If you’ve ever launched a new product as a brand owner on Amazon Vendor Central, you’ll know how challenging it can be.
Unlike a third-party (3P) seller, you need to build up a certain sales velocity to convince Amazon to make purchase orders and keep your products in stock. However, if you never have enough stock in, building up a decent sales velocity is obviously going to be difficult.
If you’re facing this exact challenge, the Amazon Born to Run program could be the ideal solution. This program gives vendors like you the opportunity to launch your Amazon products at an accelerated rate, reducing the time it typically takes to build up your sales and earn positive reviews.
In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at Amazon Born to Run, how it can support your growth as a vendor, and the best practices for launching your products through this program.
Amazon Born to Run is an invite-only program for vendors, allowing you to request purchase orders for your ASINs by sharing your sales projections for a specific product with Amazon over a 10 week period. If Amazon approves your request based on this data, they’ll buy up the relevant amount of your product.
While Amazon’s purchasing behaviour is usually based on the sales history of the product gleaned through Vendor Central data, Amazon Born to Run gives vendors a great opportunity to launch a new product with no previous sales data, and get their products off the ground based on their own estimates.
Vendors who apply to Amazon Born to Run are prompted to request an order quantity they estimate they’ll be able to sell within 10 weeks, which is known as the “sell through period”. This period starts 20 days from whenever you make your Born to Run submission.
If you’re not able to meet the sales target you specified in the 10-week sell-through period, one of two things will happen:
Amazon will return your products, in which case you’ll need to refund 100% of the product value plus 10% in shipping and handling.
Amazon will keep the unsold stock, in which case you’ll need to pay Amazon a retention fee equal to 25% of the unsold units’ cost.
If you’re confident in your sales projections and can keep unsold stock to a minimum, these potential costs shouldn’t be too much of a threat to your overall profitability. However, it’s still important to consider these scenarios carefully, and factor them into your projections before you decide to go ahead with using Amazon Born to Run.
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If you’re thinking of launching a new product through Born to Run on Amazon UK, there are a few basic requirements your brand will need to meet.
These requirements include:
Having a Launch Buy Quantity for the relevant products that doesn’t exceed £40,000.
Having a minimum cost for the ASINs enrolled in the program that’s at least £4.
Meeting certain product-specific criteria. For example, the enrolled products must not be heavy, bulky, or hazardous.
Aside from removing some of the typical barriers to launching a new product on Amazon, being part of the Born to Run program can have a number of positive knock-on effects for your entire Amazon operation.
Here’s a closer look at some of the key benefits of joining Amazon Born to Run.
When you join Born to Run, you’ll start off sending large volumes of stock to Amazon from day one. This means you’ll be less likely to experience a stockout in the 10-day sell-through period, and be able to avoid the related issues with lost visibility and business.
When you have a reliable stock level, you’ll be better placed to maximise your sales volume and product reviews from the start, helping your product’s visibility and long-term potential for success.
As we explained earlier, simply having a consistent level of stock can boost your sales considerably by avoiding stockouts and making sure you’re able to meet customer demand. However, by using Amazon Born to Run strategically, you can create an additional positive impact on your sales and achieve an even stronger bottom line.
To get the most out of the Born to Run program, many vendors will plan to make their submission at crucial times in their calendar. If, for example, if Amazon purchases a higher volume of stock in the run-up to dates like Black Friday or Prime Day, you’ll be able to improve your Launch Buy Quantity and boost your margins.
Note that while Amazon Born to Run is often used for launching new products, you can still enrol ASINs that have been a part of your catalogue for a long time. Whenever it looks like a product is lagging behind in terms of PO quantities, you can sign it up to Born to Run in order to increase its stock and support its sales volume.
By stimulating your sales and helping your ASINs reach maturity, you can also build a stronger working relationship with Amazon that can equate to higher revenue for your business over time.
If a product enrolled in Amazon Born to Run is particularly successful in its 10-week sell-through period, Amazon will take note of this value signal, and be more likely to execute larger POs. In cases where your product builds momentum quickly, Amazon can even forecast demand and place additional orders once the 10-week period is over.
Having the opportunity to build up sales in a relatively short period through Born to Run is a great way to show Amazon that your products and brand are worth investing in, especially when launching new products that are lacking the data to back up their value.
While simply having your products enrolled in Amazon Born to Run will help you maintain healthy stock levels and support your sales margins, there are many more things you can do to support your product launch, boost visibility, and supercharge sales for your new product.
While you can get your products in front of your target audience simply by optimising your Amazon listings with convincing, keyword-optimised content, if you really want to maximise your reach, you’ll need to invest in Amazon advertising.
Some tips for helping your ad budget go further and getting a good return on Amazon advertising campaigns include:
Utilising Sponsored Products and Sponsored Brands to target relevant keywords and audience segments, while increasing your overall brand awareness.
Experimenting with Product Display Ads to highlight your products to Amazon shoppers based on their specific browsing histories and interests.
Regularly monitoring and adjusting bids for the most profitable targeting strategy, and extracting the highest value possible from your ad spend.
Getting familiar with Amazon Advertising’s analytics tools to track how your campaign is performing and make adjustments based on the patterns you find.
While running a good Amazon advertising campaign will get users onto your listing, if the listing itself isn’t optimised, it won’t move the needle for your sales.
A well-optimised product detail page will not only improve your conversion rate, but can help you save on advertising spend by attracting more traffic to your product pages organically.
Some crucial best practices for Amazon listing optimisation include:
Researching high-demand keywords and including these in your titles, bullet points, and backend keywords.
Writing compelling copy that focuses on the most important USPs and uses language that will appeal to your target audience.
Using high-quality, professional product imagery that showcases your products from all angles, with text overlay and lifestyle imagery to emphasise its key benefits.
Amazon reviews are a huge factor in any Amazon customer’s decision-making process, and are essential for building credibility for your brand.
Some of the best methods for encouraging reviews for your products and making them more appealing to your target market include:
Enrolling on Amazon Vine, which allows you to send free products to Amazon users who have a history of actively posting reviews.
Using package inserts that politely ask customers for reviews, and making the process of leaving the review as straightforward as possible with a QR code or shortened link.
Offering high-quality, accessible customer service, helping your customers get the most from your product after a sale and creating a customer experience that’s better than your competitors’.
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Whether you’re bringing your brand to Amazon for the first time or you’re looking to bolster your catalogue with an exciting new product, we hope this guide has given you a better idea of the role Born to Run can play in your Amazon strategy, and helped you get a great start in leveraging its many benefits.
Here’s some frequently asked questions for quick reference to help you get the most out of Amazon Born to Run.
1. How do I join Amazon Born to Run?
Amazon Born to Run is an invite-only program, and you’ll only be able to join it after passing certain operational and profit checks set by Amazon.
Once your Vendor account is invited, you can submit an ASIN to Born to Run in Vendor central by navigating to: Orders -> Vendor Initiated Orders -> Born to Run. From there, you’ll be prompted to specify the ASIN you want to submit, and the quantities you’re estimating you’ll sell during the 10-day sell-through period.
2. Will my Born to Run purchase order be the only one my ASIN receives during the sell-through period?
Possibly, but not necessarily. If your ASIN generates high enough demand during its 10-day sell-through period, Amazon may order additional units to match its value based on the sales data.
3. How can I tell if my submission was approved?
Once you’ve submitted a Born to Run offer, you’ll be able to see its status in the Born to Run section of Vendor Central. Initially, it will have the status of “Under Review”. Then, when it’s improved, you’ll be able to see the approved order quantity under “Active Offers”.
4. Do I need to sign new contracts to participate in Amazon Born to Run?
When submitting to Amazon Born to Run, you’ll be required to choose what will happen to any unsold stock at the end of the sell-through period: either Amazon will return your products, or keep it in exchange for a retention fee.
Once your submission is complete, your active vendor contract will be amended to reflect your Born to Run set-up.
Amazon Born to Run offers a unique opportunity for vendors to launch products faster, maintain consistent stock levels, and build stronger momentum on Amazon. By leveraging this program, you can overcome common barriers to product launches, maximise your sales potential, and strengthen your working relationship with Amazon.
At WAKE, we specialise in helping vendors like you navigate Amazon’s complexities and unlock growth opportunities. Whether it’s building accurate sales projections, optimising your product listings, or managing your overall strategy, we’re here to help.
👉 Ready to accelerate your product launches and boost your Amazon performance? Contact us today.