When preparing to send a shipment into Amazon FBA, do you gather up an assortment of products to send in and then hope and pray that Amazon doesn’t require you to create multiple shipments going to several far away locations? What a time intensive, costly and inefficient process based on what Amazon dictates about your shipment! Later, you have to figure out if all the products were actually received and properly checked in at all the various Amazon locations. What a headache!
What if there was another way? What if you had multiples of the same exact item and could ship them all into Amazon in a single box to a single location? And what if this single box shipment was easy to track so you could see at a glance whether it had been properly received by Amazon? Sounds like a dream come true, right? Welcome to the joys of case packing!
What if there was another way? What if you had multiples of the same exact item and could ship them all into Amazon in a single box to a single location? And what if this single box shipment was easy to track so you could see at a glance whether it had been properly received by Amazon? Sounds like a dream come true, right? Welcome to the joys of case packing!
Case packing is when you send in a single box that contains all of the same product. You label and prep your products just like you normally would. But in this case (haha-see what I did there?) when you create your shipment, you tell Amazon that you are sending a case pack and how many units of product are in that case.
Case packing can bring great joy to anyone who has multiples of the same product to send into FBA. If you are a bundler or private labeler or consistently sending in a replens item or multiples of an OA or RA item, you can easily send in FBA products using the case pack method.
The main requirement is that case packs of a single product must have a consistent unit count within a shipment. This means you MUST be sure that if you send multiple boxes of the same product within a single shipment, that each case packed box contains the same number of products. So you can send in a shipment of 2 boxes of 12 units each of your product, but not a shipment with 1 box of 16 plus another box of 8 units.
One of the joys of case packing is that when you create a shipment, a box of case packed products can only ship to a single Amazon location. Your products are not required to be split up and sent to multiple locations when you ship them in because they are all together in the same box. Internally, Amazon may move them around later, but that’s going to happen no matter what you send into FBA.
Another joy of case packing is that you can create a shipment with only a single box of case packed items. Sending in single box shipments that contain only one product ASIN keeps things moving more quickly through Amazon, since there are not multiple boxes to find and check in or multiple ASINS to sort through to complete the shipment receiving process.
Case packing is also a joy because it helps reduce the impact of processing delays caused by Amazon. If you send in a single case of 12 units of a product and Amazon gets backed up in receiving shipments at the warehouse (or if your shipment gets lost in transit) you don’t have all of your inventory at risk. If there is a delay, you can just send in another box of 12 items and keep things moving through.
Yet another joy of case packing is that you can more easily and efficiently prep and pack your shipments. When you know that 12 units of your product fit perfectly into a 20 x 14 x 14 box, then you never have to resize boxes or scrounge around for the right size box to send in your items. Your packing and shipping process is smooth and consistent and you always know which supplies to keep on hand.
Case packing can also bring joy to your IPI score and help you navigate FBA inventory space and quantity limits. Sending in smaller, more frequent shipments can help you better manage your inventory turn and sell through rates and help you avoid having excess inventory that drags down your IPI score. If your FBA restock quantities or storage space become limited, sending in case packs lets you replenish more quickly as your products sell so you can keep as much inventory as possible flowing through your allocated space.
When you are creating or sourcing products for Amazon FBA, keep the joys of case packing in mind. It can be a game changer in how you think about and manage your FBA inventory. Give it a try and let us know how it worked for you. We would love to hear from you.
Judy Drobinski
Amazon seller and consultant.
