FBA Kitting: Bundle Items that People Want

FBA sellers are always looking for ways to stand out from the competition. Aside from lowering the price, what other options do you have for capturing more of the Buy Box?

A popular technique involves kitting. A kit is an SKU that is a bundle of one or more other SKUs. It might be a multipack of items that are sold individually or it could be a variety of items packaged together.

For example, a “Tea Set” kit might include a teapot and two tea cups. As a seller, you might offer each of these items for individual sale as well.

A kit becomes a separate SKU which means it functions like a custom product. If no one else is selling the same kit, you will own the Buy Box. Kits are also a great way to pass along deals to buyers and make your products more attractive.

In this post, we'll explore how FBA kitting can benefit your business. We'll also share a few tips for getting started with kitting for Amazon products.

Kits Give Customers More Valuable Buying Options

Sure, you're in the business of making sales online. But, on a much deeper level, you're in the business of creating highly satisfied customers. Offering reliable products, reasonable prices, and great customer service are just a few of your specialties. Such dedication to the customer pays off, as evidenced by your positive feedback rating and growing profit margins.

Of course, you're always looking for additional ways to serve your customers. Recently, you've heard other sellers talk about kitting for Amazon products. They say it's a win-win, but how can it work for you?

As a simple example, let's imagine that you sell a variety of sports memorabilia and collectibles. In anticipation of opening day (which was this week!), baseball card sales are really starting to heat up. Serious collectors buy cards in hobby boxes (usually packs of 24 or 30), orders you'll gladly fill. But based on recent reviews, you've noticed some customers have recently been asking for smaller quantities (the typical Buy Box price for a hobby box is out of reach for some customers). A few competitors have already started selling individual packs, but what's the fun in that?

Then, genius strikes: why not sell a custom bundle? After some quick research, you confirm your suspicion that competitors haven't started bundling packs. You move quickly by sharing your plans with the manufacturer, ordering the necessary inventory, breaking bulk, reviewing Amazon's bundling guidelines, preparing FBA shipments, and optimizing the new Amazon listing. Soon, orders start to roll in well before the first pitch of the season.

As you can see, kitting for Amazon products creates new buying options for customers while simultaneously differentiating your offering in an increasingly crowded market.

Editor's note: Amazon recently updated the product bundling guidelines for consumable items in certain categories such as baby products and beauty. You can only list bundles created and offered by the original manufacturer in these categories, and the original manufacturer must be the brand owner. Products made by different companies cannot be mixed in the same bundle. You cannot list a bundle under your own brand or the "generic" brand.

Kits Offer Economies of Scale & Better Margins

Back to our example, you also notice that the most serious collectors tend to purchase several hobby boxes at a time. As you review your order data, you realize that many orders follow one of two patterns:

Three boxes, one of each major sport (baseball, basketball, and football) for the current season
Two baseball boxes, one for this season and last

Again, after some quick Amazon research, you're surprised to learn that no other merchants have picked up on this trend. Since your supplier ships product to you in standard cases (12 boxes per case), there's not too much risk for you to test these new bundles (especially since the manufacturer loves your ideas). You could always sell the individual boxes if the kitted ASIN flops.

With full ownership of the Buy Box on these kitted ASINs and a well-optimized listing, your average order amount increases - and so does customer loyalty. By anticipating customer needs, you've made their lives more convenient, saved them money, and thwarted the competition (at least for now). You're rewarded with fewer price wars, decreased FBA expenses (since bundles allow you to sell more items with fewer transactions), and an overall increase in operating margin.

Simplify the Kitting for Amazon Process

As you build more kits, it may become challenging to keep everything organized. After all, you're still fulfilling orders for individual hobby boxes (in addition to your new bundles). With so many details to keep straight, using a tool like RestockPro by eComEngine can be a wise investment.

RestockPro is integrated with your Amazon Seller Central account, which means your FBA inventory data flows seamlessly into our intuitive kit interface. RestockPro then uses this information, allowing you to easily identify which items are part of a kit. No more second-guessing yourself when it comes time to reorder certain SKUs. RestockPro helps you to reorder the right parts, every time.

Overflowing with on-hand inventory that is kit-worthy? No problem; RestockPro's Kit Optimizer can help you identify the best bundle mix. The Kit Optimizer will look at existing inventory and build a profit-focused kitting plan (based on your business rules and forecasted demand).

And, most importantly, you'll always be able to tell how profitable a kit is performing on the Amazon marketplace. For any kit you offer, RestockPro instantly calculates actual profitability data by incorporating sale price, Amazon fees, COGS, and other criteria. No more number crunching or spreadsheets!