Many Amazon warehouses are out of stock! A large number of sellers' orders have plummeted!

"Every time there is a big sale, there will be some trouble." This joke, which is popular in the cross-border circle, not only reflects the sellers' ridicule of the platform changes, but also expresses their helplessness and sadness in facing many uncertain challenges.

Now is the critical juncture when we are approaching the National Day holiday and the autumn promotion, and this default "law" is still being played out among Amazon sellers.

Since last week, crises such as Amazon warehouse explosions and large-scale delays in product listings have gradually spread in the cross-border circle. However, "misfortunes never come alone". At the beginning of this week, many sellers said that due to multiple factors, sales have entered a period of weakness. Not only has the number of orders dropped significantly, but even advertising and rankings are not normal.

The clarion call for a long "defense war" for the big sale has begun.

It is learned that last week, Amazon backend updated a notice about [peak season delivery fees] , stating that "products using US Amazon Logistics and priced below $10 will be charged according to the new peak season fees in 2024."

In 2023, Amazon announced that it would not charge peak season delivery fees for low-priced goods, but now it is again targeting low-priced goods. One seller said, "The commission for low customer unit price plus delivery fees, storage fees, and advertising fees is almost like working for Amazon."

In addition to the increase in small package delivery fees, cross-border logistics is also in a "troubled period", adding some worries to sellers.

1. Multiple warehouses burst

Last weekend, a piece of news about an Amazon warehouse explosion was widely circulated in the industry: Due to the overload of Amazon's PSC2 warehouse, it will be closed from this Saturday to receive goods. Except for UPS and FedEx, all vehicles will no longer be allowed to unload goods. At present, all delivery appointments have been canceled or postponed by Amazon.

It is understood that many warehouses under Amazon have experienced warehouse overflows, such as ABQ2, PSC2, etc., which have difficulty in making reservations, and some warehouses have even begun to refuse to accept goods. In addition, satellite warehouses IUSP, SBD1, LGB8, LAS1, GYR2, etc. have also experienced similar situations. Warehouse floor reservations at FTW1, IND9, FWA4, etc. generally require a waiting time of 5-10 days.

2. Delayed listing

It is learned that during the peak season for cross-border shipments, a series of chain reactions caused by warehouse explosions are having a negative impact, such as backlogs of goods and delays in listing. Some sellers said that many goods were delayed in entering the warehouse in September, and even if some goods were entered into the warehouse, they could not be listed for a long time.

Due to delays in listing and the fear of out-of-stock situations among sellers, products shown as pre-sold on Amazon will most likely not arrive until after October, so there is a high chance that you will miss out on this autumn promotion.

In addition, not long ago, the three major international logistics giants DHL, FedEx and UPS announced in succession that they would adjust the peak season surcharges from September 15, 2024 to cope with the upcoming fourth quarter logistics peak.

The USPS also recently announced the 2024 peak season surcharges. These temporary rates will take effect on October 6, 2024 and end on January 19, 2025.

At present, cross-border sellers will face the dual challenges of rising logistics costs and reduced efficiency in this promotion.

If the big sale is like a big test, then in addition to the test results, what makes sellers more anxious is the fluctuating sales situation before and after the big sale.

Generally speaking, whenever a big sale is approaching, the traffic will be slightly worse, and some consumers will choose to wait until the day of the sale to place an order, resulting in a decrease in the number of orders before the holiday.

However, compared with previous years, the traffic in September seems to be a little abnormal. Recently, a seller’s post aroused the empathy of many peers:

The seller said that the auto parts category he is in was in an upward phase at the same time in previous years, but the current order volume has dropped by 30%-50% compared with last month, and the situation of sellers in the same category is not optimistic. This means that orders in the entire auto parts market have fallen by one-third in the past month.

When comparing with stores on other platforms, the seller ruled out market demand factors and speculated that it was due to the Amazon platform.

Regarding the above situation, many sellers in the comment area expressed their deep understanding:

"It's the same here. We usually have about 20 to 30 orders, but now it has dropped to single digits."

"It started to decline at the beginning of the month. I don't know what's going on."

"It started to fall drastically in September, and it's falling every day. Now the number of orders is only half of what it was in August."

"It started to fall on the 15th, and the advertising kept spending, so acos has remained high since September."

Sellers have different views on the above situation. One view is that a lot of Amazon's traffic has been diverted by TEMU, and in the context of a downward economic environment, platforms that focus on low prices will be more popular with consumers, and Amazon's delivery fees and inventory fees that have been rising this year will eventually be transferred to consumers, so it is inevitable that Amazon will be diverted to other platforms.

The other group believes that if the ranking does not change much, it may be that the overall sales of the category are declining. This is most likely due to the upcoming Autumn Member Day, and some consumers have postponed their purchases until the big sale day. Judging from the situation in previous years, there will be a sharp drop in sales on weekends in the first half of the month before the big sale, so sellers don’t need to be too anxious.

In this regard, sellers said frankly that as long as it is within a reasonable range, a slight reduction in order volume is normal, but a halving would be a bit "unbearable".

In addition to the varying degrees of decline in order volume, some sellers’ ads also showed abnormalities, such as only clicks but no conversions, high ACOS, and changes in ad position.

At this stage, it is a critical moment to prepare for the peak season. Faced with operational challenges such as low conversion rate and high ACOS, how can sellers adjust advertising strategies in time according to consumer behavior and traffic trends to fully prepare for the big promotion? Scan the QR code below to sign up for the [2024 Amazon New Marketing Conference] immediately to get your best advertising plan for the big promotion and grab orders faster than others during the peak season!