Next to launching a product line, what's one of the more important priorities for many sellers on Amazon?
It's not sales. It's maintaining your visibility on Amazon. And to do so, you're going to need specific tools allowing you to manage your category listings.
Your Amazon Category Listing Report is just one such tool that can help you keep track of both your product and category listings. At first glance, it seems simple enough. Almost deceptively so. But it can help you make sense out of the detailed product data in your existing listing.
And that raw data can tell you more about your performance on Amazon than you might think.
Why Amazon Category Listing Reports Matter
One of the more common dilemmas for any Amazon seller is a question of predictability. It's not just sales predictions you're concerned with. Predictability in shipping times. Seasonal interest. And the predictability of your inventory tracking and performance.
Amazon Seller Central doesn't necessarily make it much easier for you.
Making mass changes to your product listings requires some fairly time intensive manual uploading—time you don't necessarily have to spare remembering search terms, bullet points and descriptions.
Fortunately, there's an easier way to keep track of your pertinent product listing information. It's called Amazon's Category Listing Report. It allows you to download all the relevant product information you need to make informed inventory listing changes.
If you're a seasoned Amazon seller, you may have wondered where it went. It hasn't necessarily gone away; it's simply no longer a default feature.
Accessing your category listing report isn't quite as difficult as you'd think. In fact, it's simply a question of filing a request with Amazon seller support.
How to Activate Your Amazon Category Listings Report
Log in to your Amazon Seller Central account.
Select the ‘Help' tab in the upper right hand corner. Select ‘Contact Us' from the dropdown.
Select ‘Your Account > Make changes to your account > Get help with a different account setting issue.'
Open a ticket with Seller Support, preferably via live chatbot.
Once your report is active, go to your ‘Inventory Reports' in Seller Central. Ensure that one of the options includes ‘Category Listings Report.' Your category report type should now be categorized by product.
Tips
You must download a different inventory file for each category if you're selling in multiple ones.
The report is only available for 24 hours after activation.
How Much Data Does a Category Listing Report Contain?
There's over 100 inventory-critical descriptions contained in Amazon's Category Listing Report, including:
ASINs
Brand name
Color and color map
Currency accepted
Image URLs
Item Type Keyword(s)
Key product features
Manufacturer's suggested retail price
Parentage (if any) and relationship
Product length/height/width and weight
Product Description
Product ID
Product tax code
Shipping weight and cost
SKU
And just about every other relevant piece of information you need to revise or renew your Amazon listings.
Your listing data may seem like a given. But in 2022, there are few sellers who have the time to keep track of multiple listings. Amazon's category listing report gives you the data you need to make sense of your business.
Because if there's one thing that remains constant about Amazon, it's the fact that they don't always seem to make sense.
Need more tips on how to manage your Amazon business? Find out more at Color More Lines.