Amazon Supply Chain

Vendor Central PO Acknowledgement changes

& Update Item Availability Status

November 2017

Presenting

2 new Vendor

Central features

1. Update Item Availability Status

A new Vendor Central functionality that allows

vendors to view and update ASIN availability

(limited to 23 US GLs at the onset)

2. Updated PO acknowledgement dropdown

An updated PO acknowledgement drop down that

provides vendors visibility into how Amazon

interprets the PO acknowledgement codes

1. Update Item Availability

Status

In Stock (including backorder)

Temporarily Unavailable

Permanently Unavailable

1

2

3

Amazon’s procurement process breaks inventory status

into three basic categories of “procurability”

Purchase Order (PO) Planning PO Acknowledgement

Item Availability Management

Purchase OrderPurchase Order

Acknowledgement

There are three ways to

communicate inventory status

that will influence Amazon’s PO

planning before an order is cut

After the PO has been received,

the PO acknowledgement code

and quantity you confirm

impacts Amazon’s next buying

decision

Actual PO Submission

Efficiency during the PO

fulfillment process is directly

tied to accurate inventory

availability awareness

throughout the supply chain

How to influence Amazon’s PO plan prior to the PO drop

1 In Stock 2Temporarily

Unavailable3

Permanently

Unavailable

Item Availability Management

Purchase OrderPurchase Order

Acknowledgement

EDI

Vendor Central

Update Item

Availability Status

Vendor Central

Contact Us

New!

Item Availability Management

Purchase OrderPurchase Order

Acknowledgement

New!

Replenishment POs

are executed based

on the procurement

status and inventory

availability visibility

Item Availability Management

Purchase OrderPurchase Order

Acknowledgement

After the PO has been

received, the ack code

you choose impacts our

next buying decision

and our message to

customers

Item Availability Management

Purchase OrderPurchase Order

Acknowledgement

2. Updated PO

acknowledgement dropdown

Amazon’s procurement systems boil down

acknowledgment codes into three basic availability

categories

YES, In Stock (including backorder)

NO, Temporarily Unavailable

NO, Permanently Unavailable

1

2

3

We want to make sure you know how we interpret

these codes so we can stay in stock for our

customers

Selecting a “Yes” status indicates you will fulfill that product

within the parameters of the PO policy.

Note that Amazon will auto-cancel line items that are not

received before the cancellation date and a backorder

status does not negate this requirement.

Refer to the PO On-Time Accuracy page in Vendor Central

Support Help for more details on Amazon’s PO policy

YES

Accepted: In stock Product in stock and immediately available

Backordered Product will be in stock and can be delivered before

PO cancellation date

Backordered: External

confirmation

Product will be in stock and can be delivered before

PO cancellation date per external source

Backordered: Not yet

available

Product will be in stock and can be delivered before

PO cancellation but is pending availability in

fulfilment network

Backordered: Not yet

published

Product will be in stock and can be delivered before

PO cancellation but is pending initial publishing

Backordered: To be

reprinted

Product will be in stock and can be delivered before

PO cancellation but is pending reprinting

This product can be

fulfilled within the

cancellation policy

guidelines

The specific

confirmation codes that

apply include:

YES

Selecting a “No (Temporarily Unavailable)” status indicates

you cannot fulfill that product within the parameters of the PO

policy.

Amazon will reorder again unless this same status is selected 5

consecutive times at least 48 hours apart, after which ordering

will be suspended for 30 days.

NO (Temporarily Unavailable)

You wish to skip this

cycle but anticipate

having a “Yes” status

next time

The specific

confirmation codes that

apply include:

Cancelled: Does not meet

minimum

Quantity ordered does not match the product

minimum order quantity (MOQ) threshold

requirements.

Cancelled: Out of stock* Product will not be in stock within cancellation

policy guidelines

Cancelled: Not yet available Product has not yet entered fulfilment network

Cancelled: Temporarily out

of stock**

Product will not be in stock within the cancellation

policy guidelines

Cancelled: Invalid product

information

Product has incorrect information and should not

be fulfilled until corrective action taken

NO (Temporarily Unavailable)

*Cancelled: Out of Stock (OS) is available to all vendors

** Cancelled: Temporarily out of stock (IR) is available only for US Advantage groups

Selecting a “No (Permanently Unavailable)” status indicates

you will not have this product available in the foreseeable

future.

Choosing this status two times at least 48 hours apart,

Amazon will interpret this ASIN to be unavailable and suspend

ordering. For status changes, you can self-manage availability

by resurrecting this ASIN.

To resurrect, go to Vendor Central Items Catalog and

follow the ASIN availability workflow.

NO (Permanently Unavailable)

Cancelled: Considering

reprint

Product is unavailable and pending decision for

reprint

Cancelled: Never published Product has never been published by this vendor

code

Cancelled: Not our

publication

Product does not belong to this vendor code

Cancelled: No geographic

rights

Product cannot be fulfilled to this geographic

region

Cancelled: Out of print Product is out of print with no plans of reprint

Cancelled: Permanently out

of stock

Product is out of stock with no plans to replenish

Cancelled: Suspend orders Product should not be ordered at this time. You will

follow the resurrection workflow to bring this ASIN

back sometime in the future.

Discontinued: Obsolete This product should never be ordered again.

You wish to remove this

product from our regular

replenishment order

cycle

The specific

confirmation codes that

apply include:

NO (Permanently Unavailable)

Accepted: In stock Product in stock and immediately available

Backordered Product will be in stock and can be delivered before PO cancellation date

Backordered: External confirmation Product will be in stock and can be delivered before PO cancellation date per external source

Backordered: Not yet available Product will be in stock and can be delivered before PO cancellation but is pending availability in fulfilment network

Backordered: Not yet published Product will be in stock and can be delivered before PO cancellation but is pending initial publishing

Backordered: To be reprinted Product will be in stock and can be delivered before PO cancellation but is pending reprinting

YES

Cancelled: Does not meet minimum Quantity ordered does not match the product minimum order quantity (MOQ) threshold requirements.

Cancelled: Out of stock Product will not be in stock within cancellation policy guidelines

Cancelled: Not yet available Product has not yet entered fulfilment network

Cancelled: Temporarily out of stock Product will not be in stock within the cancellation policy guidelines

Cancelled: Invalid product information Product has incorrect information and should not be fulfilled until corrective action taken

NO (Temporarily Unavailable)

Cancelled: Considering reprint Product is unavailable and pending decision for reprint

Cancelled: Never published Product has never been published by this vendor code

Cancelled: Not our publication Product does not belong to this vendor code

Cancelled: No geographic rights Product cannot be fulfilled to this geographic region

Cancelled: Out of print Product is out of print with no plans of reprint

Cancelled: Permanently out of stock Product is out of stock with no plans to replenish

Cancelled: Suspend orders Product should not be ordered at this time. You will follow the resurrection workflow to bring this ASIN back sometime in the future.

Discontinued: Obsolete This product should never be ordered again.

NO (Permanently Unavailable)

If only three categories,

why should I

discriminate between

acknowledgement

codes?

Many vendors use these fields internally

to keep track of confirmation rate

variance and error reporting.

We use specific acknowledgment codes

for business decisions and better ASIN-

level availability insight. We encourage

you to continue providing the specific

code that applies to your ASIN

availability status.

We have now have two “NO” buckets to group status options with

buying decisions vs one previously

The lists shown here represent all possible acknowledgement codes. The codes displayed in your account are based on the

business group of that ASIN and will not include all of those in this list.

In some cases, this means that your acknowledgement code list may

have been reshuffled to group by procurement status

The lists shown here represent all possible acknowledgement codes. The codes displayed in your account are based on the

business group of that ASIN and will not include all of those in this list.

Below is the full reshuffle that occurred

The lists shown here represent all possible acknowledgement codes. The codes displayed in your account are based on the

business group of that ASIN and will not include all of those in this list.

FAQ 1:

Does the ASIN-level

inventory management

feature allow for bulk

uploads?

With current iteration, you will be able to make

bulk changes for up to 25 items at a time on

the screen. The feature does not support

extract download or upload (ie: excel) at this

time.

We will aggregate the information and

honor the most recent signal, whether it is

communicated through EDI or Vendor

Central

FAQ 2:

How will Amazon

interpret combination of

EDI signals and PO

acknowledgements on

Vendor Central?

We will begin Pilot launch on Nov 16th for

select vendors in US Hardlines and

Consumables product lines. After that, we

plan on staggering the launch GL-by-GL for

the following list. The feature will be

available to all vendors for the GL’s below.

FAQ 3:

Which GL’s are in-scope

for ASIN-level inventory

management feature?

Home Improvement

Kitchen

Lawn and Garden

Major Appliances

Mobile Electronics

Musical Instruments

Office Products

US Consumables

Baby

Beauty

Grocery

Health and Personal Care

US Hardlines

Camera

Consumer Electronics

Furniture

Home

Home Entertainment

Outdoors

PC

Pet Products

Sports

Tools

Toys

Wireless

Amazon makes purchase decisions that is

aggregated across many inputs. Item

availability is one of many inputs that we

consider. Thus, while we attempt to send

Purchase Orders (POs) to vendors who

indicate in-stock availability, there is no

guarantee of PO receipt.

FAQ 4:

Does marking an item

“In Stock” mean that I

will receive PO’s for this

product?

While we attempt to send Purchase Orders

(POs) to vendors who indicate in-stock

availability, we may occasionally send you

POs even after indicating temporarily or

permanently out of stock, particularly if

there is customer demand that we would

like to fulfill.

FAQ 5:

Does marking an item

“Temporarily Unavailable” or

“Permanently unavailable”

mean that I will no longer

receive PO’s for this

product?

No new acknowledgement code has been

added with the updated dropdown. We

aimed to differentiate acknowledgements

and categorize as temporarily unavailable

and permanently unavailable, and

communicate implications with each

choice.

FAQ 6:

Are there new

acknowledgement

codes introduced with

the updated PO

acknowledgement

dropdown?

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content helpful?

THANKS!