How Connecting Amazon MCF to Shopify Streamlines Your Sales-And Why You Should Do It Today

With over 1.9 million businesses harnessing the power of Amazon FBA. Now is the time to expand into the world of Shopify Multi-Channel Fulfillment. This blog post will highlight the benefits of connecting Amazon MCF to Shopify and how to do so. Creating a seamless connection between the two mega platforms has never been easier with solutions provided by ByteStand.

What is Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment & how is it different from FBA?

Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment was launched in 2007 & helped sellers manually create non-Amazon.com orders inside of Seller Central. Thus, requesting that Amazon pick, pack, and ship the external orders. Eligible sellers are registered on Amazon and have physical inventory stored in Amazon warehouses.

Initially, Amazon required manual entry of orders one by one. Today, ecommerce integrations like ByteStand exist for Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, and more. Making the connection between Amazon and Shopify simple.

Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) orders are placed directly on Amazon.com. Amazon collects a referral fee for each order placed via their platform. Amazon also owns this customer data and all order information. Multi-Channel fulfillment (MCF) orders are placed on external websites and then imported into Seller Central. Immediately categorizing them as non-Amazon orders. Amazon does not collect referral fees for MCF orders, nor do they own the customer and order data.

Recent MCF enhancements include Prime shipping speeds, blank box packaging, and custom packing slips. Keeping customers unaware that Amazon is shipping most of their online orders.

Why connect Amazon MCF to Shopify?

The real question is, why is your Amazon and Shopify account not already connected? If you are an Amazon FBA merchant, you’ve already completed 80% of the hard work. Now, it’s time to double down on the benefits of that relationship.

• MCF gives you access to prime-like shipping speeds from Amazon.com. Offer your Shopify customers Standard delivery in 3 business days and Expedited delivery in 2 business days.
• Never pack a Shopify order again. Rely on Amazon to store, pick, pack, and ship all of your orders. Preventing human errors with packing, shipping, and logistics.
• Offer worldwide shipping depending on where your Amazon products are stored. MCF is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and Canada.
• Help for stores that are importing orders into Shopify. For example: Subscription, Upsell, TikTok, Meta, Etsy, Walmart, etc. Imported orders can also be sent to Amazon for MCF.
• Manage your inventory and enhance inventory turnover by selling products on multiple platforms. This keeps inventory fresh in Amazon’s systems and reduces stockouts.
• Increase brand awareness by selling on every Social platform your customers scroll through. And keep your customer data housed outside of Amazon Seller Central.
• Participating in MCF helps increase your chances of having products appear as ‘feature offers’ on Amazon.com.

How ByteStand creates a seamless Shopify to Amazon MCF connection

ByteStand entered the Multi-Channel Fulfillment world in 2016 on the Shopify app store. In less than 10 years, ByteStand has helped thousands of ecommerce sellers connect their Shopify stores with Amazon.

ByteStand began as a small passion project in Charlotte, NC. Built by an ecommerce merchant just like you. ByteStand CEO Todd Trimakas became overwhelmed with manually creating orders on Amazon and decided to develop his own automatic order solution. Today, over 2,000 stores trust ByteStand to send millions of orders a month to Amazon for MCF fulfillment.

How does it work?

ByteStand MCF Shipping is a plug-and-play app. Install the app from the Shopify App Store and select a plan that fits your business needs.

• With the click of a button, ByteStand uses your Amazon credentials to connect your Amazon account to Shopify.
• The Flex feature allows merchants to choose which products ByteStand should manage in their Shopify orders. Send all of your orders to Amazon for fulfillment or just some of them. This allows stores flexibility to partner with other 3PLs besides Amazon.
• Sync your FBA products' available inventory quantities from Amazon to Shopify and keep inventory across platforms up to date. If a product sells out on Amazon.com, it will also show as sold out on Shopify. Reducing customer confusion or canceled orders.
• Order statuses stay up to date in Shopify from Unfulfilled, In Progress, to Shipped. Tracking numbers are automatically added in Shopify, keeping customers in the loop.
• Utilize the Blank Box program so customers do not realize Amazon is shipping their orders, block Amazon logistics from delivering orders, and show estimated shipping time frames with Fast Badge.

How is ByteStand different from Amazon’s built-in solution?

1. ByteStand MCF Shipping is automatic. Customer shipping addresses, product SKUs, and shipping methods are forwarded to Amazon automatically for every order. There is no manual order entry.
2. Based on inventory locations, ByteStand supports the United States, United Kingdom, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia marketplaces.
3. Virtual Bundles - ByteStand can manage all virtual bundle products with no need for the bundle to exist in Amazon Seller Central. Simply ‘map’ Shopify SKUS to their real Amazon SKUs.
4. Social orders from TikTok, Meta, Google, etc, can be automatically sent from Shopify to Amazon for fulfillment with an add-on feature called ‘Import’
5. Order Routing Rules - this is a free feature that allows stores to create automatic order rules. Forward orders to Amazon or a different 3PL based on shipping location, inventory levels, order tags, and more.
6. Place order fulfillment delays while automatic order fulfillment is on. This feature helps prevent fraudulent orders and gives customers time to edit the order before it’s sent to Amazon for fulfillment.

Final thoughts

Amazon is the leading e-commerce platform and one of the largest 3PLs today. If you are storing products in Amazon warehouses, making sales on Amazon.com, and you’re ready to ship orders from all of your Sales Channels automatically…it’s time to connect Amazon MCF to Shopify.

For added speed, flexibility, and accuracy, install the ByteStand MCF Shipping app on Shopify today. ByteStand is more than an MCF connector; ByteStand is an Amazon expert in your ecommerce tool belt.

Guest Author: Cara is the voice of ByteStand and a Shopify Multi-Channel Fulfillment expert with 10 years of Amazon experience.