The so-called inventory file makes it much quicker and easier to add new products to your own range on Amazon. Instead of having to post a new listing on the popular sales platform every time, you can simply create templates in which the inventory is then entered. This can be expanded as required and sold items are automatically deducted from the stock.
Another significant advantage of this type of Online sales on Amazon is a great way for retailers to modify several products online at the same time or upload more than one file at a time via flat files. This saves time and effort!
What is a stock file and what are the advantages of uploading a product with the stock file instead of uploading it manually?
The stock files can be used to manage your own Amazon Listing can be optimized by any seller without the need for programming knowledge. Amazon's inventory files offer the great advantage that online retailers can process several offers from the product catalog at the same time. This saves an enormous amount of time compared to processing the offers in chronological order.
You will find the setting options for your stock files under the "Professional" menu; the files can be downloaded and modified offline with just one click via the seller central. The practical Excel format offers further simplifications. All common formulas can also be used for Amazon stock files, which makes updating the products on offer even faster and therefore more efficient.
Once the desired changes have been made, the Excel files are simply uploaded back to Seller Central and all current stock files are immediately recorded so that incorrect stock levels are not displayed on Amazon.
Where can I find the stock file?
Amazon offers a customizable inventory file for each sub-category. This makes working on Amazon easier for all online retailers, regardless of whether they are a small business with stock in their living room at home or a medium-sized to large company that stores the goods on offer in a large warehouse.
Individual sellers always need the "Professional" sales tariff, as private sellers do not need to have such an extensive listing of the items offered via a stock file on Amazon. Those who only offer used items that are no longer needed at a low price usually do not have them in stock anyway.
All stock reports can be downloaded online for 30 days, after which this data is automatically deleted by Amazon. This is done so that online retailers are legally on the safe side. According to the General Data Protection Regulation, Amazon is not authorized to simply store enormous amounts of personal data on its own servers without a time limit.
You have to download the stock files via Seller Central. There is an item "Stock", which can be used to "upload multiple items". Templates for stock files can be created here, the Excel tables can be uploaded and downloaded, and the stock reports for the previous month can also be found.
How do I add products to the stock file? (And how does the upload of individual products to variants differ?)
It is best to create a stock template at the beginning, which contains the same specifications for each item. In addition to the standard product identifier and variant relationships, this also includes up to five search terms that Amazon users should use to find your goods in the product catalog.
The file also requires a unique SKU, which can be regarded as the core of every stock file. An SKU assigned by the online retailer remains in the system until it is manually deleted. If this is not done, the assigned SKU remains indefinitely.
The big advantage of using stock files is the ease of use. For example, if you now offer a pink sweater that was previously only available in navy blue in your online store, this stock can be added to your Amazon catalog in just a few minutes. Without this professional seller option, it is necessary to write a new listing from scratch, which is much more time-consuming and cumbersome.
Where and how is the stock file uploaded?
Uploading the Excel file is very simple. Any errors in the file can be easily detected by Amazon's "file verification report", so that as an online retailer you can always be sure that only error-free data is included in the product catalog. It is best to only submit error-free files for final processing by Amazon so that your stock levels are always up to date. It is best to treat online and offline inventory separately so that you do not have to update your data in the Amazon store after every product sold in the local store.
