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In 2018 Amazon had already announced fee changes for its FBA (Fulfillment by Amazon) program across Europe. Retailers now have to get used to higher shipping and storage fees. In addition, some services that were for free in the past will drop out.
This reflects the current situation of the logistics and parcel industry in which prices are being increased due to the high demand. Many carriers such as DHL have already implemented price adjustments for 2019.
The changes concern almost all shipping areas - from local delivery throughout PAN-EU FBA to multi-channel shipping. Especially shipping oversized items across countries will become significantly more expensive. In fact, price increases go up to 74% depending on size and shipping network.
While prices for cross-border shipping are increasing, shipping tariffs within the German market will approximately remain at the same level.
What you need to know
Adjustment of shipping fees on certain Amazon marketplaces
By April 1, 2019, Amazon will adjust shipping costs for products sold through Amazon marketplaces and shipped from a local logistics center, e.g. with a warehouse in Germany, Poland, or the Czech Republic. Shipping costs abroad for items with more than 6kg will increase by up to 20%.
Also, Amazon will reduce shipping fees for some smaller items and weight classes - but this is not the case for all marketplaces.
Up to 45% increase in shipping costs for oversized items
In December 2018 Amazon reduced storage costs for oversized items by 30%. However, shipping costs will now become more expensive. In addition to local transit charges, from April 1st, 2019 a surcharge will apply to the following countries: United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Spain - oversized parcels that are shipped from Germany will not be affected.
The changes in local shipping costs for oversized items, especially in France, Italy, and Spain, are particularly noticeable and go up to 43%.
Dramatically higher costs for oversized shipments in the PAN-European FBA and European Fulfillment Network
The surcharges for sellers using the European Fulfillment Network for large oversized items will increase by 67%, and for sellers using PAN-European FBA fees will be raised by 74%.
Adjustments for multi-channel sellers
By June, 1st, 2019, Amazon also changes the multi-channel shipping rates for EU 5 (UK, UK, FR, IT, ES).
Multi-channel shipping means that Amazon stores your inventory in their fulfillment centers and when items will be sold on Amazon, on your own website, or another e-commerce site, Amazon picks, packs, and ships them to your customers.
Also by June 1st, 2019, Amazon will charge the same fees for multi-channel shipping as for shipping through Amazon, presupposed that the item was bought on Amazon and the product is registered for PAN-European shipping.
So, if you sell product bundles from individual products offered on Amazon (for example, two single ASINs as a set), the same fees will apply as if both items had been purchased from a customer on Amazon.
Fee reduction for express delivery
Fees for express shipping (1 to 3 days) are reduced in many product size categories for multi-channel shipping. This shows that fast delivery becomes more important and helps to increase customer satisfaction. A survey reveals that 45% of online shoppers are even willing to pay extra for fast delivery or a delivery on a specific date if they see an additional value.
E-Commerce shipping is becoming more challenging
To sum it up, it can be concluded that e-commerce shipping is becoming more complex for online sellers as carriers and fulfillment networks are increasing their prices. This is especially due to the fact that parcel services are reaching their capacity limits and are having a hard time handling the increasing workload.
As a consequence, there is a need to find scalable logistics solutions for online shops in order to be able to meet the high expectations of consumers with regard to e-commerce delivery.
Find more information about the price adjustments here.