Amazon Flex

About Amazon

Amazon.com, Inc., is an American multinational technology company based in Seattle, Washington. Amazon is the world's largest online marketplace, AI assistant provider, live-streaming platform, and cloud computing platform as measured by revenue and market capitalization. 

Amazon Marketplace allows sellers to resell used and new items for a percentage of profits. Amazon is the largest Marketplace globally and operated in 5 continents i.e. Asia (India, Middle East Asia, Singapore, China, Japan), UK (France, Italy Spain), Russia, America (US, Canada, Mexico), Australia.

Models of Amazon

1. Merchant Fulfilled Network or Amazon MFN or Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM)

1. Amazon Easy Ship (Ship by Amazon Logistics)
2. Amazon Self Ship (Ship by Seller Own Logistics)
3. Amazon B2B (Customers having GSTIN)

2. Amazon AFN or Amazon fulfilled network

1. Amazon FBA or Fulfilled by Amazon
2. Amazon Flex

In this document, we will discuss about Vin E-retail integration with Amazon Flex.

Seller flex is a program launched by Amazon for all seller on Amazon. It allows you to keep your inventory in your warehouse while making your inventory prime eligible.

* Amazon MFN and Amazon FBA integrations are discussed in separate documents

How to Apply for Seller Flex?

The client must get in touch with the Vin e-Retail account manager. Share the details with the alliance's team or update the sheet mentioned on: 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1t1XoqjvCCAg_Tt9N0SwbvPRMq0FgZXC7UMapWj MkFK0/edit#gid=0

The alliances team will coordinate with Amazon Business Team. Share the timelines of the Site launch.  

Benefits of Seller Flex

There are many benefits of enrolling into seller flex apart from getting PRIME eligibility. Since the Seller is keeping the inventory, there are no Storage Fees, Delivery Fees, Warehouse Shipping, Pick fees or Removal Fees which is charged in the Amazon FBA model. Additionally, there is the same staff provided as Easy Ship.

Details about Integration between Amazon Flex and Vin e-Retail

1. Amazon Flex is an EDI integration.
2. Amazon will provide a Site Code, that site code can be generated by Amazon (taking Vinculum as Integrator, on basis of that Amazon must do some configurations at his end). 
3. There is a restriction that only 1 integrator can be integrated for 1 Site Code (Means If a client is live on Amazon Flex using Vin-eRetail, he can’t be able to configure Amazon Flex for that site code on any other ERP system, etc). 
4. To configure Amazon Flex in eRetail, we need the Amazon Site Code, Partner Id. 
5. Using this Site Code and Partner Id, An Amazon Flex channel is configured in eRetail.
6. If the client has multiple Warehouses, that there must be multiple Site codes, Partner Ids using which multiple channels are created in eRetail.

How do Vin-eRetail and Amazon Flex warehouse integration work? 

 1. Amazon Pushes the orders to our system, through EDI integration (using AS2 Server). Once the order lands in our system, we push the orders to the respective clients created in ERP. 

2. If the inventory is available in eRetail i.e. the order is Allocated, then we are sending a Positive acknowledgment which means that the seller is fulfilling that order. 

3. If the inventory is not available in eRetail (Corner case), then we are sending a negative acknowledgement or NO INVENTORY which means that the seller is not fulfilling that order. 

4. After the Positive acknowledgment, the seller can process the order i.e. generate the Packaging label and invoice by calling the ATS (Amazon Transportation service) APIs.

5. The invoice format is pdf and the shipping label is having .ZPL format (supported by zebra printer only).

6. In eRetail, the Shipping labels and invoices are pulled in real time from Amazon and are fired directly on the printers without any manual intervention (No need to click on Print label and invoice).

7. At the time of Shipment, We pull the Manifest Id from Amazon(by calling  ATS APIs) and also sent the ASN to Amazon informing the order is ready to dispatch.(Manifest document is not generated in the case of Amazon Flex). 

*The Manifest document can be pulled from the Amazon POD Portal only.

For Returns: 

1. We pull the returns which the seller has firstly punched in CRET portal after receiving the return from Transporter (ATS). 

2. These returns are pulled in confirmed status which the client can close after doing the inbound etc. 

For Inventory: 

1. We sent real time inventory updates to Amazon. That file is called IAN i.e. Inventory Adjustment Notifications and here we are sending Delta only.

 2. For the complete inventory reconciliation, we sent ILN to Amazon i.e. Inventory level notification and that happens twice a day. 

In Amazon Seller Flex Warehouse Integration, we have:

1. Order Pull and Create 

2. Order Acknowledgements and Negative acknowledgments. 

3. Order Pack i.e. Invoice/Ship Label document generation. 

4. Order Shipment 

5. Inventory Push (both single and multi-location) 

6. Inventory Reconciliation 

7. Order Return Creation

Channel Configuration

Below is all about how to configure Amazon Seller Flex in Vin-eRetail for Inventory Management, Order Fulfilment, and Return Management.

Prerequisites:

 Below mentioned things are required to make Amazon Flex live for any client:

1. Partner Id: Partner Id of the client shared by Amazon Team. 

2. Site Code: Warehouse Id of Amazon. 

3. Access Key (Optional): MWS Access Key, already shared with the team. (confidential info not to be mentioned in this doc).  

4. Secret Key (Optional): MWS Secret Key already shared with all internal team (confidential info not to be mentioned in this doc). 

5.  MWS Token (Optional): MWS Token of that seller generated on Vinculum’s developer Id.  

6. Marketplace Id (Optional): MWS Marketplace Id for India i.e. A21TJRUUN4KGV.  • 

7. Merchant Id (Optional): Seller Id/Merchant Id of the client/seller. 

8.  Developer Id (Optional): Vinculum’s developer Id i.e. 073980952359 on which the seller needs to authorize Vinculum as a developer. 

 (MWS Credentials are only required to enable the SKU Pull) 

After getting the above details a channel needs to be created in eRetail (channeltype:603) A separate warehouse needs to be created in eRetail for Amazon Flex and Set the Source Warehouse for Inventory/Orders to that Warehouse. 

 (If the seller/client has not agreed upon the same then only set the Source Warehouse for Inventory/Orders to Shared warehouse.) 

Other Important Configurations 

• Auto pack needs to be disabled as For Amazon proper Packaging box dimensions are required at the time of order pack which is sent to Amazon in API request. They have some specific names/codes of the Box sizes which we will import into the system for all clients.   
• Box Dimension script attached with the rar file should be executed on the respective Client’s DB. 
• Just like the order status update of Magento, we need to send the status updates to Amazon that inventory allocated to order, etc. For that attached trigger needs to be executed on the Database of the client for which Amazon Flex needs to be configured. (Scripts will be attached in the rar file and please note that the site code in the trigger should be changed as per the channel code created in Vin-eRetail). 
• We have a DB on RDS3 by the name of AmazonFlex. Entry of that channel and its site code is required in Amazon DB’s Credentials Table.  (To do the entry, Mark the MWS credentials as NA. The API base URL is the login URL of that client in Vin e-Retail. 1 API key and API owner also need to be generated in Vin e-Retail and should have access of any API of Vin s-Retail in Vin s-Retail and the value of that API Owner and API Key needs to be mapped in Credentials table of Amazon Flex DB).

Channel Maintenance Window

Channel Maintenance setup helps the seller to reduce manual intervention and avoid the multiple usages of the marketplace seller portal. With the selection of below options at the Channel Maintenance window (Sales > Manage Channels > Add New > Select Amazon) get the advantage of using multiple features of Vin E-retail:

S.No.	Features	Where to Click on Channel Maintenance	Dropbox/Checkbox	Details
1.	Order Pull/ Order Pack/ Invoice/ Order Shipment/ Shipping label generation	Orders > Order Sync > Yes/No		Order Pull: The user can choose to sync the order from the channel to e-Retail by managing this option. If this is disabled, the Order pull will not happen also the shipping label/Invoice and manifest will not get generated.
2.	Order Return	Orders > Return Order Sync		Users can click this option to sync Return Orders.  Important Note: In Return Pull Services, the “Return” is always created in Confirmed status.     Users need to do an inbound from Return Inbound functionality available on the Application.
3.	Prefetch Shipment Label	Orders >  PrePack Enabled checkbox		PrePack Enabled: The user can enable prepack for the order from here. To avoid delay in Order processing and Shipment fulfilled within a provided SLA, we have a feature to pull Flipkart shipment Label and Invoice at the same time of picklist generation instead of during Pack Call. To use this functionality, we just need to enable the Prepack checkbox available under the Channel Configuration setup screen and the user needs to click on Prefetch deliveries during pending picklist status available on the Picklist enquiry screen.
4.	Ready to Ship Status at	Orders > Ready to ship at		Users can choose to mark the status of ready to ship at any of the two events: -at Manifest or -at Pack
5.	Use Market Place Shipping Label	Orders > Use Marketplace Shipping label checkbox		Users can check this option to notify the Shipping label by the marketplace and then opt from the Shipment label dropbox.
6.	Inventory update	Inventory > Inventory Sync		If selected "Yes" from the dropdown box, it automatically pulls and updates the inventory.
7.	Inventory Reconciliation	Inventory>Enable Inventory Recon		For Amazon, our system reconciles the entire inventory once daily to avoid any discrepancy other than the normal inventory push that happens on a transaction basis. To use this functionality, we need to enable Inventory Recon as ‘Yes’ available under the Amazon channel configuration.

 Channel Mappings

Currently in the case of the Amazon Dropship model that we have we/client maps the Merchant SKU code of Amazon in ChannelSKUcode of eRetail. However, in the case of Amazon Flex, Amazon SKU (starting with X0) needs to map in ChannelSKUcode and ASIN needs to be mapped in ChannelProductId.  

This Data can be fetched from Amazon by navigating to Reports > Inventory reports > Daily inventory history report.  

Common Issues in Amazon Integration

2. Error: U_011: Amazon System Error, U_011: Error : Item attributes fetched from sku item attributes is null for ASIN : B07P8CDSY8 CTI= Transportation:Transportation Fulfillment Technology(TFT):TFS - Manual Cuts. RequestIdentifiers = {REQUEST_ID=3005ec99-b591-4fdd-8522-d990fdb1d1c8}. This error comes If and only If the Channel Product id and Channel SKU Code is not correct. (This is the client end’s mistake) and must be fixed asap. 

Details about Amazon Flex EDI reports 

 Amazon Sends 2 reports 1 to every seller keeping the aggregator in CC and the second report is for the aggregator which includes the details of all Sellers. All the other sellers/Brands etc checks the Reports by themselves and raise them to Vin-eRetail helpdesk if they found an issue at Vin-eRetail’s end or Coordinate with the Amazon account manager if they found nothing wrong in Vin-eRetail. 

Below is the format of the Email having the performance report attached to it. 

4 total statuses are there which needs the attention of the seller: 

1. 600x i.e. 6001/6003: This means that the Order is Pushed by the Amazon. However, for that order, the Acknowledgement status was not sent from Aggregator to Amazon. This happened because of 2 reasons: 

• Order was created in System but did not gets allocated due to the order lying in Failed Orders tab.
• The order was created but not allocated as the Acknowledgement is sent on order allocation only.
• A rare case where some tech issue occurred, and the order failed to create and stuck in the backend of Vin-eRetail. 

2. Condition 13: This means that the order is packed but the Shipment notification is not sent to Amazon. It is possible if the order is stuck in Pack in Progress in Vin-eRetail. Cases which cause this issue: 

• The weight is not defined correctly for that SKU. 
• Either the Correct ChannelSKUCode or ChannelProductId is not mapped.
• Wrong BoxType select on the Pack Screen. 
• Transporter not assigned by Amazon due to transporter load capacity issue. 

3. Condition 29: This happens only in 1 case i.e. The order lying in Allocated status. However, it is not processed by the Warehouse Team.

4. Condition 60: This Happens because the SKU dimensions, weight is not mapped in the system. Mapping the dimensions is a mandatory part of Amazon Flex-Warehouse Integration. 

5. This report also contains the info about the late Shipments etc and for this seller itself must check and give details to Amazon. All the other sellers are proactively coordinating with Amazon Directly. Depending on the late Shipment count etc they must provide the explanations else the site will be deactivated by Amazon without prior notification.