Selling on Amazon and Flipkart: A Complete Guide for Indian Sellers

Selling on Amazon and Flipkart Is Easy to Start and Hard to Do Profitably

Amazon and Flipkart can give an Indian manufacturer or brand national reach within weeks. Whether that reach makes money depends on product economics, operations and advertising discipline, not on getting listed.

Most sellers who struggle on marketplaces did not fail at onboarding. They listed products whose price could not carry fees, freight, returns and advertising; they ran ads judged only by platform ROAS; they ran out of stock on their best SKUs while slow ones aged in a warehouse; or they did not reconcile settlements and never noticed money going missing. This guide is about avoiding those outcomes.

It is written for manufacturers, retailers, brand owners and existing sellers planning for 2027. It first helps you decide whether marketplaces fit your economics, then covers the operating system: readiness, platform choice, listings, fulfilment, inventory, pricing, returns, settlements, advertising, account health, SKU decisions and a 12-month plan. For a step-by-step registration walkthrough, see our guide to selling on Amazon India and Flipkart seller registration guide.

What Changed Recently, and What It Means for 2027

We are writing in November 2026. Fee structures have moved a lot in the last 18 months, which makes old profit calculations unreliable.

Referral and commission cuts for lower-priced products

Amazon India announced in March 2026 that it was extending zero referral fees to more than 12.5 crore products priced under ₹1,000 across 1,800+ categories from 16 March 2026, alongside Easy Ship fee reductions for products under ₹300 (About Amazon India, March 2026). The announcement did not remove other fees, and eligibility depends on category and price. Flipkart was widely reported to have introduced zero commission for eligible products under ₹1,000 in late 2025 and, in July 2026, to have extended zero commission to fashion products at all price points (Outlook Business, July 2026). Confirm the current rate card for your category in Seller Hub before relying on these reports.

Other fees can move the other way

Fee schedules change in both directions. Sellers and third-party trackers have reported closing-fee changes on Amazon India during 2026; whatever the latest change is, the practical lesson is the same: rebuild your unit economics from the live fee schedule in Seller Central or Seller Hub at least every quarter, and whenever a platform announces changes.

Tax deductions are smaller, and still affect cash

The GST tax collected at source (TCS) that e-commerce operators deduct under Section 52 of the CGST Act was reduced to 0.5% of net taxable supplies from 10 July 2024 (CBIC Notification No. 15/2024-Central Tax; see GST Council FAQs on TCS for how the mechanism works). Income tax deducted at source by e-commerce operators fell to 0.1% from 1 October 2024 under the former Section 194-O; from 1 April 2026 the Income Tax Act, 2025 is in force, and practitioners map this deduction to its new TDS provisions (Income Tax Department). Both are explained in Section 12.

Data protection for customer information

If you contact marketplace customers outside the platform, use only what the platform permits and plan for India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Rules, whose main obligations are scheduled to apply from 13 May 2027. Marketplaces also restrict how sellers may use buyer data; follow their policies first.

Is Selling on Amazon and Flipkart Right for Your Business?

Marketplaces suit products that buyers search for, that ship economically, and whose margins can absorb fees, returns and advertising.

Before listing, run a simple fit test. If most answers below are “no”, marketplaces may still be useful for visibility, but expect them to need more capital and time, or to work only for part of your range.

Table 1. Marketplace fit test.

When marketplaces are a poor fit, at least for now

Very low-price items where shipping is a large share of price, bulky goods with high damage risk, products needing installation or expert advice, and categories you cannot legally sell without licences you do not yet hold. In these cases, consider B2B channels, distributors, quick commerce for specific SKUs, your own website, or bundles that raise the order value. Our Amazon vs Flipkart vs quick commerce and Meesho vs Flipkart vs Amazon comparisons can help.

A quick price-ceiling test (hypothetical)

Before anything else, check whether the market price leaves room. Look up the price range of comparable listings with good ratings, take a realistic selling price, and remove GST. From that net figure subtract your landed cost, packaging, an estimate of platform fees and shipping from the live rate card, a return allowance and an advertising allowance. If the remainder is close to zero, or negative, the product is not marketplace-ready in its current form. You might change the pack size, specification or bundle, or use marketplaces only for visibility while selling profitably elsewhere. This ten-minute test prevents many expensive launches.

Readiness, Documentation, Category Eligibility, Brand Ownership and Onboarding

Onboarding itself is quick. Being ready to operate is what takes preparation.

Table 2. Readiness checklist. Requirements vary by category and change over time; confirm in Seller Central and Seller Hub.

On Amazon, brand tools such as A+ content, Brand Stores and Sponsored Brands are generally linked to enrolment in Amazon Brand Registry, which requires a registered or applied-for trademark (Amazon Brand Services India). Flipkart has its own brand approval process. Check current eligibility before you promise yourself or a client access to these tools.

Onboarding sequence

Diagram A. Typical onboarding sequence for Amazon or Flipkart. Exact steps and documents vary by platform and category.

Category notes worth checking early

Some categories need documents or certifications before you can list or before goods can legally be sold. Food products need FSSAI licensing and compliant labels. Many electrical goods, toys and certain other products fall under compulsory BIS certification orders. Cosmetics and Ayurvedic products have their own licensing rules, and some health and wellness claims are restricted. Platforms enforce these through category gating and listing checks, but the legal responsibility remains yours. If your product sits near a regulated category, confirm requirements with the relevant authority or a compliance adviser before you produce marketplace stock.

Amazon vs Flipkart: Category Fit, Operating Requirements and Economics

Both platforms are large and both can work. The better first choice depends on your category, price point, customer base and operational capacity.

Table 3. Amazon vs Flipkart at a planning level. Features and rates change; verify current details on each seller portal.

Many sellers start on one platform, get operations stable, then add the second. Others list on both from the start to compare demand. If you choose both, keep separate SKU-level P&Ls; a product can be profitable on one and unprofitable on the other because of different fees, return behaviour and ad costs. For more detail see Amazon vs Flipkart: which is best and where should you sell first.

Listing Structure, Attributes, Images, Videos, A+ Content and Brand Stores

A marketplace listing has two jobs: get found for the right searches and persuade the shopper who clicks.

Structure that serves both jobs

Enhanced brand content

A+ content (Amazon) and enhanced brand content options on Flipkart let brand owners add comparison charts, richer images and brand story modules. They tend to help most on considered purchases where shoppers compare options. Brand Stores give you a branded destination for ads and external links. Treat both as conversion tools: measure conversion rate before and after, not just whether they look attractive. See Amazon A+ content and Amazon Brand Store for detail.

A worked listing example (hypothetical)

Consider a fictional brand selling a stainless steel lunch box. A weak title might read “Best Lunch Box Steel Tiffin Leak Proof Office School Kids Men Women Hot”. It repeats generic words, mixes audiences and says nothing specific. A stronger version follows a simple pattern — Brand + product type + key specification + capacity/count + main differentiator — for example: “[Brand] Stainless Steel Lunch Box, 3 Containers, 900 ml Total, Leak-Resistant Lids, Insulated Bag Included”. The bullets then explain each claim: steel grade, which lids are leak-resistant and under what conditions, how to clean, what is in the box, and warranty. The image stack shows the open box with food for scale, each container with its capacity, the lid seal close-up, the bag, and a dimension diagram. Every claim in the listing must be true and provable; overstating features raises return rates and can trigger complaints.

Table A. A practical image stack. Follow each platform’s image policy for the main image.

Marketplace Search Visibility and Conversion Fundamentals

Marketplace search engines want to show products shoppers will buy. Relevance gets you considered; sales performance keeps you visible.

Neither Amazon nor Flipkart publishes its ranking formula. What sellers can control is well understood: relevance (title, attributes, backend search terms where available, correct category), availability (in stock, fast delivery promise), price competitiveness, conversion signals (reviews, ratings, content quality) and account performance.

Table 4. Search and conversion levers.

Track sessions, unit session percentage (conversion), and orders by SKU every week. If sessions are low, work on relevance and ads. If sessions are healthy but conversion is low, work on price, content and reviews. Mixing the two diagnoses wastes money.

Fulfilment Choices: FBA, Easy Ship, Self Ship, Seller Flex, FBF and Smart Fulfilment

Fulfilment is a profit decision, not just a logistics one. It affects delivery speed, conversion, fees, returns and how much cash sits in inventory.

Table 5. Fulfilment options. Programme names, rules and fees change; confirm current terms on each seller portal.

Compare options on total cost per delivered order: fulfilment or shipping fee, storage, packaging, labour, damage and loss, return handling, plus the effect on conversion. A platform warehouse may cost more per unit but sell more units because of faster delivery badges. Run a test on a few SKUs before moving your whole range. Our FBA vs FBM guide for Amazon India goes deeper on Amazon’s options.

Comparing total cost per delivered order (hypothetical)

Imagine one SKU tested for a month under two methods. Under platform fulfilment, fees per order are higher and stock must be sent in advance, but faster delivery promises lift conversion from 8% to 10% of sessions. Under self-dispatch, fees are lower, but you pay for packing labour, local storage and some damage in transit, and conversion stays at 8%. If contribution per order is ₹40 lower under platform fulfilment but you sell 25% more orders from the same sessions and ad spend, total contribution may still be higher. Run the comparison on contribution in rupees per month, not on fee per order alone, and include the cash tied up in inventory sent to the platform.

Storage, Replenishment and Stockout Prevention

Running out of stock on a winning SKU loses sales, ad momentum and often search position. Overstocking a slow SKU ties up cash and builds storage fees.

A simple reorder rule

Reorder point = average daily units sold × (supplier or production lead time + transit and inbound time) + safety stock. Safety stock covers uncertainty; a practical start is several days of sales, increased for SKUs with volatile demand or unreliable supply.

Table 6. Hypothetical reorder-point calculation.

Weekly inventory routine

• ✓Check days of cover (stock ÷ average daily sales) for every active SKU, by fulfilment location.
• ✓Flag SKUs under your reorder point and those with more than your maximum days of cover.
• ✓Plan inbound shipments around sale events, allowing for slower warehouse receiving at peak times.
• ✓Check stranded, unfulfillable or reserved inventory and resolve it before it ages.
• ✓Review ageing stock monthly and decide: promote, bundle, move to another channel, remove or liquidate.

Planning stock for a sale event (hypothetical)

Suppose a SKU sells 12 units a day normally and, in last year’s major sale, sold about three times its normal rate for five days. Expected event demand is roughly 12 × 3 × 5 = 180 units, plus normal demand for the inbound lead time before and after. If the platform warehouse typically takes longer to receive stock before big events, send inventory earlier than your usual cycle. After the event, demand often dips for a while; plan the post-event reorder from post-event sales, not from the peak, to avoid building ageing stock.

Product Pricing and Discounts

Marketplace pricing has to cover more costs than most sellers expect, and discounts reduce margin faster than they increase volume.

Build price from the bottom: landed product cost, packaging, platform fees at that price band, shipping, expected return cost, target advertising cost per unit, and the contribution margin you need. Then compare with the market. If the market price cannot carry your costs, change the pack size, bundle, product specification or channel rather than hoping volume will fix it.

Price bands matter

Because fee structures now vary sharply by price band (for example, zero referral or commission below a threshold on eligible products), a small price change can move a SKU into a different fee band. Model prices just above and below each threshold. A ₹999 price and a ₹1,049 price can produce very different contributions.

Discounts and deals

• ✓Calculate the contribution per unit at the deal price before you opt in, including any deal fee.
• ✓Estimate how many extra units the deal must sell just to earn the same contribution as at full price.
• ✓Watch for post-deal effects: a lower reference price can make full price look expensive afterwards.
• ✓Do not fund deals from margin you need for advertising, returns and overheads.

Be honest in how discounts are presented. India’s Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023 identify practices such as false urgency and drip pricing as misleading (summary of the 2023 guidelines). Show real reference prices, real stock limits and the full price upfront. See also our Flipkart Lightning Deals guide.

Testing prices around a fee threshold (hypothetical)

Table F. Model contribution at each candidate price using the live rate card for your category; eligibility for zero-fee bands is category-specific.

Run price changes long enough to see a stable conversion rate, and avoid changing price and ads at the same time, or you will not know which change caused the result.

Returns, Damaged Stock, Disputes and Settlement Reconciliation

Returns and settlement errors are where marketplace profit quietly leaks away. Sellers who reconcile carefully often recover money others write off.

Returns and damaged stock

Every return has a cost even when the product comes back sellable: reverse shipping, inspection, repackaging, and sometimes a fee. Damaged, used or wrong items returned by customers, and items damaged in a platform warehouse, may be eligible for claims or reimbursement under each platform’s policy, within strict time limits and with evidence. Set up a returns inspection process: photograph unboxing of returns, record the condition, and file claims promptly.

• ✓Track return rate by SKU and return reason every month.
• ✓Fix the cause: size charts, misleading images, packaging damage, quality issues, wrong variant shipped.
• ✓Record unsellable returns separately and include their cost in SKU economics.
• ✓Use the platform’s claim process for eligible lost or damaged items, within its deadlines.
• ✓Review open disputes and claims weekly until resolved.

Settlement reconciliation checklist

A settlement report lists the orders, refunds, fees, taxes and adjustments behind each payout. Reconciliation means checking that what you received matches what you should have received.

• ✓Match every shipped order in your system to an order line in the settlement report.
• ✓Check fees per order against the current rate card for that SKU’s category, price band, weight and fulfilment method.
• ✓Check weight and dimension charges; an incorrect recorded weight can overcharge every order.
• ✓Match every refund to a returned item received back, or to an approved exception.
• ✓Track reimbursements for lost or damaged inventory and customer-return issues.
• ✓Record TCS and TDS deducted on each settlement and match them later to the GST and income tax portals.
• ✓List unexplained differences, raise cases with seller support, and track them to closure.
• ✓Reconcile total payouts with bank receipts every month.

Troubleshooting settlement differences

Table B. Common settlement differences and checks. Claim windows and policies vary; read the current policy before relying on reimbursement.

Separating Management Fees, Advertising Spend, Platform Charges and Taxes

Mixing all marketplace deductions into one “commission” number hides what is actually happening. Keep four buckets separate.

Table 7. The four cost buckets. Confirm tax treatment for your business with your chartered accountant.

Why TCS and TDS are not permanent costs (in normal circumstances)

When a marketplace collects GST TCS, the amount is reported in its GSTR-8 return and, once you accept it on the GST portal, it is credited to your electronic cash ledger, where it can be used to pay GST liabilities. E-commerce TDS appears against your PAN in Form 26AS / AIS and is claimed as a credit when you file your income tax return. Neither is an expense in the way a referral fee is. They do, however, reduce cash received now, and the credit is available only if the operator deposits and reports it correctly and your details match.

Table 8. Hypothetical illustration of TCS and TDS. Rates current as of November 2026; verify base amounts and treatment with your accountant.

GST on marketplace fees

Marketplaces charge GST (currently 18%) on their fees and invoice it to you. If you are GST-registered and the invoice carries your GSTIN, this GST is usually available as input tax credit, so it should not be counted as a cost in your unit economics. Build SKU models with fees excluding GST, and check monthly that fee invoices appear correctly in your GST records. If you are not able to claim input tax credit for some reason, include the GST on fees as a cost instead. The same logic applies to GST on advertising and agency fees.

Output GST on your sales is not your revenue either. That is why the unit economics in the next section start from net revenue excluding GST. Many sellers overstate margins by comparing GST-inclusive selling prices with GST-exclusive costs.

Unit Economics: Three Hypothetical Price and Margin Profiles

Unit economics answer one question: after everything a sale costs, what does each unit contribute towards your overheads and profit?

The three profiles below are invented to show the method. They deliberately use different price points, return rates and advertising intensity. The fee lines are placeholders, not current platform rates; always rebuild them from your own category, price band, weight and fulfilment method in the live rate card.

Table 9. HYPOTHETICAL unit economics. Fee figures are placeholders chosen to show the method, not current Amazon or Flipkart rates. Platform fees are shown ex-GST; GST on fees is assumed recoverable as input tax credit. Replace every input with your own rate card and costs.

What the profiles show

Profile A benefits from an assumed zero referral fee, but fixed and shipping costs are a large share of a low price, so small cost changes matter. Profile B is healthy only if advertising stays near the assumed level. Profile C has the largest rupee contribution per unit (₹382) but the lowest margin, because higher return rates and advertising intensity scale with price. In each case, the contribution must still cover fixed costs such as team or agency fees, photography and software before there is net profit.

Break-even advertising

Contribution before advertising ÷ net revenue gives your break-even TACOS: the share of revenue you can spend on ads before a SKU stops contributing anything. For Profile B, contribution before ads is ₹444 on ₹1,270 net revenue, so break-even TACOS is about 35%. Spending above that loses money on every unit, however good the platform ROAS looks.

How a Seller Can Grow Revenue While Losing Money

Rising sales charts are reassuring. They can also hide a business that loses more money every month it grows.

The scenario below starts with Profile B at a sensible advertising level. To grow, the seller bids on broader keywords, joins more deals and deepens discounts. Units rise more than fourfold. Each step looks reasonable in isolation, and platform ROAS may still look acceptable, but contribution per unit falls faster than volume rises.

Table 10. HYPOTHETICAL scaling scenario using Profile B costs. Assumptions: deeper discounts and broader keywords raise TACOS as volume grows; fixed costs (team, agency, tools) ₹60,000 per month. Formula: net = units × contribution per unit − fixed costs.

Warning signs

• ✓TACOS rising month after month while organic sales share falls.
• ✓Average selling price falling because of deeper or more frequent discounts.
• ✓Return rate rising as you reach less-qualified shoppers.
• ✓Inventory and receivables growing faster than bank balance.
• ✓Reports celebrating revenue and ROAS but never showing contribution after ads.

How to reverse the trend

If your own numbers look like Table 10, do not respond by cutting everything at once. First, separate campaigns by role and cut spend on broad terms that are above break-even ACOS while protecting the exact-match terms that still make money. Second, reduce discount depth and frequency, and test whether conversion actually falls. Third, check the return rate on newly acquired customers, because broader targeting often brings buyers who return more. Fourth, review fixed costs: as volume grows, team and tool costs should fall as a share of revenue; if they rise, the operating model needs attention. Re-run the SKU worksheet after each change so you can see which lever moved contribution.

ACOS, TACOS, ROAS, Contribution Margin and Cash Conversion

Platform dashboards report advertising efficiency. Your business needs profit and cash. Use both sets of numbers together.

Table 11. Core marketplace metrics. Platforms attribute sales using their own windows and rules; treat attributed figures as estimates.

Diagram 1. Order-to-cash flow on a marketplace. Settlement timing varies by platform, programme and account.

Cash conversion example (hypothetical)

Suppose stock sits for 60 days on average before it sells (including time in transit and in the warehouse), settlements arrive about 10 days after delivery, and your supplier gives 30 days’ credit. Cash conversion cycle = 60 + 10 − 30 = 40 days. If monthly product purchases are ₹8 lakh, roughly ₹8 lakh × 40 ÷ 30 ≈ ₹10.7 lakh of working capital is tied up at any time. Doubling sales roughly doubles that requirement unless you shorten inventory days or extend supplier credit. Use your actual settlement cycle from your seller account; it varies by platform, programme and account standing.

For ROAS fundamentals, see understanding ROAS.

A one-page monthly dashboard

Table G. Monthly marketplace dashboard. Keep it to one page so decisions get made.

Read the dashboard in the same order every month: profit first, then the drivers (price, ads, returns, stock), then cash. A month with record revenue and falling contribution is a warning, not a celebration.

Sponsored Advertising: Structure, Search Terms, Negatives, Creative Testing and Scaling

Marketplace ads work best as a disciplined system: tight structure, weekly search-term review, and budgets that follow contribution, not just ROAS.

A practical campaign structure

Table 12. Campaign structure for Amazon and Flipkart sponsored ads. Available formats and names vary by platform and eligibility.

Search-term analysis and negative targeting

• ✓Download the search-term report weekly at first, then fortnightly once stable.
• ✓Move converting terms into exact-match campaigns with their own bids.
• ✓Add terms with clicks but no orders, after a reasonable number of clicks you define, as negatives.
• ✓Add irrelevant terms (wrong product, wrong size, competitor brands you cannot beat) as negatives immediately.
• ✓Set bids per term from break-even ACOS for that SKU, not one bid for everything.

Creative and listing tests

Change one thing at a time — main image, title, price, coupon or A+ module — and compare conversion over a comparable period, allowing for seasonality. Where a platform offers built-in experiments for listing content, use them; otherwise keep a change log so you know what changed when.

When to scale and when to pause

Scale a campaign when it is below break-even ACOS with stable conversion and stock cover for at least your replenishment lead time. Pause or cut bids when a SKU is low on stock, when ACOS stays above break-even after fixes, or when the listing has a content or review problem that ads cannot overcome. Advertising a product that is about to go out of stock wastes money and can hurt organic ranking when it stops selling.

See Amazon marketing services for how we approach Amazon advertising.

Setting bids from break-even (hypothetical)

Take Profile B from Section 13. Contribution before advertising is roughly ₹443 per unit on a net price of about ₹1,270, so break-even ACOS is about 35%. If you want ads to leave at least ₹150 contribution per unit, your target ACOS is (443 − 150) ÷ 1,270 ≈ 23%. If a keyword converts at 10% of clicks into orders, the maximum average cost per click that meets the target is roughly 1,270 × 23% × 10% ≈ ₹29. Bidding well above that on the keyword means paying for growth with margin. The arithmetic is simple, but it forces each bid decision to connect to a profit target.

Table C. Translating margin into bids. Replace every value with your own data.

Launch phase versus steady state

New listings have no sales history, so they often need more advertising support at first to gain visibility and early reviews. Set a launch budget and a time limit in advance (for example, a fixed number of weeks), accept a higher ACOS during that period, and define what success looks like at the end: conversion rate, organic rank for core terms, and reviews from genuine buyers. If those signals are not there by the deadline, more budget is unlikely to fix it.

External Traffic: When It Helps and How to Measure It

Sending shoppers from Instagram, YouTube, Google or your own audience to your marketplace listing can help, but only if you can measure it and the economics work.

External traffic helps most when you already have demand outside the marketplace (an audience, a brand people search for, creators who use your product) or when you launch a new product and need early sales velocity. It is less useful for unknown products in competitive categories, where paying for clicks outside the platform and then losing shoppers to competitors on the listing page can be expensive.

• ✓Use the platform’s own attribution tools where available (Amazon offers attribution tagging for eligible brand owners; check availability in your account), or unique tagged links per source.
• ✓Send traffic to a Brand Store or a single focused listing, not a search results page.
• ✓Compare cost per order from external traffic with your marketplace ad cost per order.
• ✓Watch for halo effects: increases in branded searches and organic sales during and after campaigns.
• ✓Keep creator and influencer arrangements transparent and compliant with advertising disclosure guidelines.

A simple economics check (hypothetical)

If an Instagram campaign costs ₹30,000 and tagged links show 1,000 visits to your listing, with a 6% conversion rate that is 60 orders, or ₹500 per order. Compare that with Profile B’s contribution before advertising of about ₹443 per unit: on these numbers, the campaign loses money on the attributed orders alone. It might still be worth it if branded searches and organic sales rise measurably afterwards, but that has to be checked, not assumed.

Account Health, Suppressed Listings, Disputes and Legitimate Review Practices

Your seller account is the business asset. Protect it the way you would protect a factory licence.

Account health

Both platforms track seller performance: on Amazon through the Account Health dashboard (covering metrics such as order defects, cancellations, late dispatch and policy compliance), and on Flipkart through seller performance metrics, with penalties for dispatch and cancellation failures reported in 2026. Check the dashboards at least weekly, know the current targets for your account, and respond to notifications within the time given.

Table 13. Common account issues and first responses.

Reviews: what is legitimate

Marketplaces prohibit manipulating reviews, including paying for reviews, offering refunds or gifts in exchange for reviews, reviewing your own products, or asking only satisfied customers to review. Amazon has long prohibited incentivised reviews outside its own programmes such as Vine (Amazon). In India, the Bureau of Indian Standards published IS 19000:2022 on online consumer reviews, and consumer-protection rules treat fake reviews as misleading. Legitimate practices include:

• ✓Using the platform’s own review-request features and programmes.
• ✓Including a neutral, non-incentivised review request card in packaging where the platform’s policy allows it.
• ✓Improving the product and listing based on negative review themes.
• ✓Responding helpfully to customer questions and complaints through permitted channels.

Fixing a suppressed listing: a short routine

• ✓Open the listing quality or catalogue issues report and note the exact reason code or message.
• ✓Fix the specific field (missing attribute, image, compliance document, price outside reference range).
• ✓Check that variations and parent-child relationships are still correct.
• ✓Resubmit and confirm the listing is active and searchable; search for it from a buyer’s view.
• ✓Record the cause so the same error is not repeated across other SKUs.

SKU Selection, Bundles, Seasonal Planning and Inventory Ageing

Most marketplace profit usually comes from a small number of SKUs. Manage the range deliberately.

Choosing SKUs to launch

Bundles and pack sizes

Bundles can raise order value so that fixed per-order fees and shipping become a smaller share of price, and they make price comparison harder. They work when the items are genuinely used together. Avoid bundles that simply hide a slow seller inside a fast one; they often raise return rates.

Seasonal planning

Plan stock, deals and ad budgets backwards from major sale events and your category’s seasonal peaks. Platform warehouses can take longer to receive stock before big events, so inbound dates matter. After the peak, check for leftover seasonal stock early, before storage costs build.

Inventory ageing

Review stock age by SKU each month. Ageing inventory costs storage, ties up cash and, in platform warehouses, may attract long-term storage charges under current policies. Options in order of preference: improve the listing and price, bundle, move to another channel, return to your own warehouse, liquidate, or dispose. Decide by comparing the cash you recover with the cost of each option.

Example seasonal calendar for planning

Table D. Example seasonal patterns. Check your own category’s history and each platform’s announced sale calendar.

A SKU Profitability Worksheet Structure

A one-row-per-SKU worksheet turns scattered reports into decisions.

Table 14. SKU profitability worksheet structure. Build it as a spreadsheet with one row per SKU per platform.

Update fees from the settlement report rather than only from the rate card, because actual charges sometimes differ (for example, from recorded weights). Review the worksheet monthly with whoever manages ads and inventory, so pricing, advertising and stock decisions are made together.

The Stop / Fix / Scale Decision Tree, and When to Discontinue a SKU or Pause Ads

Every SKU should earn its place. A clear rule saves months of hoping a poor performer will turn around.

Diagram 2. Stop / fix / scale decision path for each SKU. Thresholds are yours to set from your margins.

Table 15. Evidence-based stop / fix / scale criteria.

Agency vs In-House Marketplace Management

The right model depends on your SKU count, ad budget, internal skills and how much day-to-day operational work you want to keep.

Table 16. Management models. See our detailed comparison of agency, in-house and freelancer options.

Whatever you choose, keep ownership of the seller accounts, ad accounts, brand registry and data with your business, and agree on reports that show contribution margin and TACOS, not only revenue and ROAS. Our agency vs in-house vs freelancer guide and the true cost of DIY marketplace management go further.

Questions to ask an agency

• ✓Will you report contribution margin after ads by SKU, or only sales and ROAS?
• ✓How do you decide bids and budgets, and how often will you review search terms?
• ✓Who handles listings, account health issues, reconciliation and claims?
• ✓What do you need from us each week (stock data, costs, approvals)?
• ✓Who owns the accounts and content if we part ways?

Typical division of responsibilities

Table E. Division of responsibilities. Agree it in writing; the exact split depends on the scope you choose.

The First 90 Days

The first quarter should establish profitable basics on a focused set of SKUs, not maximum listings.

Table 17. First 90 days on Amazon and Flipkart. Adjust the SKU count to your capacity.

Weekly 30-minute review agenda

• ✓Top 10 SKUs: sales, conversion, stock cover — any risk of stockout in the next lead-time window?
• ✓Advertising: spend vs plan, terms added as negatives, terms promoted to exact match.
• ✓Account health and listing issues: anything new, anything overdue?
• ✓Returns and customer issues: any new pattern by SKU?
• ✓Decisions and owners for the coming week, recorded in one place.

A 12-Month Operating Roadmap

After the first 90 days, the work becomes a monthly rhythm with quarterly resets.

Diagram 3. 12-month operating roadmap. Quarters are relative to your start; align peak preparation with your category’s sale calendar.

Table 18. Operating rhythm.

How Brand Chanakya Helps Marketplace Sellers

Marketplace growth is an operations and finance discipline as much as a marketing one. That is how we approach account management.

Brand Chanakya provides Amazon account management, Flipkart account management, Amazon marketing services and Flipkart catalogue management, and broader end-to-end ecommerce management. The focus areas in this guide — listings and catalogue, visibility and advertising, measurement, and profitability discipline — are what we discuss with sellers when planning an engagement. Scope and pricing depend on your catalogue, platforms and goals, so we agree them after understanding your situation.

We cannot promise sales figures or rankings, and an agency cannot fix a product whose costs exceed what the market will pay. What a good partner can do is make the numbers visible early, so you invest in SKUs that work and stop the ones that do not.

For Amazon and Flipkart sellersDiscuss your marketplace operations with Brand ChanakyaShare your categories, SKU count, platforms and current challenges. We will suggest where to start.Contact Brand Chanakya →

Or call +91 97832 07700 / +91 77270 81010. See also Amazon & Flipkart management services explained.

Frequently Asked Questions About Selling on Amazon and Flipkart