Are soaring international shipping costs eating into your profit margins? Savvy OZON sellers are increasingly adopting multi-warehouse strategies to optimize logistics expenses by strategically selecting air or ground transportation based on product profitability. This article provides a comprehensive guide to efficiently transferring inventory between OZON warehouses, enabling sellers to maximize operational efficiency and profitability.
I. The Multi-Warehouse Advantage: Reducing Costs While Boosting Efficiency
For OZON sellers, international shipping costs often represent a significant factor affecting product profitability. By establishing multiple warehouses with different logistics configurations (such as air and ground transportation), sellers can implement more cost-effective shipping solutions tailored to each product's margin profile.
Higher-margin products may justify faster air shipping, while lower-margin items can utilize more economical ground transportation. This granular approach to logistics management helps reduce overall operational costs while maintaining competitive product positioning.
II. Practical Guide: Transferring Inventory Between Warehouses
Once you've established your multi-warehouse strategy, follow these straightforward steps to transfer inventory from an existing warehouse to a new one:
- Create New Warehouse (Skip if Existing): Ensure your new warehouse is properly set up with appropriate logistics configurations before proceeding with inventory transfers.
- Export Product Data from Original Warehouse: Navigate to the original warehouse's inventory management section and select "Download Spreadsheet" to export all product information, including crucial identifiers like SKU numbers and product names.
- Download "Update Inventory" Template: Access the logistics management section in your OZON backend and download the official "Update Inventory" Excel template designed for bulk inventory modifications.
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Edit the Inventory Template:
- Select the correct warehouse names in the template
- Transfer SKU numbers from your exported file to the template
- Leave two blank rows between warehouse sections
- Set original warehouse quantities to "0" for transferred items
- Enter appropriate quantities for the destination warehouse
- Upload Completed Template: After verifying all information, upload the modified template through the "Update Inventory" function to execute the transfer.
Key Consideration: Absolute accuracy in SKU numbers is critical for successful inventory transfers.
III. Additional Applications: Bulk Inventory Updates
The same methodology can be applied for general inventory quantity adjustments. Simply enter the correct SKUs and updated quantities in the template to synchronize physical stock with system records, particularly useful when discrepancies are identified.
IV. Operational Best Practices
- Double-check all warehouse names, SKUs, and quantities before submission
- Conduct small test transfers before large-scale operations
- Consult platform documentation for any procedural questions
Mastering OZON's warehouse transfer capabilities empowers sellers with greater inventory management flexibility, enabling more strategic logistics decisions that directly impact profitability.