Changelog of Amazon Market Place for Prestashop

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Amazon Market Place version 5 – 2022-2023

Amazon Market Place version 4.x – 2018-2021

Amazon Market Place version 4.3 : 18 April 2018

New features

Multiple features have been added since version 4.2, here is a summary;

• Tax Management
• Improved multi-store management
• Import orders with custom products
• Gift Messages
• Automatic product creation when importing orders
• Tares
• Deleting PrestaShop 1.3 Compatibility

Major functionality

Version 4.3 of the module integrates a major feature for merchants with an existing inventory on Amazon but for which products do not exist on PrestaShop;

It can import from Amazon the existing product inventory. The module automatically creates the product sheet on PrestaShop, the main image, features and combinations (variations on Amazon).

However, the legal aspect of the operation must be considered; You have to make sure that the images you import are your own, Amazon could reserve the right to claim the property

The module automatically creates an Amazon category and the subcategories corresponding to the target Amazon category, it also imports the major fields of Amazon; ASIN, Browse node ID, and the items that make up the offer; Quantity, price.

If the product exists already on PrestaShop, the module allows to choose the update mode or not, in which case it will update the missing elements of the product sheet.
 

Combinations (variations)

The module imports the variations, so it creates the corresponding combinations on PrestaShop with the attributes as size, color. It imports the EAN codes and offer references.

Restrictions

• The module only imports the main image of the imported product
• In case of combination, the main product reference becomes the ASIN code
• Descriptions are not imported (technical and legal restriction)

Examples

Simple product

Here is an example of a product imported from Amazon to PrestaShop with the module, we notice that Amazon attributes have led to the creation of PrestaShop “features”;

Product with combinations

In this case the module created the missing color and size attributes. It also imported the photos corresponding to the combinations and calculated the price of each combination.
 

Process

 
The import process is done with Ajax technology, so there is no limit on the quantity of products that can be imported. The module imports approximately 50 products per minute to meet the usage quotas imposed by Amazon.
 
So an existing inventory of 3000 products will be imported in about 1 hour.
 
The module is multi-country, it allows to import products for each Amazon marketplace;

It is possible to stop the import at any time by clicking on the “Stop” button.
 
Happy sales on Amazon!

Amazon Market Place version 4.2 : 10 August 2016

What’s new in Amazon module version 4.2

The new Amazon Marketplace module for PrestaShop version 4.2 incorporates new messaging features improving communication with customers and seller performances.

The Messaging tab had previously appeared, it activates the feature “Invoice by email”, therefore, the buyer customer receives its custom invoice in PDF format and optionally general sales and/or returns conditions.

Two new messaging features have been added to this tab;

Seller review request, Seller review incentive

The buyer customer receives depending on the selected configuration, for example after delivery within a maximum period of 15 days, a review request by email inviting him to rate the quality of the transaction, leaving a seller review that directly impacts your performance indicators.
The more you get positive reviews, the more you get chances to retain or acquire the Buybox (buy box) which is obviously a major conversion vector on Amazon. Moreover, the history, number and quality of past positive reviews are an important decision support to the buyer customer.
Online help in the form of tooltips help you to easily configure this section;

Once this one configured, a scheduled task is added to the eponymous tab of the module, the scheduled task is installed automatically if you use the free Prestashop Cronjobs module, the official Scheduled Tasks module of Prestashop.

Before and After Sales Service

Natively, Prestashop has a before and after sales communication tool for easy communication and follow-up of message threads with customers.

The Amazon module now integrates this tool and centralizes all communication with prospects and customers. You will find the message threads with the prospect in the Customer > Customer Service tab but also messages related to Orders directly on the customer’s Order;

Prestashop Customer Service Page containing Amazon message threads

Notifications on the Order page

The setup is quite simple, the module allows to login with a GMail account and enables a filter to assign the message to the right marketplace and the right language. The configuration is documented online using giant tooltips, you are guided throughout the configuration;

These new features appear in version 4.2 of the module which will be available in the 3rd semester 2016.
Other new features in this version, as the shipping cost models, remote baskets etc. All these new features are documented in our online documentation available from the module.

Happy sales on Amazon!

Amazon Market Place version 4.1 : 07 July 2015

Few weeks ago, we announced the version 4 release of the Amazon Marketplace module for Prestashop. We have deliberately delayed this release to add one last feature to this new version, long awaited;

In a context of intense competition in the marketplaces it seemed appropriate to offer everyone an automatic competitive watch tool, also called automated competitive watch, automatic tariff alignment, automatic pricing benchmarking etc, we just call in the module Repricing as it is generally named thus in English.

Repricing

The Amazon module v4.1 includes therefore natively and free of charge a Repricing automaton.

We discover here the interface:

1) API Parameters

Here you can indicate your Amazon AWS keys, a tutorial will explain you how to get these keys. A “Connectivity Test” button allows you to check that the connection between your website and Amazon functions properly.

2) Service Parameters

The module will automatically subscribe you to two services, one for sending the price feed from Amazon, the other to a message queue (price) that will store them temporarily.

3) Repricing Strategies

You can create one strategy per repricing profile, which may correspond to a repricing strategy by category. You indicate your selling price limit, for example +30% of your purchase price and the latitude that the automaton will have to negotiate downwards or upwards.

Here we see an example of a repricing profile;

Aggressivity

This index will indicate the price revision algorithm, a progressive rate of aggressivity, the higher is the aggressivity,the lower is the price.

Base

Base price used for the limit; you will  choose purchase or selling price

Limit

According to the base price you will indicate a percentage below or above which the module will not lower the price.

Delta

Percentage upwards and downwards. It is simply the negotiating latitude left to the module. You specify a percentage of how much the automaton can lower or raise the price, the automaton will not go below the “Limit”.

Functioning

The module will automatically install (via Prestashop Cronjobs) new scheduled tasks, that we will call “repricing automaton”.

This automaton has two scripts;

Collection and Analysis;

The automaton will collect the price change notifications from Amazon, analyze the notification, then determines whether the product is eligible for repricing, if the product has a repricing strategy and applies the appropriate strategy.

Depending on competing offers the module will reposition your offer; downwards if a more competitive competitor has been found or conversely, upwards, if all your competitors have exhausted the product and you are the only one to sell it, then you balance your margins.

Export;

Collections can outnumber shipments to Amazon because it is not possible to send a large number of requests to Amazon, quotas are to be respected. This is why the automaton after having collected several repricing actions, will export all updated prices in one batch.

Technically

Skip this step if you are not technical!

The process is divided into two parts;

First part, the automaton subscribes to an Amazon MWS notification feed that will contain price change notifications on offers, a collection of corresponding offers, and send them to a message queue in the cloud. This service is free and is provided by Amazon MWS.

Second part, the subscription to the Message Queue is necessary since the sending of the notification requires it, the automaton therefore subscribes to a SQS Message Queue service provided via Amazon AWS.

Subscription to both services is automated.

The automaton will also use this queue as intermediate area to store the collection of updated offers to send to Amazon MWS. The collection and analysis automaton generates an outbound feed of messages encoded in JSON, the stocks in the outbound Message Queue. The Export automaton will read these messages, send them to Amazon MWS then delete them.

This functioning allows to make the actions of repricing unique, if a price is changed several times, the automaton considers only the latter.

Financial Aspect

Common Services does not receive any charge, fee, commission, nor affiliation, and also has absolutely no income from this service. Simply, we limit the support to configuration malfunction, we cannot train about the concept of repricing, the user will have to be documented on the subject.

However, it is necessary to subscribe to an Amazon SQS queue to run this service, the queue is free up to 1 million messages per month, but you can very quickly reach those volumes; a notification is a message, if other automatons like this one change a price at each notification, there is a safe bet that the volumes will quickly become substantial.

During the development phase, it was observed that for an average customer in a competitive market with 10,000 offers online from Amazon, the system generated about 40,000 messages per day.

We will not give commercial information on AWS, you have to make for yourself a simulation of the cost, manage your consumption of messages. However the cost of this service is marginal in comparison with the service provided, and even for such a volume of messages, it will take a subscription of few euros a month to the Amazon AWS service.

Commissioning

Only the Amazon AWS account creation is not automated, but you have access to an account creation tutorial directly in the repricing tab of the module, this account creation is simple and is done in few steps.

Commissioning is automatic, once your Amazon AWS account created and the keys indicated in the module, the module automatically subscribes to the necessary services.

Happy sales on Amazon 🙂

Amazon Market Place version 4.0 : 28 May 2015

A simple module

This version was ultimately simplified, a minimum number of features are visible for simplicity and maximum efficiency, only the most frequent and used functions are displayed by default.

A new tab allows to customize the module to add features to the application as needed:

There is no need to save the configuration, the selected features are displayed as soon as they are checked.

Information

The module has a particularly well-filled information tab, with the information needed to use, support, and all the advanced diagnostics in case it’s needed; PHP Info, information Dump on the store etc.

Thus, all the information is centralized in a single tab and there is no need to waste time looking for them.

Integrated Help

All the module features known as cases of interrogations have been documented directly within the module, tooltips appear and instantly help you with the designated topic:

This online help is available both for the module configuration and for major points that need to be understood for Amazon functioning, for example:

When the subject matter requires more complete information, the tooltip gives a summary and provides a link to the online documentation page :

Simplified Interface

The entire interface has been redesigned, it corresponds to the interface of Prestashop 1.6 with some improvements:

• The checkboxes and radio buttons are visible, big, spaced, easily accessible
• The features, even advanced, have been simplified
• The tooltips are easily identifiable, they are represented by a yellow dotted underscore
• The fields are classified and indicated as required, recommended

Example, Rounding Configuration:

Example, Price rules:

Example of required field:

Profiles for product creation

Profile management has been rewritten, simplified, documented and translated (Here below shown in French) ;

• Most common fields have been translated
• Tooltips have been added to detail the interest or purpose of each field
• The fields are classified, required, recommended, optional, relevant
• An example value is shown for the most common fields

Managing versions / variants has been rewritten, all variants are now possible regardless of the data source; attribute, feature, fixed value, mapping etc.

No matter how the product sheet has been structured, all possibilities are covered, this management offers wide possibilities for exports;

Feed enhancement

Amazon attributes

It is now possible to export a fixed or dynamic value for all Amazon attributes, ie all the fields that Amazon can receive in the feed. Thus, it is possible to enhance its feed to cover all the criteria of Amazon faceted navigation, so the chance that the customer finds the product is mechanically increased, consequently, sales too!

Example of key fields for faceted navigation:

Key Features

A new section appeared at the profile level and can automatically fill the product key features;

For the record, the key product features are the 5 rows below the product title:

This configuration allows to export the short description and product features (Prestashop features), of course, key features that it is possible to enter in the module product sheet remain a priority.

International Product Creation

Profile management adopts an Amazon platform picker, a tab by Country, therefore it is now possible to customize the feed independently by marketplace.

This allows in particular:

• Support universe and type of different products on the marketplace for the same product source
• Price rules management by platform
• Automatic key features management by platform
• Categorization management by platform

Mappings

The mappings have become semi-automatic, ie if the module identifies a value that corresponds on Prestashop and also on Amazon, the module automatically sets the relationship and there is nothing to enter;

Mappings with constraint are appearing, the mapping becomes easier: the module references all known values at Amazon and offer you a list with an integrated search tool;

However, if a value does not appear in the list, two possibilities are available to you;

1) You have a lot of values to add; You send your file to the support, the file is automatically integrated by the module as the mapping files are on a DropBox public folder, the module automatically imports them.

2) You have to add some values; an entry interface in form of “tags” allows you to add values to the existing mapping;

Product Sheet Extension

The Amazon product sheet extension has been completely rewritten, the extension now uses fully the Prestashop standard, the same interface, it is integrated as a tab:

In addition to being more user-friendly, the interface allows you to select the main product but also each combination, so it’s possible to configure independently export parameters for each of them.

Parameters are saved automatically, there’s no need to click a save button (like on the Quantities tab).

Tooltips can also be found on this tab;

Also, the fields found in the previous release, rearranged;

And finally, great novelty in this tab, the ability to edit the product reference and EAN / UPC code for the main product and also for each combination in an auto-saving mode without having to refresh the page;

A pencil appears on the edit box;

The field becomes editable;

The modification is saved automatically;

Reports

You can now see the reports individually, but above all see the history and as well as reports of previous sessions;

Prestashop Scheduled Tasks

This feature appeared in a recent version of the version 3.9 of the module;

The module interfaces with the Prestashop module, Prestashop Cronjobs and allows the automatic installation of scheduled tasks without technical knowledge, the module automatically fill the Prestashop module with the appropriate parameters.

Canceled Orders

A script also appeared in the list of scheduled tasks. This script periodically checks canceled orders on Amazon and passes these canceled orders to Prestashop, thus avoiding unnecessary commands of manipulation.

Happy sales on Amazon!