Have you ever heard of Vendor Central and Seller Central?
The difference it is simple and it replies to these questions: who is going to sell your product? You or Amazon itself?
The Vendor Central is the platform for sellers who supply goods directly to Amazon. In this case, Amazon itself becomes the distributor of their products.
The Seller Central, indeed, is that platform used as direct sale to Amazon final users and it is used daily to manage your sales.
How do they work and what do they offer?
Let’s start with Seller Central. Its interface, that is also the most used by brand ad also reseller, could be used daily by sellers as inventory for products to offer to the end users.
Inside, you can manage your offers (modifying prices and quantities), manage orders and use advertising tools.
The Vendor Central has the same function but it is only used by producers and distributors which are wholesaler inside Amazon.
In Amazon, you can distinguish if a product is “sold” by Amazon if you see the heading “Sold and Shipped by Amazon”. With this model of sale, the producer can compensate for its loss in managing high volume of sales. In this way, the producer can concentrate in other issues rather than on selling to the final users.
The most important issue that distinguishes Vendor Central to Seller Central is the possibility to join only at Amazon’s invitation.
In this table you find a summary of the two platforms features:
Seller Central |
Vendor Central |
|
Open to everyone |
Only at invitation |
|
Sell directly to the end user |
Sell to Amazon |
|
Different options for logistics |
Amazon FBA |
|
14 days for sale screditing |
90 days for sales crediting |
|
Retail prices are defined by brands |
Retail prices are defined by Amazon |
|
Limited advertising options |
Different advertising options |
|
Prices of products established by sellers |
Prices of products established by Amazon |
|
Registered trademarks have their own specific pages |
A+ Pages |
|
Possibility to join Prime |
Prime assured |
Simplicity: you just have to sell big pallet of items to Amazon and ship all the stock to the logistic centre. Amazon will manage the inventory, logistics, refund and customer service.
Security: You sold your stock to Amazon, so Amazon is the new owner of the items. It goes without saying that Amazon has interest in selling their own products instead of other sellers’ items. Amazon has home court advantage, and for this reason it can offer big advantages and promotions.
These advantages include every item sold by Amazon, they could be:
Protection: your page content will be protected from other seller’s update. Moreover, Amazon will also protect your brand as it is a partner of your business and it is investing in your brand.
Access to AMS: with Amazon Marketing Services (AMS) you will have access to marketing opportunities that are not entirely available in other seller programs:
An other option is available for producers and brand owners: the Vendor Express.
What is it? It is a “redimensioned” wholesaler program offered by Amazon to small-scale producers. It is perfect for young businesses or artisanal producers.
Vendor Express is an option only if you own the intellectual property of the product you sell to Amazon. If you don’t have this privilege, you can try to join other seller programs in order to keep third parts privileges.
At the end, with Vendor Express you are a wholesaler and you sell directly to Amazon, as for Vendor Central.
This program is less strict than Vendor Central. Indeed, it is not required an invitation to join. You don’t have to pay annual or monthly fee to join. Vendor Express could be a good way to join business if you own a small scale production or if you own a young business but you dream to become bigger.
The benefits are equal to Vendor Central but with some variations:
Do you want to know what' s the best for your business? Follow the diagram and read the result!