The video discusses Amazon Lending's commitment to supporting small and medium-sized businesses by providing accessible financing options to Amazon sellers. It outlines the ways in which the financing can help businesses grow, especially during challenging economic conditions, by allowing them to invest in inventory, marketing, and other growth initiatives. The program's purpose is to enable businesses to thrive by overcoming financial hurdles like high-interest rates and stringent credit requirements, providing funds that are tailored to the needs of various sellers.

Key aspects of Amazon Lending include understanding seller financing needs, exploring available financing options, and elucidating eligibility criteria. Amazon Lending seeks to ensure sellers have informed decision-making capabilities by offering convenience, speed, and transparency. The presentation also highlights the expanding reach of Amazon Lending, including partnerships with trusted third-party financiers, to enhance the flexibility and utility of their financial solutions.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. unparalleled [ˌʌnˈpærəˌlɛld] - (adjective) - Having no equal; unmatched. - Synonyms: (incomparable, exceptional, unmatched)

Amazon has transformed the way that we shop, offering unparalleled convenience and selection.

2. underwrite [ˈʌndərˌraɪt] - (verb) - To assume financial responsibility for, typically by guaranteeing payment in case of loss or damage. - Synonyms: (insure, support, back)

...we were able to underwrite Amazon loans to eligible sellers.

3. macro-economic [ˌmækroʊˌiːkəˈnɒmɪk] - (adjective) - Relating to the large-scale economic factors such as interest rates and national productivity. - Synonyms: (economic, fiscal, financial)

We understand that the current macroeconomic landscape is complicated.

4. appetite for growth [ˈæpəˌtaɪt fɔːr ɡroʊθ] - (phrase) - A strong desire or ambition to expand or develop. - Synonyms: (desire for expansion, ambition to grow, growth aspiration)

And despite these headwinds, you continue to have an appetite for growth.

5. collateral [kəˈlætərəl] - (noun) - An asset pledged as security for repayment of a loan, to be forfeited in the event of a default. - Synonyms: (security, guarantee, surety)

...high credit score and collateral requirements...

6. liquidity [lɪˈkwɪdɪti] - (noun) - The availability of liquid assets to a market or company. - Synonyms: (cash flow, money, funds)

...to free up cash flow and invest in areas that make sense.

7. transparency [trænsˈpærənsi] - (noun) - The characteristic of being honest and open in business or governance. - Synonyms: (openness, clarity, lucidity)

We focus on providing transparency of factors such as APR rates, term length offer amount to help you make the most informed decision.

8. seasonality [ˌsiːzəˈnælɪti] - (noun) - The predictable changes that recur every calendar year in a particular industry. - Synonyms: (cyclicality, periodicity, ebbs and flows)

...seasonality that affects your cash flow and makes it difficult to demonstrate the consistency that many traditional lenders require.

9. disbursement [dɪsˈbɜːrsmənt] - (noun) - The payment of money from a fund. - Synonyms: (payment, expenditure, outlay)

...all digital, all online, and speedy approvals and disbursements.

10. eligibility [ˌɛlɪdʒəˈbɪlɪti] - (noun) - The state of having the right to do or obtain something through the satisfaction of the necessary conditions. - Synonyms: (qualification, right, suitability)

...understanding seller financing needs, exploring available financing options, and elucidating eligibility criteria.

Amazon Accelerate 2024 - Capitalize on Your Goals with Amazon Lending

Thank you for joining us today in this room and also online as we discuss how to capitalize on your goals with Amazon lending. My name is Ilhan Perdana. I'm head of marketing for Amazon Lending, and my colleague here is Sherry Oldman, senior manager of business development at Amazon Lending. Our team focuses and ensures that the Amazon lending program addresses the needs of small and medium sized businesses selling on Amazon. Amazon has transformed the way that we shop, offering unparalleled convenience and selection. And behind that customer experience are the small business owners and entrepreneurs that make up our Amazon seller community.

Amazon sellers are the lifeblood of our business, and the way that ilim and I can best support Amazon Sellers is by helping them access the financing that they need for growth. Many Amazon sellers are small business owners operating on tight margins, and they often lack the capital to invest in things like inventory, marketing, hiring, and other growth initiatives. For example, we understand that it can be difficult to generate big inventory purchases ahead of peak sales events like Prime Day. And by making it easier for you guys to obtain loans, lines of credits, and other forms of financing, we can empower sellers like you to grow, create more jobs, and deliver even greater value to our customers.

And that's why we are so excited to be here today to tell you more about Amazon lending. Thanks, Sherry. Okay, so our goal today is to provide the latest into the Amazon lending program. So the first is to understand the financing needs, your financing needs. The second is the different financing options we have available. And the third is to understand the criterias for eligibility. And last but not least, to give you all the information so that you can make the best informed decision for financing. And that'll give you more time to focus on business growth.

Okay. And at the end of this session, there's a. We'll host a live Q and A. So just a reminder that there's a QR code here. You'll have to open up your app and just make sure you submit your questions through there. We'll address them at the end. Okay. And then Sherry will talk a little bit more about the current lending landscape.

Great. Thank you, Ellen. We understand that the current macroeconomic landscape is complicated. Sellers like yourselves are cautiously optimistic. Uncertainty around interest rates and inflation make it very difficult to manage your day to day operations and financial forecasts. You face challenges like competition, which drive down your pricing, and supply chain constraints, which drive up your costs, requiring you to make trade offs to stay profitable. And despite these headwinds, you continue to have an appetite for growth by taking advantage of the current environment to make long term strategic investments that can pay off down the road.

Okay? And this year, 71% of small businesses will obtain funding. But however, the struggle to access capital and secure financing access is well known. So 31% or one in three small businesses will have issues and struggle to find access to capital. So this is about one. If you look around the room here today, one of every three of you will have issues, not just in this macroeconomic headwind, but also just when you're ready to find financing.

And we know that business financing can help you address these challenges, but it can really come with some of its own as well. So some of the common challenges that we hear about are rising interest rates, high credit score and collateral requirements, and seasonality that affects your cash flow and makes it difficult to demonstrate the consistency that many traditional lenders require. So take this quote from seller Sylvia Capsandoy of you simply season. She said financing was the biggest challenge for us. Usually the first quarter of each year we have these spikes, orders would come in and we'd run out of products.

It was difficult just making sure we had enough cash flow on hand to meet the demand that we are getting and implementing these operational strategies and initiatives to address. Some of these challenges include creating new products and secondly, increased advertising and marketing. 3rd may want to increase your market, expand your markets. And then last but not least, you worry about your own labor force, your own employees. And lending can take your business to the next level with an infusion of funds at the right time so that you can make those decisions when you need them.

And then Amazon lending is here to fill the gap and is designed to help businesses succeed, letting you free up cash flow and invest in areas that make sense. And the Amazon lending program was started in 2011, and a close relationship between sellers and our ability to depth knowledge on e commerce meant that we were able to underwrite Amazon loans to eligible sellers. And over the last 13 years, we've developed and kind of made changes and progressed our program. We expanded our product set, we increased speed to market, and we provide flexibility for e commerce businesses.

And we are also partnering with big companies along the way. And before we bring on those partners, though, we have some work to do. So Sherry will talk more about that. Sure. Thanks, Ellen. We dug deep to understand what sellers were looking for in a financing partner. And here's what we heard. Convenience, speed, transparency, ease, and most importantly, trust. And so that's what the foundation of our Amazon lending program has been built on.

We provide trust in a partner that, you know, a process as easy as opening your email or logging into seller central. And we focus on providing transparency of factors such as APR rates, term length offer amount to help you make the most informed decision. And we understand that speed is imperative for your business. So we deliver the funds when you need it, and all of this in the most convenient way possible.

So let's take a look around and raise your hand if you log into seller central at least one time a week. Most of you guys. Yeah. Now how about at least once a day? Okay, good. So all of this is available in one place on seller Central and a place that you visit often. And you can find us now on the go within the Amazon Seller app.

And we are constantly expanding the Amazon lending program by partnering with trusted third parties that align with our mission and all the qualities sellers are looking for. And we're building a portfolio of financing tools for businesses. And here, $11 billion lent across of our partners. And then over 800,000 businesses supported and from loans as small as $5,000 to as large as 10 million. And many factors are evaluated when selecting a third party provider to join the program, including their potential to innovate.

So, for example, underwriting, cutting edge underwriting. The second one is also to ensure that they can meet our customer experience or the seller experience. And the enhanced features and best in class offerings include real time customer experience, which is real time applications, all digital, all online, and speedy approvals and disbursements. And our North America partners, Lendustry, Paraffin and Sellersfi are all here today.

And I mentioned their history of success. So please stop by when you have a chance at their booth or come visit us in our own booth. And let's hear directly from one of our sellers. We would like to set a standard as a brand in the spice and flavor industry. My name is Sylvia Capsandoy. I'm the owner and founder of simply seasoned brand. We are located in Leighton, Utah. I'm originally from Kenya, Africa. I admired the women who sold vegetables in the market. Seeing that and helping them build their small businesses, I feel like they put everything in, everything that they do, that's their passion, that's their livelihood, that's their being.

Amazon actually gave someone like me the opportunity to be an entrepreneur. We want to introduce people to different cultures through our product offerings. We have a lot of indian spices, our asian spices. You can cook it with anything. Financing was the biggest challenge for us. Usually the first quarter of each year we kept having these spikes. Orders would come in and we'd run out of products. Just making sure we have enough cash flow to meet the demand that we're getting. I'm always in my seller central. I always go look at what opportunities do I have with Amazon lending. I found paraffin and I was like, yes. Getting the investment, it was really fast, maybe less than 24 hours. Better than going to a bank. I was able to resolve, you know, get the inventory that I needed. And actually hired my first full time employee about a year ago. And he's my production lead right now. Yeah. So we are growing.

Looking back, I'm always amazed. Even my mom usually say, I can't believe you actually have like, your own little factory in the United States. And you have, you know, you're making your stuff. And I'm like, I know when you go into Amazon lending, having the options that paraffin provides for us so we can be in business really is very, to me, is very important. Sylvia's story is just one of many stories that we hear. Very inspiring.

We at Amazon lending are continuing to innovate to meet your needs. So let's look at a few of the initiatives that we are prioritizing in the years ahead. We're offering new financing products to better serve your needs. We're expanding to new markets, which Ellen will talk about. And we're helping create new resources to help you make financial decisions that are best for you.

So, like I said, we are ensuring that we continue to address your needs and offer products that cover all ends of the spectrum. So in an effort to put our sellers first, we listened to our larger sellers who told us that they needed more capital to grow and to meet their operating expenses. So we partnered with sellers Phi to offer a line of credit product that now goes up to $10 million. And it's not just about large sellers. We offer a merchant cash advance through paraffin that has proven very effective for newer sellers in the earlier phases of growth.

And we continue to offer our term loan products through our long term partnership with Lendistry. And we recently launched an additional option for term loans through seller Spyde. We know that your needs will continue to grow and we'll continue to launch new products and solutions to help. Okay. While lending has presence in China and EU, today, we'll be primarily focused on our North America solutions. So if you've attended before, you may be familiar with our us solutions. But just this year, in June, we've also enabled and launched in Canada for canadian based sellers with a merchant cash advance and with more to come.

And we are excited about serving canadian based sellers. Many of you potentially here actually stopped by our booth and asked about lending in Canada and at that time we were not able to. We didn't have any options. But here we are and we are now in Canada. And we listened and we heard you and we found a partner in Sellersfi for Canada for our merchant cash advance. And within the first two weeks of launch, we've seen sellers apply and obtain their financing. And we continue to listen as we consider additional product expansions. Okay, so let's talk about making foreign financial decisions. So today you can find us inside the cell.com Amazon website. You can also find us in seller Central in our education hub, which is off to the right here.

But that is just the beginning. We are committed to adding content to help you make the most informed decisions for your business and we are going to start that today. I'm going to talk through some important questions for your business.

So you may be asking yourself which financing option of the ones that we just spoke about is best for me. You may have one or multiple financing invites in seller central, so understanding them is imperative. The types of things that you should understand go beyond just aprs, fees, product types, et cetera. So let's review a few questions that we recommend asking yourself.

All right, speed so how quickly do you need the funds? Do you need it immediately or do you need it over a period of time? And then the second is intent. Do you intend to make an immediate purchase and use the funds then? Or do you need these funds for bigger events like Prime Day or Black Friday? Or is it just for normal replenishments or for daily sales and planning?

Do you need the funds to sustain your business during the ebbs and flows? Or and the answers to these will help identify which are the right sets of products for your business. So the next set of questions that we'll address addresses qualification. So the first question to ask yourself is, what is my credit health? Our lenders may check your personal and or business credit scores, so addressing any concerns such as late payments or high credit utilization in advance can improve your chances of getting approved at Amazon London.

We also have options that do not take credit data into account as part of their underwriting, so make sure that you are aware of those options as well. The next question to ask yourself is, what is my business financial history? So by gathering documents such as tax returns, profit and loss statements, and balance sheets in advance, you can best demonstrate your financial health and speed up the approval process.

The next thing you might want to ask yourself is, are you comfortable with the idea of offering collateral at Amazon lending, we offer partners that require collateral, such as personal guarantees, as well as ones that do nothing. So determining which assets you might be comfortable with offering as collateral, and if you're comfortable with personal guarantees, might narrow down the right option for you.

Okay, so the next question is how do you want to repay? And all loans require repayment, of course, but we have different methods of how and how often to repay. So do you prefer to have a set amount to repay, or do you prefer a payment based on your own business's performance over time? And we have financing products that offer both options, and repayment options can vary for each of the different financing products.

So we can do monthly, bimonthly, or as you earn, you may also have the option to prepay and repay without penalty. And typically payments are actually withdrawn automatically. And the terms can range from as little as three months to as long as 36 months. And some of you may have business that fluctuates seasonally. So during those ebbs and flows, and you may need the option to delay payments or potentially lower payments based on sales. And that's where immersion cash advance is helpful. And aligning your repayments with your revenue patterns can give you the breathing room you need and your business, the financial health of your business.

Okay, so let's talk about how to get started. Yeah, so you can get started with Amazon lending in just five easy steps, which we'll cover. All right, the first is to actually check if you have an invitation. So the easiest way to do this is within seller Central. When you have an invite, you'll see it inside your seller central homepage. You will also receive an email. And now we're also in the mobile app within seller Central in your seller app.

The other way is if you navigate inside seller Central, you can click and under the Growth tab you will see lending there. If you have an invitation, the second step is to apply. So review the invitations offered to you. Choose the one that best fits your needs and click Start application.

Okay. And the next step is to security share your selling data and agree to share your seller performance and seller data with a financing provider. Then you will then be redirected to the financer's website or the lender's website to complete your application.

The next step, complete the application by providing the necessary information to the lender and in a matter of minutes, click submit and last get the funds so you'll receive notice of the provider's financing decision, usually within one business day. And if your application is approved and you accept the terms, the funds will be deposited, disperse into your account.

So don't just take our word for it. One of our sellers said they have all the seller data coming in through seller central. So the application was short. We understood what we were going to get and within 72 hours we had the funds. So now let's chat about eligibility. As you know, Amazon lending is currently in an invite only program. So you may be thinking, how can I enhance my chances of eligibility if you have not yet been invited? So there are two main aspects to focus on.

The first is growing and having a continuous record of seller of just selling on Amazon, growing your sales. And the second is really put customers first, high level of customer satisfaction, so fulfilling orders, etcetera. And we are constantly reviewing eligibility. So put your customers first and an invitation may be right around the corner.

So as we wrap up, let's review some of the key challenges that might be keeping you up at night. Rising interest rates, credit score and collateral requirements, and seasonality that impacts your cash flow. So hopefully, ILM and I got you thinking about the ways that you can combat these challenges by using financing and if it can be used in the year ahead to support your growth. We here at Amazon Lending are here to help you and we will continue to innovate, listen, and ensure you have what you need to grow your business.

Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Amazon Lending, Small Business Financing, Investment Solutions, Amazon Seller University