Your 1P launch looks fine. Then the ASIN goes CRaP. Could Vine be a factor?
It is a question more vendors are asking, and it deserves a careful answer, because the link between Vine and CRaP is easy to overstate and just as easy to ignore.
What Net PPM measures
Net PPM is Amazon's margin on your product after vendor funding and sales discounts, as a share of shipped revenue.
That last part matters for launches. A brand-new ASIN has very little revenue to absorb a hit. Any cost or discount that lands in its first weeks carries far more weight than the same amount would on an established ASIN with months of sales behind it.
Where Vine fits in
Vine enrollment is capped at 30 units per ASIN. Those free units can pull margin down at exactly the moment an ASIN has no sales history to offset them.
Some vendors report Net PPM dipping after Vine units go out, followed by slower POs. That is anecdotal. Amazon has not said Vine causes CRaP. The sensible reading is that Vine can be one factor in early margin, not a proven cause of CRaP status.
Not sure whether a new ASIN is heading for CRaP? Book a USD 100 account review.
CRaP is not only about Net PPM
In my experience, CRaP is also about Amazon's own costs, like freight, storage and fulfillment. A healthy Net PPM does not always keep you out.
That is why fixing margin alone sometimes fails to move an ASIN out of CRaP. If the product is expensive for Amazon to move and store relative to its price, the cost side of the equation still counts.
If several ASINs are stuck in CRaP, our Vendor Central consulting work starts with an ASIN-level review of Net PPM, cost and freight.
What I would do
- Track Net PPM by ASIN in Retail Analytics from launch week, so you can see when and why it moves.
- Be deliberate about when and how many Vine units you enroll, rather than defaulting to the maximum on day one.
- Protect your pricing across channels, because price matches compress margin.
- If CRaP persists after Net PPM recovers, take it to your Vendor Manager with the data.
Amazon Vine programme
Amazon Vine programme details: sell.amazon.com/programs/vine.
Has Vine ever tipped one of your new ASINs into CRaP? What fixed it?
Originally published on LinkedIn. Read the original post and join the conversation.