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Sending Replenishment Inventory TO FBA Fulfillment Centers

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) lets Amazon handle packing and shipping, while vendors manage inventory. CSM supports this by creating Inventory Plans and Inbound Shipments, using Business Central transfer orders to track and update FBA inventory.

Amazon FBA Inventory Management is an add-on module and requires a valid, paid subscription. It also requires a subscription to Amazon Order Management.

If you have been using CSM for Amazon Order Management and would like to start a trial of FBA Inventory Management, go to the CSM Setup Screen. To start the trial, click the CSM Amazon FBA Inventory Mgmt button from the Subscriptions menu. Once the CSM for Amazon FBA Inventory Subscription Status is either active, or shows a Trial, you will be able to use the features described in this document.

FBA Inventory Setup on the Sales Channel

There are a few FBA-specific channel settings that must be configured in order to properly use CSM for Amazon’s FBA inventory management features.  This will be done on your Amazon sales channel.

Order Management FastTab

  • Inventory Location: enter a location that represents the Amazon fulfillment centers from which your Amazon orders will be shipped. The location you assign in this field represents the aggregated inventory you have stored across all Amazon locations.  The actual locations to which you ship your products change with each shipping plan; Amazon’s logistics algorithms will determine which location is best suited to receipt of your items and direct you accordingly.

Listing Management FastTab

  • Inventory Ship Plan Number Series: Enter a number series for FBA inventory shipping plans.  Whenever a new shipping plan is created for the sales channel, CSM will assign the next available number from this number series.

  • Default Replenishment Location: Enter a location from which you will supply inventory to Amazon fulfilment centers.  When you create a new shipping plan for the sales channel, the default replenishment location will automatically be assigned as ship-from location on the related transfer activity. You can leave this field blank if you replenish inventory from multiple locations and want to assign this information on an order-by-order basis.

  • FBA Polling Interval: Sets the interval to allow the Amazon API to retry an operation until a successful response is received. Default setting is 4 seconds. 

API Data FastTab

  • API Channel Identifier: confirm that the value in this field is AFN. CSM for Amazon uses this code to differentiate FBA channels from other Amazon services.

Package/Carton Templates

  • When creating Amazon Inventory Plans and Amazon FBA shipments, package templates must be configured and assigned to case packed items. To define these templates, follow the steps below.
    • Navigate to CSM Setup > Related > Package/Carton Templates
    • On the CSM Package Templates page, define the boxes/carton dimensions used case packed items being sent to Amazon. Pallet skids can be defined in this page as well.

                   

CSM Listing Table

For each item that you would like to manage FBA inventory for on Amazon, you will need a CSM Listing Record that is associated with the CSM Sales Channel you are using for FBA Orders.

If your Amazon store has existing SKUs, they can be imported into the CSM Listings page and mapped to their corresponding Business Central item numbers. To do this, follow these steps:

  • Go to CSM Amazon Reports.
  • Click on Actions > Request New Report > Merchant Listing All Data. 
  • The listing report will appear on the Amazon Reports page with a Report ID. In the 'Sales Channel Code' field, enter the sales channel code for the listing's FBA channel. Click Refresh to populate the Report Type and Report Document ID fields.
  • Click on Report Processing > Process Listing Report. This will generate the listings in the CSM Listings page for the FBA channel. 
  • Navigate to the FBA Sales Channel > Listings > Channel Listings.
  • For each listing, the following fields must be populated:
    • General Fasttab:
      • No. : Insert BC Item number
      • Variant Code: Only required if the sku pertains to a specific variant.
      • Unit of Measure: The item's unit of measure.
    • Amazon Product Information Fasttab:
      • Amazon Product Name: Should be automatically populated if the listing was retrieved using CSM Amazon Reports. 
      • ASIN: Automatically retrieved from Amazon. If blank, this will need to be manually populated with the sku's ASIN from Seller Central.
      • fnSKU (Fulfillment Network Stock Keeping Unit): If available, will be automatically retrieved from Amazon during the listings retrieval process.
      • Always Case Packed: Must be set to enabled if using CSM to send replenishment inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers.
      • Inventory Movement UOM: The case pack unit of measure. 
      • Case Packed Pref Package Template: Enter the package template code for the case pack.
      • Media: Must be enabled if the item is a type of media.
      • Case Packed Weight Units: Select the measurement being used for the item weight (pounds/kilograms).
      • Case Packed Weight: Enter the weight of the case pack.
      • Expiration Date Duration: If an item has an expiration date, specify a duration (period of time) from the date of the shipment, that the units sent will expire. It can be left blank if there are no expiration dates for the item.
      • Preparation Owner: Refers to the entity (you or Amazon) that handles tasks like bagging, bubble wrapping, or bundling products. 
      • Label Owner: Refers to the entity who applies the scannable barcode labels (usually the FNSKU) to those products. 

Note:  Much of the information on the Listing relates to product details. Currently, CSM does not sync this product data with Amazon.

Inventory Plans

The FBA Inventory Plan serves as the communication to Amazon, specifying the products to be sent to the fulfillment center, the quantity of each item, and the origin of the shipment. Follow the steps below to create an Inventory Plan.

CSM enforces a few rules mostly to conform with Amazon.

  • The Status of the plan must be open to make changes. Once you finish, you should release the plan before submitting the plan to Amazon.
  • There should be only one ship from location per plan.
  • A plan must be entirely case packed.
  • A single Channel Item No cannot be on more than one line.
  • Only quantities that result in full cases are permitted. You may enter the number of cases and CSM will calculate the total quantity orntity, or enter a quantity and CSM will round it down to the nearest full case.

Creating a Shipping Plan

  • Navigate to the Amazon Sale Channel
  • From the Home ribbon select FBA Inventory Plans.
  • Click New to create a new FBA Shipping Plan or select an existing line and click Manage, then Edit to view/edit an existing plan. 
  • You can also open an existing plan and choose Copy Plan from the Home ribbon to use another plan as a starting point.
  • Open the Inventory Plan card.
  • In the General fast tab, select the Ship-from location in the 'Location Code' field. The location's address and contact information must be populated to ensure successful submission of the plan to Amazon.
  • In the Shipping Plan Lines fast tab, enter the items and quantities to be shipped. Quantities must result in full cases.
  • Once all items have been entered, Click Release from the Home Ribbon.
  • On the Actions ribbon, click Submit Plan to Amazon.
  • CSM will send the plan to Amazon and will retrieve a response with Placement Options. These options dictate how your inventory is distributed across Amazon's fulfillment network and affect the fees you pay. 
  • Select a Placement Option and click on Actions > Confirm Placement Option menu.
  • The Placement Option will be sent to Amazon, and the screen will automatically be directed to the Inbound Shipment that was created.

Processing Inbound Shipments 

You can now view the Inbound Shipments created by submitting your FBA plan. These Inbound Shipments represents the Amazon Fulfillment Centers Amazon specifies for you to send the products to, based on your desired plan.

  • On the Inbound Shipment page, enter the planned Shipping Date in the 'Shipping Date' field. A pop-up will appear to confirm the shipping date and generate Transportation Options.
  • Once the transportation options have been generated, the 'Shipping Carrier' field will be automatically populated with Amazon's preferred shipping partner for the shipment. To review other available transportation options, click on the dropdown on the 'Shipping Carrier' field. You have the option of selecting an Amazon Partnered Carrier or a Non-Partnered Carriers. 
NOTE: A Transportation Option needs to be selected for each shipment if a plan has multiple shipments.

    • Amazon Partnered Carrier
      •  If an Amazon Partnered Carrier is selected as the transportation option, click on 'Confirm Transportation Option'.
      • LTL Carriers
        • Open the Shipment Plan, click Transport > Delivery Windows and select a delivery period for the shipment. Click Actions > Confirm Delivery Window.
        • Any pallets used will need to be added to the shipment. Open the shipment plan, click on Transport > Add Pallet. Include dimensions of the pallets in the Inbound Shipment Lines fast tab.
        • In the Transport Content fast tab, enter the Freight Bill Number in the 'Freight Bill Number' field.
        • Select the currency being used in the 'Seller Declared Value Currency' field. 
        • Enter the declared value of the shipment in the 'Seller Declared Value Amount' field.
        • Return to the Inbound Shipment list page, select the Shipping Carrier and click on 'Confirm Transport Options'
      • Non-Partnered Carrier
        • Open the Shipment Plan, click Transport > Delivery Windows and select a delivery period for the shipment. Click Actions > Confirm Delivery Window.
        • In the Shipment Boxes fast tab, enter the tracking number for each box in the 'Tracking ID' field.
        • In the Transport Content fast tab, select the currency being used in the 'Seller Declared Value Currency' field. 
        • Enter the declared value of the shipment in the 'Seller Declared Value Amount' field.
        • Return to the Inbound Shipment list page, select the Shipping Carrier and click on 'Confirm Transport Options'

    • Once Transport Options have been confirmed a Transfer Order is automatically created in Business Central to transfer the goods from the selected Ship-from location to your assigned FBA location. It can be viewed from the FBA Inbound Shipment page by clicking on Transfer Order > Show Transfer.

    Printing Labels

    • Carrier labels for the shipment can be downloaded and printed by navigating to Labels > Download Package Labels.
    • For LTL shipments, pallet labels can be downloaded and printed navigating to Labels > Download Pallet Labels.
    • Labels for each case pack can be printed by going to the Inbound Shipment Lines fast tab, selecting Lines > Print Labels. 

    Confirming Delivery

    • Once all steps are completed and the shipment has been received by the carrier, the shipment can be marked as shipping by navigating to Inbound Shipment > Mark Shipped. 
    • This action will also automatically post the open Transfer Order that was created from the shipment.