on the estimated in-stock date. If a shipment is delayed, we will adjust the in-stock date.

2. If I participate in the "Get Started with Inventory" pilot program, do I need to adjust my inventory replenishment cycle?

The In-Stock Early Access pilot program is for products that are occasionally out of stock. This program does not replace your normal inventory replenishment plan. Keeping products in stock provides the best customer experience and can help increase sales.

3. How to check the difference of goods in inventory?

You can continue to use the same Seller Central reports and tools that you normally use for inventory shipment discrepancies. You can view the number of available or sold units participating in the In-Stock Scramble on the Manage Inventory page and in the Manage Amazon Inventory reports.

The Available quantity on the Manage Inventory page will show the number of units of a SKU in Amazon's fulfillment center and the number of units of that SKU that are available for pickup, packing, and delivery. The Inbound quantity will show the number of units of a 5KU in shipments sent to Amazon fulfillment centers, including units offered through In-Stock Early Access.

4. Why is my "In-Stock Early Access" pilot program status activated, but buyers cannot find and purchase all of my products?

Once we get an estimated delivery date from the carrier through Amazon Carrier Platform UK|DE|ES|FRI, Partnered Carrier Program, or Amazon Global Logistics, it may take up to 48 hours to make your products available to customers. In addition, to ensure the customer experience, if Amazon is not sure whether the shipment can be delivered on time and whether the shipment after arrival contains the expected quantity of goods, it may not allow customers to find and purchase all your out-of-stock ASINs before the products arrive at the fulfillment center.

5. What happens if I suspend the "Inventory First Start Pilot Program"?

You can pause this feature by clicking the Pause In-Stock Head Start button below. Shipments created 72 hours after we email you to confirm that you have paused the In-Stock Head Start pilot will not be found and available to buyers until they arrive at a fulfillment center. You can also view your In-Stock Head Start pilot status on this page.

Development History

On July 25, 2019, when Amazon released its second-quarter financial report, it also launched a new pilot program - In-Stock Head Start.

In August 2020, Amazon Spain fully opened the In-Stock Head Start function.

References

• 1. Amazon launches In-Stock Head Start pilot program, sellers no longer have to worry about out-of-stock! : Sohu [cited date 2029-07-26T16:00:00.000Z]