Podcast Episode 089 : Four Replens You Need to Sell on Amazon

Today on The Full-Time FBA Show, we follow up on last week’s discussion on the topic of replens: items you can source and send to Amazon which sell so quickly that they continuously need replenishing. In this episode, we’re going to talk about four types of replens that you should be selling on Amazon; not specific items, but the types of items.

You’ll hear how we came up with these four different types of replens and how this may help you widen your sourcing parameters so you can find more inventory — and inventory that sells! From particular types of grocery items to certain toy accessories and pet accessories, as well as short-term seasonal items, find out how to discover specific items that you are approved to sell, that are profitable, and that sell fast enough that they need to be restocked over and over again.

Listen on the podcast player below.

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Key points from Episode 89:

• A recap of what a “replen” or “replenishable” item is.
• How Stephen and Rebecca came up with these four different types of replens.
• Stephen and Rebecca’s goal of helping you widen your sourcing parameters so you can find more inventory.
• The first type of replen idea: grocery items.
• How multipacks and bundles are more likely to be profitable than single items in the grocery category.
• Regional grocery items: items that are available in your particular area and nowhere else.
• The second type of replen idea: toy accessories, toy related items that are either used up or really popular.
• Pet accessories: the third type of replen idea that is a 100 billion dollar industry.
• Seasonal items which are short-term replens: the fourth type of replen idea.
• Examples of quality seasonal replens.
• Tip: buy seasonal items on sale in the off-season and sell them in season.
• And more!

Links and resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Reseller’s Guide to Replenishables: Find Profitable Amazon Inventory to Sell Again and Again. 
• Use the limited-time coupon code REPLEN10 to take $10 off the course.
• Free Webinar Replay: How Replens Can Boost Your Sales and Profits on Amazon

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Episode 89 Transcript:

[WELCOME]

[0:00:01.8] ANNOUNCER: Welcome to The Full-Time FBA Show. In each episode, it’s our goal to help you turn part time hours into a full-time income, selling almost anything on Amazon. Now, your hosts of the show, Stephen and Rebecca Smotherman.

[INTRODUCTION]

[0:00:21.5] STEPHEN: Welcome to episode number 89 of The Full-Time FBA Show. Today we’re going to talk about four replens you should be selling on Amazon and to discuss these replens with me is my wife Rebecca, how are you doing?

[0:00:32.3] REBECCA: Doing good, glad to be here.

[0:00:33.3] STEPHEN: Yeah, we’re going to talk about some replens and if you don’t know what a replen is, that must have meant you missed last week’s episode where we discussed what a replen is and how awesome it could be.

A quick little summary: a replen is an item that you can go out, source, send to Amazon, and it sells so quickly you need to go get more, and you know exactly where to find it so you can replenish your inventory. ‘Replenish’, that’s the long way of saying replen. We’re going to talk about four of them that you need to be looking for today.

[INTERVIEW]

[0:01:03.5] REBECCA: All right, we’re going to follow-up our conversation from last week about replenishables or ‘replens’ by talking about four different types of replens that you should be selling. I hope that you didn’t come into listening to this podcast thinking, we’re going to give you four specific items, four ASINs to go out and look for. That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about four different types of replens that you should be selling on Amazon. If you didn’t get a chance to listen to the last week’s podcast yet, you might want to go back and listen to that one, it might help you to kind of have a better framework of what we’re talking about here if you’re new to this concept or if you’re not new to it and just want to get a deeper understanding of it.

[0:01:40.8] STEPHEN: Yeah.

[0:01:41.4] REBECCA: Technically, a replen or replenishable item can be anything that you’re approved to sell on Amazon. That doesn’t have to be a specific type of item, anything that you are approved to sell on Amazon could become a replenishable for you.

It has to be profitable and it has to sell fast enough so that you would need to replenish your stock. I mean, that’s basically it, those are the type of items you’re looking for when you’re looking for replens: Something you’re approved to sell, something that’s profitable and it sells fast enough that you need to restock it over and over again.

Stephen, we’re going to be talking today about four different types of items that you can sell on Amazon to fit into those criteria. These are things that we’ve talked about a lot over the years and things that we’ve sold a lot over the years. How did you come up with these four different types of replens that you should be keeping an eye out for when you’re outsourcing?

[0:02:32.2] STEPHEN: Well, I really wanted to kind of open everyone’s eyes to the possibilities of what a replen is. Like you said at the beginning of your question, pretty much anything that’s profitable and sells fast on Amazon that you need to restock can be a really great replen. With this week ebbing the final few days of the launch of our new course, the reseller’s guide to relpens, one of the bonuses of that is over 130 replen ideas. I went through that little spreadsheet of 130 plus ideas and I picked out four particular type of items that people can go out and look for when they’re outsourcing, kind of get them out of their sourcing rut of how they usually source and open up their eyes to other things that are possible.

I mean, these are things that people either use up on a regular basis and need to buy again or it’s something of a particular interest that someone has that once they buy an item and they get really interested in it, they want to go find other items just like it. Those are some things that we’re hoping to just kind of widen the sourcing parameters for people when they’re outsourcing so they can find more inventory and find stuff that sells over and over again.

[0:03:33.9] REBECCA: Yeah, before we get into these four different things, four different types of items, I know we’ve talked about this before that sometimes we end up using the word ‘category’ when what we really mean is ‘type’ and I don’t want it there to be any confusion if we say, “These are four categories,” or, “this is another category,” because I know when you’re selling on Amazon, ‘Amazon category’ is a very specific way to use that word.

We’re not talking about Amazon categories here. We’re talking about – I mean, some of them might be, but in general, we’re talking about types of items, ‘genres’ if you will, and not ‘Amazon categories’ like books, or media, or whatever.

[0:04:09.7] STEPHEN: Right.

[0:04:11.2] REBECCA: Okay, let’s get into our four different types of items that can really become potential replens if you find a great item within that type of item. The first one is grocery items and this is a good example of this is a category but we’re not talking necessarily about the category of grocery, we’re just talking about items that you can find in the grocery isle.

[0:04:33.8] STEPHEN: Of course, there will be grocery items that are in the grocery category but there’s also going to be grocery-type items that you can find in other categories. When it comes to a replen, grocery can be really good because you know, people buy it, and they eat it, and they need to go buy some more. If they like it, they want to keep buying it, they’ll go buy some more, and so you have consistent people coming to buy the particular item and usually, a single item is not going to be profitable as a replen.

I say ‘usually’ because you still want to do your due diligence and scan an item, go through your tool checklist to kind of see if it meets the criteria for a good replen. Usually, things like multipacks and bundles and kind of situations like that are really good for replens because people are buying it in a bigger amount and they’re paying more for it and the profit potential is there.

When it comes to single items though, the replen profits are really in the larger type of items but when you’re looking at grocery items, most things you are trying to do is find items that people are going to buy on a consistent basis that’s going to make you money.

[0:05:37.8] REBECCA: Yeah, I think we covered this a little bit when we were talking about bundles a couple of months back too in that I personally like to buy multipacks or bundles of items that I’m sure somebody’s selling as a replen because it’s a great way to get multiple flavors to try out or to find new items to try out, and so, just keeping your eyes open for grocery items that falls into the category of replens is a great way to get replens added into your Amazon inventory.

[0:06:06.3] STEPHEN: Yeah, and another grocery idea that you can do when you’re looking for replens are regional grocery items. Items that are available in your particular area that are not available anywhere else. You have an opportunity like if someone lives in your town and moved out of town and the only place they can get that particular hot sauce is at your local store, they might not be able to find it where they live but they’ll go to Amazon and look for it and you can source your local store, send it to Amazon and sell it worldwide, see if someone else who wants it.

All right, the next replen we’re going to be discussing that could be a good place to start for potential replen are toy accessories. Rebecca, why don’t’ you talk about that for a minute?

[0:06:42.6] REBECCA: Yeah, toy accessories is a great way to add replens into your Amazon FBA business, especially if you already have been selling toys which a lot of sellers that’s kind of how they get started on FBA is selling toys. If you already know the toys category, you’re familiar with which brands are popular, you can really start looking into accessories to go along with toys to become a really great replen because some of those items, you can sell for a really great profit, you will know right where to go to get them over and over again from your usual sources where you get your usual toys that you’re sourcing for Amazon, and these are going to be items that sometimes it’s items that customers will buy for their kids, or for whoever, and they will be used up over and over again and they need to keep replenishing it for their own household use. Whether it’s some type of cooking item that goes with the kid’s cooking toy like an easy bake oven. I know we’ve sold stuff that goes along with that in the past.

Or it could just be an item that’s really popular that— we’re not saying that somebody’s going to buy it over and over again but you can sell it over and over again because its’ that popular that that many people are looking for it. Like Barbie accessories, Hot Wheel car accessories, these are all things that we have sold in the past that sell really well.

Again, you can put them into multipacks or bundles and they sell really well. If you have a source for them, you can buy them for a low buy cost and then sell them for a higher cost and keep restocking it over and over again if it’s got the low sales rank that you are looking for. This is a perfect place to start looking for replens.

[0:08:16.9] STEPHEN: Absolutely.

[0:08:17.9] REBECCA: All right, so Stephen, tell us about our third one on the list. What’s the third type of potential replen that could be a great place if you are looking to start adding replens to your FBA inventory?

[0:08:29.4] STEPHEN: Pet accessories, I mean it’s a really great industry to find replens that you can get for your pet. I mean, in 2020, I looked this up just now, the pet industry eclipsed over 100 billion in sales for 2020 and they’ve – it’s just been so much money spent on pets. A huge increase from the year before and I think it’s going to continue to increase and that the pet industry is just a really good place that you can find potential replens. Pet food, pet toys, pet anything can be a really good replen.

[0:08:59.3] REBECCA: That’s because people love their pets like they love their children.

[0:09:02.1] STEPHEN: Yes and in 2020, they spent more time with their pets than ever before too.

[0:09:06.4] REBECCA: And got new pets.

[0:09:07.3] STEPHEN: Yes, got new pets, oh my gosh, that’s for sure. Anything that you can think of connected with pets can be a potential replen. Obviously, do your due diligence, make sure you’re making a good decision but pet industry is booming right now.

[0:09:18.8] REBECCA: Yeah, think about things like chew toys and other things like that that people will buy again and again that you can just keep in stock so that they can keep coming back and buying them over and over. Pet snacks, anything like that.

[0:09:31.5] STEPHEN: Oh yeah, there’s pet backpacks, pet clothing, pet costumes, it’s a really good place to look at.

[0:09:36.8] REBECCA: Yes.

[0:09:37.7] STEPHEN: All right, so Rebecca, why don’t you close us off talking about the last replen of the unlimited amount of replens that are out there. Talk about our fourth replen today.

[0:09:47.3] REBECCA: This one is going to be a little bit different than what we’ve covered so far. The first three that we’ve talked about are more geared towards specific Amazon categories. We talked about grocery, toy accessories and then pet accessories. I think that’s funny, I just realized toy accessories is things you get to go along with the toys that you buy on Amazon but you cannot buy pets on Amazon and then pet accessories to go with them.

[0:10:10.2] STEPHEN: Yeah, true.

[0:10:10.6] REBECCA: Anyway, I guess anything that you buy on Amazon in the pet category is going to be a pet accessory.

[0:10:16.6] STEPHEN: Yes.

[0:10:17.0] REBECCA: Not a pet, I don’t know. Are there any pets you can buy on Amazon?

[0:10:20.3] STEPHEN: I mean Amazon has their pages where they put all the Amazon dogs on there, maybe one day there will be Amazon pet store. I don’t know, they have their fingers on everything else.

[0:10:28.8] REBECCA: Yeah, I hope not. Anyway, back on track. This one is not going to be category specific. This is more of a different type of genre that we’re going for here and that’s seasonal items. This can be in any category but you are looking for things that are going to be short-term replens. Everything that we’ve been looking at so far are really replens that you would sell throughout the year. We’ve been talking about things that might have a peak at certain times of year but that you really want to be able to sell all throughout the year.

There is also a really great way to get profits from replens in your FBA business that is just short-term, it’s seasonal that you can do year after year during that particular season. We’re talking about in the shoes category, spring and summer is a great time to sell sandals. That’s a seasonal replen idea that you’re going to be replenishing your sandal inventory during that time of year or any other kind of clothing item that’s seasonal like that.

Back-to-school items, that’s seasonal for August and January time, along those lines. Christmas ornaments, you’re only going to sell those really as a fast-selling high-profit item during a certain time of the year.

[0:11:42.0] STEPHEN: Yeah, I mean honestly season items can kind of drip sales throughout the entire year but, yeah, the bulk of the sales for a seasonal type of item is going to be in that season and so one thing when you are outsourcing, you might want to look up and look at the sales data from the past if a certain season is coming. Maybe you see some sandals on clearance and it’s February when no one is buying sandals for the most part. Well, you can stock up on them in February to get them ready for the spring so you can buy something really cheap when it’s on sale, and be able to sell it when it’s in season.

[0:12:17.0] REBECCA: Yeah, but in general, we’re looking for items that you’re going to have a great source that you can come back to over and over again, whether that’s a wholesale source or you have an OA source, a retail arbitrage source that you come back to every year during that season and honestly, wholesale is the best option for that.

[0:12:32.8] STEPHEN: Absolutely.

[0:12:33.6] REBECCA: Not the only option because we do have some seasonal replens that are RA or OA also but most of our seasonal replens, I would say, are wholesale.

[0:12:41.4] STEPHEN: Yeah, I would agree with that. So, if you are interested in learning more about replens, we’ve just talked about four replens. There is hundreds of replens that are out there, so if you are interested, we have a new course, The Reseller’s Guide to Replenishables. You can find it at fulltimefba.com/replens. We have a coupon code on the show notes page but the course will help you with everything you needed to know about replens: How to find replens, the three-part framework to finding replens that are confirmed that you know will be replens, the tools both free and paid to find replens, you will learn the number one skill to consistently find replens.

I mean we got tons of bonuses too. We’ve got three video bonuses focused on the fail-proof replen success strategy. Another bonus focused on how to know how many inventory items to buy if you’re going to buy multiples, so you don’t go too deep or you don’t go too shallow, and then even a screenshot video walkthrough of me going to Amazon and finding confirmed replens. All of those things and more to help you with finding success with replens.

Again, the link is fulltimefba.com/replens for The Reseller’s Guide to Replenishables, finding inventory items that you can buy again and again, and sell again and again on Amazon.

[CLOSING CONVERSATION]

[0:13:54.1] REBECCA: Okay, well that wraps up this episode of The Full-Time FBA Show. As always, you can find any of the links we mentioned including the coupon code for the course that’s active right now in the show notes for this podcast episode. That will be at fulltimefba.com/89, the number 89 because this is episode 89.

[0:14:14.6] STEPHEN: That’s right and next week on the show, we’re going to answer another question. This time the question is, “Is Amazon easier or harder than it was five years ago?” We’re going to discuss that, get into it, and we’ll have some fun doing so. We’ll see you next week on The Full-Time FBA Show.

[OUTRO]

[0:14:31.3] ANNOUNCER: That is all for this episode of The Full-Time FBA Show. So head over to fulltimefba.com/podcast, where you will find the show notes and links from this episode. While you’re there, subscribe to our newsletter where you’ll get several free downloads of our popular and helpful Amazon FBA resources. Now, take action on what you have learned today so you can find success at turning part-time hours into a full-time income with Amazon FBA.

[END]