How to Sell on Amazon Without Inventory

11th

May, 2023

Amazon Influencers
Influencer Marketing
Amazon Marketplace

Selling on Amazon is hard. Of all the things that may keep you up at night, inventory management is one of the biggest. As your business grows, the products start taking up more space. Throw packaging material, cardboard boxes, and other supplies into the mix – and you’ll find that inventory management is a severe challenge that can slash your profit margin like a double-edged sword.

Don’t worry! Allow us to help you out.

Throughout this blog post, we’ll shed light on different ways that you can sell on Amazon without inventory, helping you run your business without breaking the bank or sacrificing your profit margin.

Let’s dive in.

How to sell on Amazon without inventory

There are many ways you can sell on Amazon without inventory. Here are the top four:

FBA by Amazon
Dropshipping
Third-party Logistics
Sell Digital Products on Amazon

Let’s touch down on each of them one-by-one.

1. FBA by Amazon

First things first, let’s start with the basics. FBA stands for “Fulfilment by Amazon.” It’s a service offered by Amazon that allows sellers to store their inventory in Amazon’s fulfillment centers.

When your customer orders a product, Amazon will pick, pack, and ship the product for you. This means you don’t have to worry about the logistics of storing and shipping products. Instead, Amazon takes care of all of that for you.

How to set up Amazon FBA?

The process to set up Amazon FBA is relatively simple:

First, create an Amazon seller account if you haven’t already done so.
Sign up for FBA within your seller account.
Provide information about your products, such as UPC or EAN codes, quantity, dimensions, and weight.
Finally, ship your products to Amazon’s fulfillment centers.

That’s it. Once your products are in Amazon’s fulfillment centers, you can start selling on Amazon without worrying about storage and shipping.

Here’s what your FBA will look like. You get information like buyer’s messages, sales summary, inventory planning, and Amazon’s selling coach.

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Pros and cons of Amazon FBA

Pros	Cons
FBA allows you to take advantage of Amazon’s vast customer base – 300 million active customers worldwide	You have to pay storage and shipping fees which can quickly add up if you have a large inventory.
You don’t have to worry about time and money spent on logistics.	You’re reliant on Amazon’s fulfillment centers, so any issue with one of the centers will directly affect your business.
You can sell without worrying about storage and shipping.
You benefit from Amazon’s top-notch customer service and returns service as well.

That being said, many sellers have found success using FBA. FBA sellers often receive more traction than non-FBA sellers.

Think about it. FBA stores your products in Amazon’s warehouses and uses their shipping service. It makes your products eligible for Amazon Prime’s fast delivery.

As a result, customers tend to prefer FBA sellers over non-FBA sellers due to the convenience of faster delivery.

2. Dropshipping

Imagine this: You reach out to a local vendor in your town – say a handcrafts owner – and convince him to sell his products on Amazon for better profit margins. He agrees.

So, you list his carpets, bags, bedsheets, and wall-decor items on Amazon. You market the business on Amazon and get a customer. The vendor – who already stores the product in his shop – ships the product to the customer.

That’s dropshipping.

Dropshipping is a business model where you sell products on Amazon without an inventory. Instead, you find a supplier and list their items for sale on Amazon. You handle the online sales while the seller handles storage and logistics.

How to set up dropshipping?

Dropshipping is easy:

First, find a supplier who’s willing to dropship products for you. Remember, there are many dropshipping suppliers out there. Research and find a reliable supplier with good reviews.
Once you’ve found a supplier, you list their products on Amazon
When a customer places an order with the supplier, provide the customer’s shipping information
The supplier then ships the product directly to the customer

Pros and cons of dropshipping

There’s no need to invest in inventory upfront, which means you can sell on Amazon without any capital.	You have no control over the quality of the products. If a customer receives a bad product, it reflects poorly on your business.
You don’t have to worry about storing and shipping products.	Dropshipping is very competitive. You have to find a specific niche to differentiate yourself from competitors.

3. Third-party logistics

In short, Third Party Logistics or 3PL refers to outsourcing logistics and fulfilment services to a third-party provider. In other words, instead of storing and shipping products yourself, you hire a company to handle them for you.

If you plan to sell on Amazon only, consider choosing Amazon’s MCF, as it has many benefits:

Prime eligibility
Amazon’s customer service
Amazon’s trustworthy inventory management

How to set up third-party logistics?

Follow these steps to set up third-party logistics:

First, you must find a 3PL provider offering Amazon fulfillment services.
Once you’ve found a 3PL provider that offers MCF services, you can send your products to their warehouse.
They will then store your products and fulfill your orders when they come in.
When you receive an order on Amazon, you simply forward the order information to your 3PL provider, and they will take care of the rest.

Pros and cons of third-party logistics

Pros	Cons
Offers scalable solutions that can grow with your business without requiring you to invest in additional infrastructure or staff.	It can be more expensive than handling logistics and fulfillment yourself, especially if you don’t have a lot of volumes.
It can help reduce inventory management, warehousing, and fulfillment costs.	Additionally, you may have less control over the packaging and branding of your products, which can impact your brand image.
Offers greater flexibility and customization options for packaging and shipping, allowing you to create a more personalized experience for your customers.

4. Sell digital products on Amazon.

Consider selling digital products if you want to sell on Amazon without inventory. You can electronically deliver digital products such as e-books, music, software, and online courses. They’re easier to sell than physical products, requiring no inventory management or shipping systems.

And they’re profitable as well.

How to set up digital products?

First, you’ll need to create a seller account on Amazon if you haven’t already done so.
Then, you can set up your product listing and upload your digital files to Amazon’s servers.
When a customer buys your product, Amazon handles the delivery and payment processing on your behalf.

Pros and cons of selling digital products on Amazon

Pros	Cons
You don’t need to worry about inventory management or shipping, which can save you time and money.	Digital products are susceptible to piracy and intellectual property theft, so you must take measures to protect your content.
Additionally, digital products are highly scalable. You can sell as many units as you want.	Additionally, digital products may not be as tangible or valuable to customers as physical products, so you may need to work harder to market and promote your offerings.
Investment is very low, so you can have high-profit margins.
Digital products provide passive income. Once you upload a book on Amazon, it’ll sell automatically.

If you’re looking to sell on Amazon without inventory, digital products may be the way to go. Nevertheless, there are tools available to minimize the risk around inventory. For example, Stack Influence saves you from inventory loss.

Save your inventory loss with Stack Influence!

You don’t need to manage inventory to sell on Amazon. You can simply market your products while outsourcing inventory management. But marketing has its own challenges. For example, the risk of wasted products in influencer marketing. That’s where Stack Influence comes in handy!

We ensure that influencers buy the products before advertising. We reimburse them after they promote your product. If they don’t do it, they don’t get the reimbursement. This ensures zero-wastage of your inventory. You either get money or advertisement, which leads to better ROI for your marketing efforts.

Save your inventory loss with Stack Influence. We’ll handle your influencer marketing for your eCommerce while you focus your energy on essential tasks of your business.

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How to Sell on Amazon Without Inventory