How to Successfully Participate in Subscribe and Save on Amazon

Amazon’s hottest Subscribe and Save feature provides both sellers and buyers with attractive benefits. As a result, this feature has been getting many’s attention.

As it becomes popular, sellers should start to decide and enroll in the program. This article will clarify and get things straight off about the program. We provide facts and tips to save or earn more on Amazon without further ado.

So, how to use Subscribe and Save on Amazon? Let’s get started!

Benefits of Subscribe and Save for Amazon Sellers

What does the S&S do for the sellers? It can mainly lock in the price and the future sales that can serve as extra sales. It can also make the products more consumable and more competitive. This strategy can help the sellers to save and make the business more secure. Through Amazon Subscribe and Save, merchants can have safe, frequent sales on their products. Thus, enrolling in the Subscribe and Save feature of Amazon can be very beneficial to sellers.

However, sellers should follow some requirements and guidelines to subscribe to such a feature. First, sellers should pass the eligibility assessment that Amazon has set.

Here are the following requirements for Amazon sellers Subscribe and Save:

• The account must be FBA with good standing. This requirement is being assessed strictly.
• The seller feedback must have a rating of 4.7 and above average. If it goes below the required rating, there is no possibility of enrolling in the store.
• The account must be actively selling for a minimum of 3 months. It will also show if the store is worthy of the program’s benefits and attention.

3 Nuances of S&S for Amazon Sellers

After being qualified for the Subscribe and Save feature, sellers must consider other things. These things mainly tackle how the feature works and how it can help sellers in the long run.

• Be informed that only certain products under specific categories can be eligible for the feature. Each product category has equal discount percentages that one can sell to the customers. The list can be clarified on Amazon’s page. You must check this list before setting the right expectation for the sellers.
• FBA products are considered eligible products. However, the seller must maintain an 85% or higher in-stock percentage. A high in-stock percentage leads to high competitiveness under this program. Not maintaining such requirements can lead to termination and suspension of the program.
• For the sellers to check the eligibility, go to the Settings dropdown, look at the right corner, and choose Fulfillment by Amazon. After that, scroll down to the Subscription settings. Click the Subscription settings to show the account’s Subscribe and Save status and eligibility. The store is eligible if the Subscribe and Save edit buttons are available. If not, the seller should check the requirements above again.

Updates to Subscribe and Save Program

In Q1 of 2020, Amazon released three primary updates to their Subscribe and Save solution. These are:

• Product Enrollment
• Who Funds the Discounts
• Tiered Deals

Product enrollment

Previously, AMZ tended to rely on merchants to pick which of their items to provide subscriptions. With this new update, the platform automatically chooses the products most relevant to regular usage and boosts the Subscribe and Save option at a flat 0% discount. Such a change indicates products listed on a merchant’s page might end up lower than their Minimum Advertised Cost, but AMZ gets around those complaints by not displaying the discounted pricing on the product listing. Besides, such a discount applies only if a client fulfills more than five orders of that product per month (they might get a 5% AMZ-funded deal.) For merchants who wish to provide a 5% or 10% discount, they should contact the AMZ Subscribe and Save representatives to check their eligibility or to go out of the program.

Who funds the discounts

‍Some time ago, merchants saw no usefulness in spending money for the more elevated discount rates for their clients in the S&S 5+ solution. Those subscriptions did not have to be from the same merchant, so merchants were basically paying for clients to be loyal to AMZ(and not them). As of 2020, the platform is taking responsibility for the extra discount by setting it a standard 5% above the merchant discount. Thus, vendors are responsible only for that 5% they have agreed to (and when they wish to provide a 10% discount, they have to talk with the Subscribe and Save agents.)‍

‍Tiered deals

‍As mentioned earlier, merchants can now provide repeat customers with a 5% and 10% discount. AMZ states that those who provide the 10% feal can boost their conversions by 1.8X compared to not delivering a discount. Merchants providing such discounts can change their selling approach based on changing industry factors. In turn, offering the 10% deal give users a substantial competitive edge over other sellers who offer none.

10 Steps on How to Sign up as a Subscribe and Save Seller?

After checking the account’s eligibility, the seller can proceed with the enrollment process. Here are three very easy steps that should be followed.

1. In the Subscription Settings section, click the edit button in the upper part of the box.

2. Select Enable option, then click Update.

3. Read the Terms and Conditions, then click Agree.

After enrolling, the next process is to add items to the program.

4. Look for the Central Subscribe and Save Inventory file template. It can be found on Seller Central. Then, download the template.

5. Open the template and read the detailed instructions on the tab thoroughly.

6. Click the Example tab. Complete the information about the products that will enroll in the program. Take note that column A is for the SKU of the product, while column B is for the action that will apply.

7. Once completed, save the template into a .txt document or a text extension on the computer.

8. Go to the page to add/remove a subscription and save products found on the Seller Central page. Click the File Upload link and upload the text file.

9. Wait for the uploaded file to be processed. Go to the summary page to monitor the changes.

10. Review the successfully subscribed products and errors, if there are any.

For additional inquiries or technical support, send an email to [email protected].

How to Check the Results of S&S Program?

After some time, the result of the subscribed products can be monitored. You can monitor the result in four-week to eight-week program reports. It includes a summary of useful information. Plus, it also contains percentages of missed orders caused by insufficient stock, a regular price after the discounted sale to an average discount of each SKU, and reports of items shipped. This information can be helpful in evaluating the elements and competitiveness of the seller.

To see the four-week program results, do the following steps:

• Go to Seller Central; then, go to the Reports dropdown, and choose the Fulfillment option.
• Find the Subscribe and Save performance results on the left side of the screen. Click it.

To find out the eight-week program results, check the Subscribe and Save Forecasting.

• On the same page, click Subscribe and Save Forecasting.

After processing and setting everything up, you can use a performance report can. This report will show the information on how the items have been shipped. In addition, the Performance Report can give an understandable percentage and information about the whole store’s competitiveness.

6 Benefits of Subscribe and Save for Amazon Buyers

Meanwhile, Subscribe & Save allows customers to save money from this program. Customers can get up to a 5-15% discount on the shipping fee at a single address. The process is a hassle-free one that is open to everyone.

This program assures customers of the freedom to cancel their subscription anytime. There is no commitment needed. To fully understand the benefits, here is a list to be considered by the customers:

1. Save & Subscribe has a feature for setting scheduled deliveries. By having those scheduled deliveries, customers can earn savings from discounts.
2. Customers also can unlock extra savings by subscribing to five or more products. You should deliver five or more products to one address. The scheduled delivery can go up to monthly delivery.
3. Thousands of everyday products are available for customers. Those thousands of products also bring extra savings under the program. Customers can also control the quantity of their chosen products.
4. For each scheduled delivery, the customer will receive a reminder and notification about the transaction. It will allow them to monitor the applicable discount and product price. The notification will be sent as an email before the delivery date.
5. Amazon members can save up to 15% discounts on auto-deliveries. Prime members can save up to 20% on discounts. The Amazon Family presents this kind of perks to its members.
6. Combining coupons can make a great double saving under this program. Two coupons can be used and availed simultaneously to make the price drop. So, coupons can impact the items’ price for a one-time purchase.

Conclusion

To sum everything up, S&S is a great way of securing the business’ future. It also gives helpful information that can be used for the stores’ weekly evaluations. In this way, Amazon sellers can engage and compete more on the widely known site. Amazon opens opportunities for sellers to earn more than they normally can.

The feature is also a win-win situation for the customers. It makes the experience more convenient because of the scheduled deliveries. The savings they can earn from the discounted items are also a major bonus! The program also supports a no-commitment policy that allows customers to cancel their subscriptions anytime.