An Amazon worker delivers packages amid the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Denver, Colorado, USA, on April 22, 2020.
Kevin Mohatt | Reuters
Amazon is relieving some of the pressure on third-party sellers to ship and ship their own orders due to constant coronavirus restrictions on major carriers.
Last August, the company announced that, beginning in February 2021, members of Amazon’s Seller Fulfilled Prime (SFP) program should make deliveries on Saturdays and meet delivery goals of one or two. days.
In a note sent to sellers Tuesday that was seen by CNBC, Amazon said it was temporarily easing delivery speed targets for SFP members in response to the “restrictions on the logistics industry” generated by a pandemic. It means Amazon will give a pass to SFP members if they can’t guarantee the delivery speed of a day or two for a portion of buyers.
“While we know that vendors like you are working to raise the bar for Prime customers, we also understand that the pandemic has introduced restrictions on the logistics industry you depend on to meet customer expectations,” according to the note. “In recognition of these restrictions, we are adjusting the delivery speed targets for one or two days.”
An Amazon spokesman confirmed to CNBC that the changes were announced to vendors on Tuesday.
The SFP program, launched in 2016, allows third-party merchants to make a two-day shipping-ready inventory and display the revered Prime badge on their tokens without paying for Amazon’s Fulfillment By Amazon services.
With SFP, vendors store their own products and package their own orders, while delivery is handled by operators such as USPS, FedEx or UPS. Major carriers have experienced unprecedented strain on their systems during the coronavirus pandemic and the holiday shopping season as a result of high e-commerce activity.
In addition, UPS and FedEx are likely to face even tighter capacity constraints in the coming months, as they prioritize shipments of millions of doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Amazon measures an SFP member’s ability to meet one- or two-day delivery goals based on how often these delivery options are shown to customers when they see a seller’s product list. As a result of Tuesday’s update, SFP members will only need to guarantee delivery in two days or less for 55% of people viewing their product listing.
Starting in June, SFP members will be required to show delivery speeds of two days or less for 70% of people viewing their product listing. Vendors will need to continue to support Saturday or Sunday delivery and pick-up, as well as provide nationwide coverage starting Feb. 1.
Amazon announced the change last summer in order to give sellers plenty of time to prepare and communicate with operators, the company said at the time. The move has garnered criticism from some third-party vendors who say it could charge its operations if they have to work on weekends.
Vendors fulfilling orders for themselves had struggled to meet Amazon’s delivery goals in two days, even before the coronavirus pandemic. Less than 16 percent of SFP orders in the U.S. were delivered in two days, mostly because sellers don’t work on weekends, Amazon said last August.